The car in front is a Toyota: Tim Heinemann also wins dramatic Sunday race at Lausitzring

Two races, two wins: Toyota driver Tim Heinemann (GER) got his 2022 season in the talent pool DTM Trophy off to a perfect start at Lausitzring Turn 1 powered by Autohero. After 19 action-packed and partly dramatic laps, the driver of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Germany powered by Ring Racing team was first across the finish line. Together with Heinemann, the 2020 DTM Trophy champion, BMW drivers Theo Oeverhaus (GER, Walkenhorst Motorsport) and Colin Caresani (NLD, Project 1) also participated in the post-race prize-giving ceremony.

Tim Heinemann had to work hard for his second win of the season, his ninth victory in the talent pool on the professional DTM platform. Two safety car interventions were the reason that his efforts in the lead were in vain. The first neutralisation came on lap four as American Jordan Wallace (FK Performance Motorsport) beached his BMW in the gravel bed. Heinemann held on to his lead both at the start and the restart on lap seven.

On lap 14, an accident by Jacob Riegel (Speed Monkeys) required another safety car intervention. The German’s Aston Martin ended up in the tyre stacks following contact with Caresani’s teammate Louis Henkefend (GER). On lap 17, racing resumed for a dash to the finish of only three laps. At the restart, Spaniard Marc de Fulgencio with the FK Performance Motorsport BMW M4 surprised Heinemann and overtook the Toyota still before going into the dreaded banked corner turn 1. Heinemann immediately tried to reclaim the lead. After a successful overtaking move, he controlled the race until the end. At the finish, Heinemann was 3.115 seconds ahead of his fiercest rival.

Final lap decides battle for podium slots In the battle for the next positions, there was drama in the closing stages. After many intense and entertaining duels, Oeverhaus prevailed from Caresani. Audi driver Thiago Vivacqua (BRA, Heide-Motorsport), who was in second place at the start of the race and lost positions during both restarts, still saved valuable points by finishing fourth. Mercedes-AMG driver Rodrigo Dias Almeida (BWT Mücke Motorsport) from Mozambique finished fifth from Riegel’s teammate Nick Hancke (GER). De Fulgencio, who was still in second position going into the final lap, dropped back all the way to seventh place.

Sophie Hofmann, the only female driver in the DTM Trophy field, only just missed out on a point-scoring finish in the Sunday race at Lausitzring. With the Heide-Motorsport Audi R8, she finished in eleventh place, missing out on the final point by merely around two seconds.

The next two 2022 DTM Trophy races will be held from 17 to 19 June. Then, there will be a premiere: for the first time, the production-based GT sports cars in DTM Trophy will be racing at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola. Heinemann is heading to the long-standing track in Emilia-Romagna as the leader in the drivers’ standings with 57 points, next up are Vivacqua (34) and Oeverhaus (26) in second and third place of the standings.