DTM Experience Winter Cup: Heinemann gets the Cup victory
The season finale of the DTM Experience Winter Cup 2015/2016 traditionally took place at the Hockenheimring. With seven wins out of nine total races Tim Heinemann enters into the history of virtual DTM Motorsports as the DTM Experience Winter Cup Champion 2015/2016. However for a long time it did not look like the Audi driver would score the win because Alexander Dorneiden was leading until the 18th minute of the final race.
Dornieden scored the fastest laptime very early in qualifying and nearly undercut the mark of 1:30,000. From the second starting position the Mercedes driver Florian Bodin went into the final race. Heinemann, who waited in the box for a long time and drove only four qualifying laps, only managed to put his name on position 3 right before the end of the 20 minute qualifying session. Giorgos Tzanetos, well-known for his fast qualifying results from the last races, lined up on fourth position.
Having started from the pole position Dornieden made a good start. Also the rest of the field squeezed through the bottleneck of the first right-hander and the chicane at the end of the Parabolica straight and survived unscathed.
Due to a time penalty for illegal cutting at the first corner Heinemann fell back on position 5. But that could not stop the future Champion and so he overtook the drivers Schulze and Bodin in front of him right away.
“It was more luck than skill”, Heinemann commented after the race.
DTM Winter Cup | Final – Part 1
Moritz Löhner who now had to defend his newly gained second position against Heinemann, could properly stand against his pursuer for several rounds. But in a favorable moment, Tim squeezed past him in the Mercedes Arena. Thereupon Tim started the hunt on Dornieden who was still leading. Now the battle for the title got particularly exciting and of all that in these important seconds the connection to the broadcast broke up. Heinemann could stalk Alexander deliberately and finally he managed to pass him.
Dornieden after the race: “I made a mistake in the first corner and so Heinemann could close the gap. Now he had the possibility to us DRS and finally passed me at the hairpin.”
However Heinemann could not really take off after that. For the remaining minutes of the race Dornieden stayed close within reach and gave Heinemann no opportunity to rest until Tim final could pass the finish line as the champion.
But not only the fights for the top positions showed excitement to the point, also on the rear positions we got to see plenty of action. Permanent position changes and heating duels stayed on the agenda. Stefan Fritsch railways his way through the rear field and was able to make up 10 positions. Moritz Löhner passed the finish line on third positons and became also a part of the top three virtual DTM race drivers worldwide.
“I´m absolutely satisfied with the third place. Tim and Alex had another pace I couldn’t get with them” said Löhner after the race.
DTM Winter Cup | Final – Part 2
For their outstanding performance Heinemann, Dornieden and Löhner will be exclusively honored with championship trophies at the DTM Season opening 2016 in Hockenheim.