ABreathing a sigh of relief after the serious accident at the DTM season finale in Hockenheim: The drivers David Schumacher (Bergheim), Rolf Ineichen (Switzerland) and Dennis Olsen (Norway), who were taken to the hospital for further examinations, are not seriously injured and have already left the hospital. This was confirmed by the DTM on Saturday evening.
However, Ralf Schumacher’s son David will not start in the last race on Sunday (1.30 p.m. on ProSieben) because his Mercedes is too damaged. This was initially unclear for the six other pilots involved in the accident.
“It was a tough race and I’m glad that nobody was seriously injured in the accidents,” said Lucas Auer, who won the race that started again after a long break and thus put himself in a brilliant position for the finale. The nephew of the former Formula 1 driver and current DTM boss Gerhard Berger now has 147 points and thus only two fewer than leader Sheldon van der Linde (South Africa), who drove from 16th to second place in the BMW on Saturday. The former champion Rene Rast (Minden) only has small chances with 128 points, Mirko Bortolotti (Italy/121) could theoretically also become champion.
On the other hand, the Austrian Thomas Preining, who retired in the crash, can no longer take part in the championship race. An employee at the track in Hockenheim suffered “a forearm injury” in a fall, said a DTM spokeswoman on SID request. The fall is not related to the accident on the track. The race was initially stopped with a red flag and continued after a lengthy clean-up work.
Porsche driver Preining collided with David Schumacher, both of whom slid into the barriers at high speed. Pilots driving behind could not avoid it. In the event of an impact, the engine of Olsen’s Porsche was thrown onto the track and briefly caught fire.
