A wild start accident at the Norisring causes an interruption and takes three drivers out of the race – What those involved say and who is most to blame
Tight, tighter, Norisring: A wild start accident dominated the second DTM race on the city circuit in Nuremberg, not only causing an interruption but also taking three favorites out of the race: Schubert BMW star Marco Wittmann and the two Abt Lamborghini drivers Mirko Bortolotti and Nicki Thiim.
How did it happen? “Typical Norisring, first corner, four cars side by side,” commented unlucky driver Thiim, who had already spun out on the first lap the day before, on ran.de. “When you start at the back, that’s just the way it is, there’s a traffic jam effect, there’s not much you can do.”
In addition to the three prominent retirements, Jules Gounon was also involved in the collision. The Winward Mercedes driver was driving on the far left and was initially considered a possible cause. But how did the incident happen in the first place? “To be honest, I don’t know exactly,”
an assessment that was shared by the race stewards after the race. They classified the incident as a classic racing incident in the first corner and were unable to “identify a single cause,” as stated in the official statement.
Gounon “just drove straight ahead”
Gounon describes his view of events as follows: “First, I was hit very hard at the start, which pushed me forward a little. Then I drove onto the curb to avoid Rast in front of me because of the crowd. And suddenly I felt someone next to me.”
“I just drove straight ahead and don’t know what happened after that,” emphasizes Gounon. He thus rejects the accusation that he pushed Wittmann’s BMW off the track and caused the accident. “All I can see is that my entire right side is damaged.”
“It’s the Norisring, it’s tight, there are walls everywhere,” explains the Frenchman. “When you start from the back – like we all did – you want to get back to the front quickly. I think we’re all frustrated because of a poor qualifying session. That’s just how it goes.”
Double retirement is “devastating” for Abt
Gounon was at least lucky to be the only one of the four drivers directly involved in the accident to be able to continue the race. For the Abt team, however, the incident ended in disaster with a double retirement. “I was squeezed in from both sides and, yes, unfortunately two cars were damaged, which isn’t good,” Thiim summed up.
“We imagined our home race would be different,” the Dane admitted. Abt’s sporting director Martin Tomczyk also classified the collision as a typical Norisring incident: “Unfortunately, something like this can happen more often here at the Norisring; the risk is simply higher because it’s a very tight corner.”
The fact that both Abt cars were affected was “naturally devastating because we ultimately couldn’t continue the race,” Tomczyk emphasized. Marco Wittmann’s home race in Nuremberg also came to a premature end.
Wittmann sees himself “in a dilemma”
“I was in a dilemma anyway,” “I think I was definitely the least at fault of all of them. It was a bit difficult for me to see. I’ve seen the videos afterwards, but not the onboard footage.”
Nevertheless, Wittmann takes a clear stance: “To me, it looked a bit like Jules [Gounon] came from left to right and had room to stay further to the left. On the right were the two Abt Lamborghinis, but they didn’t take their foot off the gas either, instead leaving it fully depressed and effectively spinning me into the wall.”
The situation is “difficult to accept” for the two-time DTM champion, even if it is formally a typical incident at the Norisring. Nevertheless, Wittmann urges more consideration: “Sometimes you should leave a little more room to survive.”
He continued: “Maybe ease off the gas when things get tight,” his words directed primarily at Thiim and Bortolotti. “But in this case, I was the one who suffered, of course.” Team boss Torsten Schubert was also disappointed: “It’s a shame because it was his home race and then such an early exit – that’s obviously very unpleasant.”
On Saturday, everything still seemed “very disciplined,” according to Schubert. “Today, of course, everyone tried to get a little further forward in the first corner. That’s the issue here, but you have to live with it, that’s racing.”
Glock also retired with consequential damage
“We’ve actually had a very good two years,” said the BMW team boss, looking back. He pointed out that there had been even more chaotic scenes in previous years: “I think the drivers have been very disciplined so far, at least in the last two years.”
“Luckily, I was ahead of him,” commented a BMW driver in an interview with ran.de. “I saw that Marco was sideways against the wall and the car was pretty badly damaged. I hope he’s okay, but I didn’t see exactly what happened.”
Timo Glock was also involved in the chaos but could hardly make sense of what happened. “Not really, I was right on the inside, even had to cut inside to avoid Gounon and fell back,” said the Dörr McLaren driver.
“Suddenly, I just saw parts flying around, a car across the track, which then hit the rear right of my car,” reported the former Formula 1 driver. His race was also ended prematurely as a result of a technical defect.
