A great showing from the Team Speed Monkey AMR racers at DTM Trophy opener

In a slight twist to other established GT4 series, the DTM Trophy runs with solo drivers in two shorter, thirty minutes plus one lap sprint races as venues in and around Germany in support of the main DTM Series of which the two Aston Martins are two of twenty similar cars.

With Nick Hancke driving their #99 car and Jacob Riegel the #63 cars, the two Astons had a conservative start to the weekends proceedings with the #99 Qualifying in P13 and the #63 P16 at the first time of asking as they competed amongst their competitors for the first time.

That however transcribed into a P4 finish for Hancke by the end of the race, albeit fifteen seconds behind the eventual winner whilst Riegel completed his first GT4 race in P13.

Sundays second race would see a similar Qualifying position for Hancke in P14, but Riegel was able to improve to start from the fourth row of the grid. Whereas Hancke would get spun around at the opening corner to lose significant ground to the pack, Riegel was able to narrowly avoid being shoved into the inside wall along the start straight to pressurise those ahead for P4 for most of the race.

With just five minutes remaining however, a lunge up the inside of the #63 car by the #13 BMW led to the BMW washing out of the corner and into the side of the Aston Martin, breaking its steering in the process and sending Riegel through the gravel and into the tyre wall. Thankfully, Riegel was unhurt and his car not too badly damaged although it was a first DNF of the season for the youngster.

Thanks to that Safety Car period, Hancke was able to elevate his race 2 position to complete the weekend with a P6 finish to go with his P4 on Saturday.

Photo credits - Team