A foggy Saturday and a sunnier Sunday made up for an overall very challenging race weekend at the Nürburgring for Sophie Hofmann, who hit trouble in both races for a series of extremely unlucky circumstances.
After a long summer break, the DTM Trophy was back on track at the famous Nürburgring in the Eifel, which kicked off the second half of the 2022 season. The weekend started off sunny, with the two free practice sessions on Friday, in which Sophia Hofmann (Heide Motorsport) was able to take 14th and 16th place.
Due to the immense challenges of the thick fog on Saturday, though, qualifying was cancelled and the starting order was determined by championship points - which meant the German driver would start from P11 into the race.
Originally, the race was supposed to start at 3:15pm, but the fog worsened during the day, and it was unknown if the race would even take place for most of the day. As soon as the conditions were good enough to race, the starting time was set to 7:05pm.
Sophie Hofmann had a great start - but after only one minute of racing, another car lost liquid on the track and she unfortunately could do nothing to avoid slipping over it. The Heide Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT4 spun off the track, putting Hofmann to the back of the pack.
During the race she showed some good pace, but had little chance to reach the tail of the pack and finished the race in 16th place, with no neutralizations to make up some ground.
Tim Heinemann (Toyota Gazoo Racing Germany Powered by Ring Racing) won in front of Daniel Gregor (KÜS Team Bernhard) and Thiago Vivacqua (Heide Motorsport).
After a tough day and race on Saturday, Sunday looked more promising. The fog had disappeared, so the qualifying and the race could take place as they were planned.
In Q2, the 24-year-old racing driver finished in 16th place. At the start of the race, Hofmann was able to gain two positions and was already up to P14 two minutes into the race.
Due to Rodrigo Dias Almeida (BWT Mücke Motorsport) off track moment - who fell back to 15th place after a collision at around 26 minutes to go - Sophie gained another place, claiming P13.
Almeida fought back on Lap 4 and, soon after, Hofmann had to abandon the race due to a technical issue.
"I had a lot of difficult weekends, lots of bad luck and shitty races, technical issues, dirty fights and disputes" - summed up a disappointed Hofmann after the weekend. "Overall there have been so many bad times, of course also some good and positive memories, but weekends like this bring a heavy vibe."
"The more you expect and the more you experience the more things become depressing", she continued. "Nürburgring was never easy but having so much bad luck over a couple of weeks makes it pretty hard."
"Hope to be back in 2 weeks and of course need to see what the rest of the season brings. No one quits. Success never comes easy. Still some things to reflect and handle." - Sophie Hofmann concluded.
Tim Heinemann took another win, in front of Ricky Capo (KÜS Team Bernhard) and Daniel Gregor after a n action-packed race with plenty of on-track battles.
The series will be back on track from 9th to 11th September at Spa-Francorchamps, as Sophie Hofmann will aim once again for points with Heide Motorsport at the iconic Belgian track.
