The Dane was one of only three drivers who took a gamble at the start and opted for slicks. The risk paid off: from 16th on the grid, the ABT driver stormed to the front of the field on a drying track. In a photo finish, he was only beaten by Porsche driver Ayhancan Güven.
“That was an incredible story, of course,” said Nicki Thiim after the race. “I’m incredibly proud to have secured the first podium for ABT and Red Bull with Lamborghini in the DTM. My boss Martin Tomczyk said ‘we’re going for slicks’ – and he was right. It was an adventurous race from back to front and the joy in the team at the end was huge. On Sunday, it was quite similar with my drive from 22nd to 14th and some tough battles typical of the DTM. We made the best of our starting positions in both races. That was great. But of course, we want to find more pace – especially in qualifying.”
Defending champion Mirko Bortolotti, who crossed the finish line in ninth on both days at Zandvoort despite starting outside the top ten, agrees: “Those were ninth places that feel like victories,” said the Italian. “Under normal circumstances and without a ‘lucky punch’, that’s our absolute maximum at the moment – and we achieved it. A big thank you to the team!”
“The weather played into our hands on Saturday,” said ABT Motorsport Director Martin Tomczyk. “We took a risky strategy with Nicki and let him start on slick tyres, which turned out to be the right one. But it wasn’t easy to make that decision. That’s why we didn’t take the risk with Mirko. It was great for the whole team to achieve such a result on Saturday and celebrate our first DTM podium with Lamborghini. We knew that Sunday would be even tougher because qualifying didn’t go well for us. I’m quite happy with the pace both drivers had in the race. I think we got everything right strategically and gained a few positions with both cars. But we’re still not where we want to be. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”
The DTM continues at the beginning of July with ABT Sportsline’s home race at the Norisring. Before that, the team will contest the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring with two Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 cars.