Finn Wiebelhaus reflected on a breakthrough weekend at the Lausitzring after securing his maiden DTM podium at Race 2, which happened to be only his sixth start in the championship. The 20-year-old finished third in Sunday’s second race after a strong drive for HRT Ford. He passed team-mate Arjun Maini with two laps remaining to complete the podium behind Matteo Cairoli and Nicki Thiim.
Wiebelhaus had already enjoyed success with the Ford Mustang in ADAC GT Masters. However, his first DTM podium represented another important step in his young career.
Wiebelhaus struggled to process maiden DTM podium
Wiebelhaus admitted the scale of the result had not fully sunk in immediately after the race. He described it as one of the strongest performances of his career and took particular satisfaction from how he handled the demanding conditions. High temperatures placed additional stress on the tyres throughout the race. Wiebelhaus therefore had to manage his pace carefully while remaining close to the leading group.
He credited HRT and Ford Racing for providing a competitive package. However, he felt Cairoli’s Ferrari and Thiim’s Aston Martin had held a slight advantage at the front. Rather than taking unnecessary risks, Wiebelhaus focused on extracting everything available from the car. Third place ultimately represented the best result he believed the team could have achieved.
The podium also provided a positive response to a difficult opening race at the Lausitzring. Contact with Thierry Vermeulen had forced Wiebelhaus to retire on Saturday after he suffered damage to the left-rear of his Ford.
“It’s amazing. I still don’t realise that I’m on the podium. This will come, I guess. It was a mega race. I really enjoyed it. It was probably one of the best races I’ve done today of my whole career, I have to say. It was very hot. So tyre management was key. And HRT did a great job. And Ford Racing also. We have a mega car today, but not quite enough to fight for the win. I mean, the Aston was flying and the Ferrari as well. Nothing we could have done better, I guess. So podium was the maximum we could reach, and we did it. So we maximised our package, and I’m super happy about that.”
HRT allowed Wiebelhaus and Maini to fight in DTM Race 2 at the Lausitzring
Wiebelhaus had to overcome his own team-mate to secure the final podium position. Maini started from pole and led the opening stages before Cairoli moved ahead through the first pit-stop sequence. The Indian driver remained in podium contention but began to struggle on older tyres during the closing laps.
Wiebelhaus quickly closed the gap and placed the sister Ford under pressure. HRT allowed both drivers to race, provided they avoided eliminating one another from the contest. The pair fought closely and made slight contact during the battle. However, Wiebelhaus felt Maini had defended fairly despite the intensity of their fight.
Maini held the position for several laps before Wiebelhaus finally completed the pass with two tours remaining. The German rookie then controlled the final moments to secure third place. Wiebelhaus enjoyed the chance to race his more experienced team-mate and believed both drivers had respected the boundaries set by HRT.
“Yeah. Feel free to fight. I mean, at the beginning of the race, or before the race, we got told that we shouldn’t take us out. The rest is fine. So I think we did that. We touched slightly, I guess, with what I saw in my car. And it was just a bit of rubbing. But in the end it was a mega fight. Arjun [Maini] was super fair. I mean, it was a really hard but nice fight. Had really much fun out there. So yeah. It’s been amazing to fight with Arjun like this.”
Fresher tyres helped Wiebelhaus during final stint
Wiebelhaus also benefited from having fresher tyres available for the final part of the race. His retirement on Saturday meant he had completed fewer laps on one set of Pirelli tyres. That gave him a small advantage as tyre degradation became increasingly important during Sunday’s race.
HRT brought Wiebelhaus into the pits early during both tyre-change windows. A slow second stop prevented him from gaining more ground through the undercut, but he remained close enough to attack Maini later in the stint. The fresher rubber helped Wiebelhaus maintain a stronger pace as Maini began to struggle. It ultimately gave him the performance required to challenge for third place and secure his first DTM podium.
Cairoli held off Thiim by just 0.413 seconds to claim his second victory of the season and take the championship lead. Behind them, Wiebelhaus completed a landmark result during only his sixth race in the series.
“Yeah exactly. I mean, yesterday I got taken out by Vermeulen, which was not on TV. So yeah. Due to the contact, I had to retire the car because I had an issue on the rear left. And then yeah. I had now a bit of fresher rubber in the last stint, which, for sure, was helping in the end. And yeah. For sure that’s helping.”
