Spectacular DTM Esports Championship powered by MediaMarkt opener 11.03.2022: Spectacular duel between defending champion Moritz Löhner in the BMW and Ferrari driver Kevin Siggy © DTM • Sprint victory for Moritz Löhner with BMW, Kevin Siggy with endurance win and two poles • Strong debut: five Ferraris in the top 10 in bo

Spectacular duel between defending champion Moritz Löhner in the BMW and Ferrari driver Kevin Siggy © DTM


•    Sprint victory for Moritz Löhner with BMW, Kevin Siggy with endurance win and two poles

•    Strong debut: five Ferraris in the top 10 in both races 

•    Hot battles for DTM Trophy seat at the virtual Imola race track



A breath-taking and heart-stopping finale, a spectacular Ferrari debut and first-class racing: the DTM Esports Championship powered by MediaMarkt season opener was a great success.


At the virtual race track of Imola, where the real-world DTM will be staging its third season round in June, defending champion Moritz Löhner with BMW (MRS Esports) and Slovenian Kevin Siggi with Ferrari (Team Redline) dominated proceedings.



In commanding fashion, Löhner won the 15-minutes sprint race from Siggy and his teammate Leonard Krippner. In the 60-minute endurance race, Siggy had to withstand fierce attacks by Löhner in the final laps in order to secure the maiden victory for Ferrari on the debut. Löhner was just beaten and ended up second from Ferrari driver Christopher Högfeldt (R8G Esports).



The debut of the Ferrari 488 GT3 evo 2020, made possible thanks to the long-awaited licensing by DTM partner RaceRoom, turned out to be more than convincing. In both races, five Ferraris ended up in the top 10 and next to his endurance race win, Kevin Siggy also secured the pole positions in the two qualifying sessions of ten minutes each.


That earned Siggy valuable additional points so that he will be the first championship leader of the 2022 DTM Esports season going into the second round at the virtual Norisring, the only 2.3 kilometres long street circuit in Nuremberg, in a fortnight.



Siggy is leading with 80 points from Löhner with 75 and Brit Isaac Price (49/BMW G2 Esports). At the end of the season’s six rounds, the five best-placed drivers can look forward to participation in a selection event with the unique chance of stepping up from virtual to real-world motorsport by means of a seat in the 2023 DTM Trophy, the talent pool on the DTM platform.



“I was lucky that some slower guys were holding up Moritz at the start of the endurance race so that he lost time. I am really happy with the result,” Siggy was well aware that his victory wasn’t just very close, but also a bit fortunate in the end.



After all, Moritz Löhner, last year’s DTM Esports champion, proved to be in great shape at the long-standing and demanding Imola circuit. In the sprint race, the 23-year-old from Munich already moved up from third on the grid to second on the opening lap, then overtook the Ferrari five minutes into the race with a brilliant move in the Villeneuve section and went on to bring victory home from Siggy and Krippner.



At the start of the endurance race, like in the real-world DTM a rolling affair in double-file formation, Löhner initially found himself in the middle of the action from seventh on the grid, but then showed entertaining overtaking moves, making up one place after another.


Siggy, meanwhile, already turned into the pit lane for his mandatory tyre change at an early stage with just a third of the race completed, handing the lead to Löhner. After his pit stop, Löhner rejoined the race in third behind the two Ferraris of Siggy and Hödfeldt, then overtook Högfeldt in a commanding way and started to hunt down Siggi. He reduced the gap by fractions of a second lap after lap, setting up the great showdown on the final laps.


Löhner started several attacks on the Ferrari, making it a real thriller, but eventually, there was no happy end for Löhner. “That was a cool opener! Making my way up from seventh on the grid was real fun. Perhaps, I just had needed one more lap at the end. But whatever, I definitely have to work on qualifying during my training,” Löhner commented.


“Now, I am really looking forward to Norisring, my home track, even though I fear that the Ferrari will have some major advantages.” For his fastest race lap time by far of 1m 40.291s, Moritz Löhner also won the Fastest Lap Award powered by MediaMarkt. Eighth in the sprint and fifth in the endurance race, his teammate Florian Hasse ended up as the second-best German in both races.



The impressive field of 29 sim racers from ten countries, having emerged from around 20,000 applicants, was surprisingly close in both races that also had hard position fights in the midfield in store.


“I am massively impressed. That was super exciting but absolutely fair,” ex-DTM champion Martin Tomczyk commented. He had also presented the 4.909 kilometres long circuit of the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari to the viewers of the bi-lingual YouTube live stream.

Alex Mosin, Florian Bodin and Julien Fox, who had qualified through the DTM Esports Cup staged by DTM partner MediaMarkt, also put in a strong performance. With the Ferrari in MediaMarkt livery, Bodin even enjoyed some laps in the lead courtesy of a late pit stop. Classified 20th, he also ended up as the best-placed from the MediaMarkt trio, directly ahead of Mosin and Fox.






Aline Proll- photo DTM