Sensational podium finish on Saturday, Christian Engelhart’s Grasser guest appearance ended in the wall on Sunday: how he is doing and how he experienced the accident
The sensational weekend of Christian Engelhart, who was on the podium on Saturday, ended with a big bang on Sunday in the third round. That’s because Project 1 BMW driver Marco Wittmann caught the Grasser Lamborghini in the rear while trying to overtake before the hairpin, causing Engelhart to lose control and thunder violently into the wall with the right front.
“I’m fine under the circumstances,” Engelhart gave the all-clear to ran.de after the crash. “Everything’s fine, but the impact was tough.” Nevertheless, the GT3 veteran is puzzled by Wittmann’s maneuver.
“I honestly don’t understand what he was trying to do,” said Engelhart. “I indicated early on, I’m staying on the right, I’m defending, I’m closing on the inside. There was never more than a car width of space. And then he changes sides at the last moment, hits my rear bumper and spins me. “
“Misjudged”: Wittmann takes the blame for the accident
After that, the comeback driver, who sensationally finished second in qualifying and third in the race on Saturday, was just a passenger, while Wittmann’s BMW was neatly marked on the snout by the left light.
The Project 1 driver finished tenth in the end, but was seen as the culprit for the collision by the stewards. After the hearing, they decided to impose a 15-second penalty on the driver from Fürth, the equivalent of three penalty laps. As a result, Wittmann drops back to 17th place in the standings.
He clearly takes the blame for the mistake. “I’m sorry for Christian Engelhart that I misjudged in turn six,” he apologizes to the Grasser Lamborghini driver on Instagram. “Fortunately he is fine and uninjured in this big crash. “
Engelhart: “Too bad the weekend ended like this “
For Engelhart, the DTM finale was also the last race this year. “It’s a shame that this cool weekend has now ended like this,” he says. “Now I’m trying to take the positives from yesterday into the winter.”
There’s plenty of that, though, because hardly anyone would have expected Engelhart to come up so strongly right away on his comeback in the Lamborghini after four Porsche years, finishing a bearish third behind the Manthey EMA driver.
“After one day of testing I already felt pretty good, and it looks like you don’t forget these things over a longer period of time,” grins Engelhart, who obviously has a liking for the Lamborghini, as he has already proven in the past as ADAC GT Masters runner-up. Apart from that, he is regarded as a Hockenheim specialist.
Engelhart shines on Saturday: “Car like on rails “
In Saturday qualifying, when only Thomas Preining was faster than him, the car was “like on rails”, he thanked the Grasser team. “No oversteer, no understeer – I just had to do my thing, got some good laps I think. “
In the race, Engelhart lost a place due to the Manthey EMA drivers’ collusive start, but finished a clear third. “For me it’s mega to come here, get in the car and stand on the podium. And that’s after I found out about it at such short notice,” said the Bavarian, who won the opening weekend at Oschersleben in the Toksport-WRT Porsche.
What’s next for him in 2024? “There’s nothing I can say yet. That’s why we’ll have to wait and see a bit now,” he says, not yet letting his guard down.
