The 488 GT3 Evo 2020s of Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse fell short in the second and final DTM outing at the Red Bull Ring after Nick Cassidy’s fine victory in Race-1. Felipe Fraga finished sixteenth on the Austrian track and his teammate nineteenth.
Front row. Expectations were somewhat different for the Piacenza-based team’s cars following Cassidy’s two consecutive wins and the morning’s qualifying. The New Zealander set off from second place on the grid and the Brazilian third. The race started with a rather wet track and the entire line-up on rain tyres. Cassidy maintained second position but could not match the pace of Maro Engel, who slowly but steadily built up a small gap over the number 37 driver. Meanwhile, Fraga was in the slipstream of Philipp Eng, who, in turn, was chasing Cassidy. The Brazilian tried to overtake the BMW driver but ended up with two wheels in the gravel after rounding several corners side-by-side. He lost positions and fell further behind after a subsequent spin.
Dry lines. Cassidy tried to stay ahead of the game, coming in to change tyres on lap 13, while Fraga made the obligatory stop eleven laps later. In between, the track gradually dried, so much so that Fraga, and others, opted for slicks. Cassidy battled tenaciously as it became harder to keep the rains in good condition on a ribbon of asphalt, with the dry lines becoming increasingly defined. However, the Kiwi was forced back down the standings, also overtaken by his teammate, who spun again after the stop. Thomas Preining was first past the chequered flag in a Porsche, with Fraga sixteenth and Cassidy nineteenth.
Situation. With just the 7-9 October round at Hockenheim remaining, Cassidy sits in twelfth in the standings with 64 points. His teammate Fraga lies four behind, while AF Corse entered the top three with 129 points.