Solid DTM season start for the MANN-FILTER Mamba

Ludwigsburg, April 28, 2024 – A total of 42,000 fans in Oschersleben Motorsport Arena witnessed a solid start to the 2024 DTM season. And, during the opening weekend, the Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER left it in no doubt that the yellow-green Mamba and its driver Lucas Auer were on the road in Beast Mode from the first second of the race – even if the race results were characterized by a lot of bad luck, especially in the second race on Sunday.

Auer and his equally ambitious team were not completely satisfied with sixth place in Saturday's race. But after a red flag in the morning qualifying session put the brakes on the 29-year-old Tyrolean's drive at the worst possible moment and relegated the Mercedes-AMG GT3 with starting number 22 to eighth on the grid, the one-hour chase on the 3.6-kilometer circuit in the Magdeburger Börde at least went off without a hitch.

Unfortunately, Sunday turned out to be more complicated than expected. In qualifying, Auer couldn't manage to get the tires of his 550 hp racer to the perfect temperature window and had to settle for starting position 13. And in the race, the Mamba was involved in a collision in the third turn that was not Auer's fault, after he was unable to avoid a spinning Ferrari directly ahead of him. “Luggi” continued to fight relentlessly and ultimately finished in 11th place at the wheel of the heavily damaged Mamba.

“All in all, it was a solid start to the season,” said the driver from Kufstein. "After having struggled in the free training sessions on Friday, we gradually improved over the weekend. I was happy with my Saturday race. The crew did a great pit stop, the pace was okay. On Sunday, we were simply not fast enough in qualifying. And after the collision in turn three, it was all about getting the damaged car to the finish line in some way or another. And in the end we scored two important points. Who knows how useful they will prove to be?"