Götz takes dominant win at Norisring as Lawson edges closer to title

Maximilian Götz has taken a dominant victory in the penultimate race of the 2021 DTM season at the Norisring, while Liam Lawson has one hand on the championship thanks to a third-placed finish.

Götz started the race from fifth place in his Team HRT Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, but survived a chaotic start to the race to move up to fourth.

From there, the German went on a charging drive, quickly surpassing Nick Cassidy for third place before taking second from Liam Lawson, who had survived a close encounter with Kelvin van der Linde on the opening lap.

Götz subsequently caught and passed the leading Winward Mercedes of Philip Ellis to capture the lead of the race and from there quickly opened up a gap, allowing him to cruise to victory.

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Arjun Maini put in his best performance of the season thus far and came home in second in a Mercedes one-two, while Lawson completed the podium ahead of title rival Kelvin van der Linde and Cassidy in fifth.

Van der Linde clings to title hopes

Kelvin van der Linde further saw his title hopes dwindle by finishing fourth behind Lawson, but his title challenge very nearly ended in the wall on the opening lap.

The South African started on the front row alongside title rival Lawson and attempted to take the lead early with a bold dive up the inside at the turn one hairpin.

The Abt Sportsline Audi failed to navigate the turn’s apex and instead shot wide, triggering a chaotic sequence of events that allowed Philip Ellis to take the race lead and resulted in a retirement for Van der Linde’s team-mate Mike Rockenfeller.

Van der Linde himself was squeezed into the concrete barrier on corner exit, but luckily suffered no damage to his car. It resulted in a drop to seventh place.

An overtake on Lucas Auer as well as contact between Lawson and Ellis that saw the latter spin out allowed him to move up to fifth prior to the pitstops, after which he initially settled into third behind Götz and Lawson.

Maini, however, vaulted up to second place, leaving the South African off the podium. He was also under constant pressure from Lawson’s team-mate Nick Cassidy, who prolonged his opening stop and sat behind Van der Linde for a significant amount of time as the Audi driver faced the danger of going a lap down.

Once Cassidy did pit, he came out ahead of Van der Linde, demoting him to fifth. With his title hopes in the balance, Van der Linde eventually wrestled his way back past the AlphaTauri-liveried Ferrari to finish fourth.

He now sits second in the standings with 206 points, 18 points down on Lawson with 28 points still up for grabs for the final race on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Maximilian Götz’s victory ensures he still has an outside chance at the championship. The German now sits at 205 points, one less than Van der Linde.