Sometimes, motor racing doesn’t only infuse the drivers with a continuous shot of adrenaline, but the crew members as well.
When the competition high kicks in, it doesn’t matter if you’re racing for 1st, 2nd or 55th place because you’ll always want to beat the guy in front of you no matter what.
That said, it seems like the days of gentleman racing are long gone, especially after analyzing the occurrence of this particular incident.
Combating for sixth place, Robert Wickens, Pascal Wehrlein and Timo Scheider were on the final lap of the Red Bull Racing DTM race in sixth, seventh and eighth position. The spectacle was intense, as neither driver would back down from lifting off the throttle – with the two Mercs in front of the tailgating Audi – nothing unusual for an Audi here.
Moments after, Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, Audi Motorsport boss, transmitted a radio message to Scheider demanding him to “schieb ihn raus” – which means “push him out” in English.
Needless to say the racing driver bumped into Wickens’s Mercedes, eliminating both his adversaries from the race thanks to a perfectly executed carom.
And yes, Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich is the same man who nursed 13 wins for Audi in the 24-hours of LeMans. That’s not cool, Mr. Ulrich. What if this incident occurred in a Le Mans event, after 23 hours of racing? Would that be fair?
Schreider was later disqualified from the race, but no additional penalty was given to the team. Granted, Dr Ullrich expressed his sorrow some time after the racing, stating:
“What was done with Timo was not the proper way to go about things. But it was most definitely not my intention that Robert (Wickens) and Pascal (Wehrlein) end up in the gravel trap. I’m sorry that I shouted, ‘Timo push him out’ in my initial emotion at the command post. This was not an instruction for Timo by any means. I can only apologize to Mercedes for this remark. An expression like that does not reflect my idea of motorsport, but was strictly due to the adrenaline at that moment.”