Chaos at Daytona

Auer was happy about “sheet metal” after bad luck

Lucas Auer finished fourth in class at Daytona despite a host of problems.

(Bild: Mercedes-AMG/Winward)

Broken vertebrae, three months of rehab, a fight back into the cockpit. Two years ago, Lucas Auer was badly shaken by a wild crash at the 24 Hours of Daytona. Now the Tyrolean has nevertheless returned to the start of the classic race. And just missed the podium in fourth place. Due to a lot of bad luck - not as the only Austrian!

 

After just two hours, Auer lost seven laps due to a fault on the accelerator pedal of his Mercedes. "After 14 hours, we had made up ground and were even leading the GTD class, but then we received a drive-through penalty," said Auer, "but we fought our way back."

A collision at the finish prevented Porsche driver Klaus Bachler from winning the class.

(Bild: Porsche)

But then things got tough again: Auer's team had to pit during a safety car phase - without permission. "Otherwise we would have run out of fuel." So another drive-through penalty. Despite this, Auer fought for the podium again in the final race, "but then someone spun me." So fourth place. "Still, I'm happy because it means points for the championship. The race and the racing gods were not necessarily on our side, but the speed was top."

Bad luck for Philipp Eng in the BMW.

(Bild: BMW/Sam Cobb)

Chaos shortly before the end
The chaos at the restart just 35 minutes before the end was also the undoing of Philipp Eng in the BMW, who dropped from third to fourth overall after a collision. Klaus Bachler, Austria's motorsport driver of the year, was battling for victory in the GTD Pro class and finished eighth after a crash. His Porsche colleagues Richard Lietz and Thomas Preining finished tenth.