The Kiwi driver follows up his Spa win with Red Bull Ring Saturday triumph at Spielberg.
Nick Cassidy served up a home victory at Spielberg for Red Bull//AlphaTauri- AF Corse fans in the only Austrian race of the 2022 DTM season.
Cassidy started the first race of the weekend where he had finished the previous race at Spa-Francorchamps: at the head of the field. The Kiwi had placed second in Spielberg Qualifying behind German René Rast, but Rast had a three-place grid penalty to serve – coincidentally from initiating contact with Cassidy in Spa – which moved the #37 AlphaTauri Ferrari up to pole.
Seizing the advantage, Cassidy made the most of it in Saturday’s race, seemingly unfazed by the extra 25 kg of success ballast his Ferrari 488 GT3 EVO 2020 was carrying as the winner of the previous race. Having missed two DTM rounds this season due to Formula E commitments, the 28-year-old had nothing to lose and played the spoiler among the championship’s leaders, as his superb driving and the team’s pit-stops kept him in the lead from pole to the chequered flag.
Cassidy’s victory made him only the second DTM championship driver this season to capture more than a single race win and also set a milestone as the landmark 500th race win for the Ferrari 488 GT car.
“Winning in the AlphaTauri car at the Red Bull Ring is very special and a personal career highlight for me.”
Cassidy said: “As a team, we’d done well at Portimão and the Norisring, which I think are two good tracks for the Ferrari, and I think now with Spa and the race here, we’re getting back to tracks that work for us. Winning in the AlphaTauri car at the Red Bull Ring is very special and a personal career highlight for me. DTM is at such a high level and this is one of the top teams in the championship – it’s a pleasure to drive for them.”
Race 2 of the weekend and Cassidy carried an extra 20 kg of Balance of Performance ballast that organisers had given to the Ferraris overnight, plus Cassidy also had the 25 kg winner’s ballast. The 55-minute plus one-lap race started in the blinding spray, but with the forecast set to clear, teams had to make their best guess as to tyre strategy. Pitting early on, Cassidy’s tyres for the wet were hot and ineffective by the end of the race, for a 19th-place result.
Cassidy added: “I think it was quite clear with the weight that we had a wet tyre on a dry circuit and it was more of a hindrance than normal. Maybe we can review a few things, but it was an unlucky situation.”
The weekend’s results catapulted Cassidy to 12th place in the DTM Drivers’ Championship. Defending Team champions Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse have moved up to third in that battle with two races left at the season finale around Germany’s Hockenheimring on October 7-9.
