– Finally, the breakthrough: After fifth place in qualifying and tough battles in the Sunday race, McLaren youngster Ben Dörr and his team achieved their first podium in their third DTM year with second place. This made history, as it was also the first podium for McLaren in the DTM.
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When asked how it feels to finally stand on the podium, the 21-year-old from Frankfurt answered briefly after the race: “Yes, super awesome.” “Finally, we have our podium back,” the youngster continued.
Last year, Dörr had already managed to get into the top 3 in the McLaren 720S GT3 Evo. However, he was disqualified after the race due to an irregular set of tires. Now, the son of team boss Reiner Dörr was able to get his revenge on the dune circuit of Zandvoort.
What happened on Sunday?
This result was anything but a given despite his performance in qualifying. While the Saturday race will not go down as a classic in DTM history, Sunday was extremely chaotic across the entire field.
Amid battles, pit stop problems, and spectacular airborne moments, Dörr kept a cool head until the first stop. “When the wheel nut jammed on the rear right during the first pit stop, I already thought it was over,” Dörr referred to the botched stop that took 9.7 seconds.
Although the trained automotive mechatronics technician lost valuable seconds due to a jammed wheel nut on the right rear wheel, his stop was still much faster than those of Maro Engel, Jules Gounon, or teammate Timo Glock. Glock’s race weekend was, as often in the last one and a half years, one to forget.
Dörr Junior stayed on it and after the stops battled Aston Martin factory driver Nicki Thiim for sixth place. A collision of the fan favorite with Lucas Auer and the subsequent penalty helped Dörr get past the Dane.
The second stop by his crew was perfect at 7.5 seconds, pushing the youngster up to third place. Instead of succumbing to massive pressure from Luca Engstler, Dörr took another step forward and passed Thierry Vermeulen’s Ferrari a few laps before the end.
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While the Emil Frey driver struggled with old tires, Dörr was able to squeeze past on the outside at the entrance to the Hans-Ernst-Bocht. “I saw the BMW getting closer and closer,” Dörr explained after the race.
DTM veterans on his tail
The youngster was referring to Marco Wittmann, who was plowing through the field. Wittmann was on the verge of driving his BMW, which started from 13th position, onto the podium but had DTM leader Maro Engel in the Winward Mercedes right behind him.
“That was definitely a hot number,” Dörr explained after the race. “I didn’t take full risks because I would have been super happy with third place. But of course, you fight until the last second.”
“I had the inside line [and] was able to hold my ground.” Nevertheless, Dörr emphasized: “Both drove super fair. I gave him space, he gave me space.”
In the end, Dörr was able to prevail against Wittmann and Engel, marking the first podium for the driver and his team in the DTM. Shortly before the end, he even managed to pull away a bit from the BMW, putting the Schubert driver under pressure himself.
In the overall standings, Ben Dörr is thus in sixth place. Meanwhile, the McLaren Dörr team can also be pleased with sixth place in the team standings.
