Shock and breathe a sigh of relief: Dietrich's bad luck at the home race in Styria

Shock and breathe a sigh of relief: Dietrich's bad luck at the home race in Styria

An unexpected shock occurred for the racing team of the Petzenkirchner Philipp Dietrich at the Red Bull Ring last weekend. During the event there was a serious accident in which Dietrich's team -mate David Lackner was involved. Fortunately, Lackner, apart from a few nicked pain, remained unharmed.

The weekend that started promising for Dietrich and his team quickly took a turn. After a rigid preparation for the test days and a pleasing qualifying, in which Dietrich landed in 16th place, they hoped a lot from the two home races that took place in picturesque Styria.

race with ups and downs

on Saturday Lackner started in the first race and handed over the Porsche to Dietrich, who was 19th place at that time. Dietrich did his best and struggled through the field, but in the last curve of the crucial round, a stroke of fate underwent him: he skidded and landed in the grass, which took a lot of time.

After this misfortune, the pioneer could not be got down. Motivated, he went into the second race on Sunday. At the beginning he had a fantastic start and was able to leave three opponents quickly. But the unpredictable happened in the first round: several cars collided in front of him, and he had to navigate through a cloud of smoke and rubble, to avoid a collision. Despite his efforts, he ultimately fell back to the last place. As a result, the race was canceled.

penalties and setbacks

The situation continued to deteriorate for Dietrich when he had to complete a penalty lap at the restart. He received this penalty round because he had to avoid another vehicle before the race was officially launched, which classified the race management as a rule violation. Despite his reasoning that he only wanted to avoid one collision, the officials remained in their decision.

After the penalty round, Dietrich nevertheless showed a fighting spirit and fought back. He mastered a strong round and handed over the vehicle to Lackner shortly before the decisive points, which was involved in the serious accident a little later.

Despite the setbacks, Dietrich remains optimistic. His consistently solid times in midfield and constant progress give rise to hope, while he can prepare for the season finale at the Hockenheimring between October 18 and 20. The anticipation for the last race of this year's ADAC-GT4-Germany is clearly noticeable and is carried by a strong team spirit.