The battle for the title in the 2021 GT4-based DTM Trophy went down to the final race of the season in the same way that the main GT3-based battle did: the two Brits Ben Green (BMW) and William Tregurtha (Mercedes-AMG) would stage the showdown at Norisring after Saturday’s race left both still in the hunt.
FK Performance BMW driver Green would be in the best position after a second place finish on Saturday. His Mercedes AMG driving rival from the CV Performance Group team took the chequered flag in fourth place. As third-placed Mercedes-AMG driver Marc de Fulgencio (Leipert Motorsport) wasn’t eligible to score points, being a guest driver, the points for third place went to Tregurtha. In the drivers’ standings, Green led Tregurtha by 222 to 216 points going into the finale.
Victory in the race went to Belgian Toyota Supra GT4 driver Nico Verdonck (Ring-Racing). In qualifying, Verdonck had claimed pole position and on a turbulent opening lap, the Belgian briefly lost the lead, but was able to claim it back on the second lap.
Next up were Green, Tregurtha and Green’s teammate and Norisring local hero Moritz Löhner.
Verdonck remained unfazed by an early safety car intervention after the stranded Mercedes-AMG of Tregurtha’s teammate Matias Salonen had to be recovered.
At the restart, Verdonck remained in the lead from Green. The duo soon pulled clear from the rest of the field and completed its laps of the Norisring in close formation. However, Verdonck left Green no chance to risk an attack at any time. After a total of 33 exciting race laps, the Belgian’s second race win of the season after his Saturday race win at Lausitzring was in the books, just like Green’s second place.
Behind the duo up front, another pair of drivers, Tregurtha and de Fulgencio, battled for the final podium slot. The battle was decided with four laps remaining: Tregurtha left a slight gap in the Grundig hairpin, de Fulgencio used his chance and took over third place.
There were also intense fights behind the first four: in the second half of the race, the three-way battle between BMW drivers Theo Oeverhaus (Walkenhorst Motorsport), Yann Zimmer (FK Performance Motorsport) and Zimmer’s fellow Swiss Lucas Mauron caught the attention. Eventually, Audi driver Mauron (Heide-Motorsport) came out on top in the battle for fifth. In the closing stages, he first found a way past Zimmer and then went on to overtake Oeverhaus.
Verdonck’s teammate Stephane Kox from The Netherlands was the best-placed female driver in the field. She finished in tenth place and therefore was two positions ahead of Mauron’s teammate Sophie Hofmann and three places ahead of Austrian KTM driver Laura Kraihamer (True Racing by Reiter Engineering).
