“To finish first, you have to finish first”, is an old saying in motorsport. That became all the more clear during the season opener of the new DTM Classic Cup at Lausitzring Turn 1 powered by Autohero.
Local hero Stefan Mücke had an impressive lead with the Opel Calibra V6 4×4 driven by the BWT Mücke Motorsport team from Berlin, but with two laps to go the car came to a stop on the track. That paved the way to a 1-2 for the newly formed Schnitzer Classic team: after 16 laps Yannick Trautwein (GER) took the checkered flag with his BMW E36 STW while teammate and ex-DTM driver Kris Nissen (DEN) came in second with his BMW E30 M3 DTM to complete the success of the team debut. With Marc Hessel, another former DTM factory driver finished third with the 2.0 Automotive team’s BMW E30 BTCC.
“We want to live on the history of Schnitzer and we have succeeded with this successful debut”, said a cheerful winner Yannick Trautwein at the finish. “Thanks to Kris Nissen for letting me overtake with no problem, it was all absolutely fair.” The Danish motorsport veteran answered the compliment: “Yannick drove fantastic. It’s great that Schnitzer lives on in the DTM, even though Charly and Dieter Lamm are sorely missed.”
The debut of the DTM Classic Cup, new for this year, on the first DTM race weekend of the season in Germany was a huge success. The drivers had their fun, the numerous spectators in the stands and in the paddock were equally impressed by the lovingly prepared historic DTM race cars. At the start of the race, Stefan Mücke took the lead with the Opel Calibra, the DTM car that ex-Formula 1 World Champion Keke Rosberg raced in 1995, but further down the field, his teammate Ronny Scheer’s Ford sierra RS 500 Cosworth came to a stop. Stefan Irmler’s Opel Astra spun off the track on liquid and Thomas Wandel’s Audi 200 quattro also slipped away. The race was given a red flag so that the cars could be recovered. The race resumed after two laps behind the CUPRA safety car.
At the restart, Mücke held onto the lead and gradually expanded his margin until his Calibra came to a stop just before the scheduled race time. That enabled Yannick Trautwein to take the lead and cross the finish line as the overall winner, while also taking Class 6 honors. Kris Nissen rounded out 1-2 for the Schnitzer Classic team and won Class 2. Third overall, Marc Hessel finished best in Class 3. Other class winners included Moritz Horn (Class 4) and former DTM runner-up Olaf Manthey ( class 2), while Stefan Mücke was still classified seventh overall and won class 1. The second DTM Classic Cup starts on Sunday at 5:00 PM CEST (live on grid.dtm.com and servusTV.com).