Ferrari driver Kevin Siggy on the brink of title win after fifth season win in DTM Esports Championship 22.04.2022: • Defending champion Löhner and Siggy split wins and points at Red Bull Ring • Battle for real-world licence course and DTM Trophy drive heats up • Grand finale at virtual Portimão Grand Prix track on 28 April

•    Defending champion Löhner and Siggy split wins and points at Red Bull Ring


•    Battle for real-world licence course and DTM Trophy drive heats up


•    Grand finale at virtual Portimão Grand Prix track on 28 April




Even though the Ferrari driver from Team Redline had to fight at the Red Bull Ring: Kevin Siggy is the clear title favourite in the DTM Esports Championship powered by MediaMarkt © DTM






For Kevin Siggy, the title win in the DTM Esports Championship powered by MediaMarkt is within reach. After another commanding display by Siggy at the virtual Red Bull Ring and an intense duel with defending champion Moritz Löhner, the two split the wins and the points in the fifth and penultimate round.



With a comfortable margin of 54 points, the Ferrari driver is going into the grand finale that will be held at the virtual Grand Prix track of Portimão in Portugal on Thursday, 28 April. Moritz Löhner, still the reigning DTM Esports champion, knows only too well that he needs a small miracle to still keep the Slovenian from wrapping up the title.



However, in the DTM Esports Championship powered by MediaMarkt, there is much more at stake than just the title. Not only the champion, but the five best-placed drivers in the end-of-season standings will receive the same prize: participation in a licence course in real-world motorsport.


In this course at Lausitzring, things will really get exciting as the best can look forward to a full season in DTM Trophy, the talent pool on the DTM platform – a opportunity to win that is unique in virtual motorsport, in sim racing.


Next to Kevin Siggy (Ferrari, Team Redline), leading the standings with 380 points, and Löhner (BMW, Dörr Esports) with 326 points, Florian Hasse (BMW, Dörr Esports) with 234, Gianmarco Fiduci (Ferrari, Team Fordzilla) with 222 and Alessandro Ottaviani (Ferrari, R8G eSports) with 202 are the drivers in the coveted first five positions.



With 197 points, sixth-placed Leonard Krippner (BMW, Dörr Esports) still also has good chances to move up into the quintet while for Jack Keithley (Mercedes-AMG, 172) from Formula 1 subsidiary Williams Esports, chances are rather limited.



The unique and undulating track in Styria produced a DTM Esports race as good as they come. In the process, not only Siggy and Löhner demonstrated their sim racing skills, Fiduci, Hasse, Krippner and Max Pfeifer (Mercedes-AMG, TailoredRig G2 Esports) did likewise.


The duel Siggy against Löhner was already in full swing in free practice with Siggy coming out ahead of Löhner. With points at stake for the first time in qualifying for the sprint race, Löhner was wide awake and claimed his third pole position of the season from Siggy and teammate Hasse.



„I worked intensely on the set-up. It was hardly needed, too. I did find one or two tenths indeed,“ said the visibly relieved defending champion who once again was able to rely on the support from his teammates Hasse and Krippner.



At the start of the 15-minute sprint race, the Dörr Esports trio put in a genuine parforce run. On the outside, the Dörr train with Löhner, Hasse and Krippner, having started from first, third and fifth place respectively, overtook the rest, Siggy included, and moved up into the first three places.


A perfect manoeuvre and ideal for Löhner. Siggy however showed his strength, fighting in a spirited way and also visibly at the limit, and ended up by securing one position after another. No matter how wide the Dörr BMWs made themselves, Siggy eventually broke the defence by Krippner and Hasse and ended up in second place behind Löhner, who scored his fourth win of the season, with Hasse next up and Krippner, Isaac Price (BMW, BMW M2 Esports), Fiduci, Pfeifer, Keithley, Ottaviani and Michael Rächl (Mercedes-AMG, Dörr Esports) rounding out the top ten.



In qualifying for the feature race, Fiduci, getting stronger and stronger, surprised by claiming pole position from fellow Ferrari driver Siggy while Löhner still scored one point in third place. In the 60-minute feature race, producing hard, but very fair battles, just like the sprint race, 23-year-old Löhner had a super getaway, slotting in between Fiduci and Siggy in the first corner right away.


A six-way battle unfolded at the front with Pfeifer, Hasse and Krippner in fourth to sixth place. It was only a matter of time before Siggy attacked Löhner, but Löhner fended off the initial attempts and Siggy got himself in trouble, too, getting sideways several times coming out of long corners.


But Löhner had to apply all the tricks in the book as well to keep the blue-and-black BMW on track. Simultaneously, the leading trio came in for the mandatory pit stop after 25 minutes of racing and the trio rejoined the race at the beautifully located circuit in Styria in close formation.


Löhner eventually made a move on Fiduci at the end of the uphill section in the Remus corner, but it went pear-shaped as not only he didn’t find a way past Fiduci, but Siggy went past as well. With nine minutes remaining, a situation occurred that could have decided the championship with Fiduci losing the lead to Siggy.


 Löhner’s chances were reduced significantly, especially as he had trouble keeping up with the pace of the Ferrari duo that had an advantage accelerating out of tight corners in particular. But then, there was the final lap and Fiduci was keen to reclaim the lead. However, the Italian massively locked up under braking for the Remus corner, enabling Löhner to get past and still finish in second place, behind Siggy and ahead of Fiduci.


Pfeifer finished a strong fourth from Hasse, Price, Krippner Keithley, Ottaviani and Marc Gassner (BMW, Tailoredrig Esports).



Classified 19th in the sprint race, Alex Mosin (Ferrari, Ballas Esports) was the best-placed qualifier from the DTM Esports Cup powered by MediaMarkt. In the feature race, it was Julien Fox (BMW/TR powered by Greekz Energy) in 17th.






Aline Proll- photos DTM