Surprise winner at opening round of DTM eSports Championship

• Tim Jarschel takes shock victory at the Norisring
• Last-gasp win for Marcell Csincsik
• Defending champion Kevin Siggy fights back in main race

Munich. Tim Jarschel surprised the opposition with his performance in the two opening races of the 2024 DTM eSports Championship at the Norisring on Friday evening. The Falken Simracing driver finished runner-up in race one behind Marcell Csincsik (R8G Esports), before converting pole position into victory in the main race. Moritz Löhner (MOUZ Esports) was pleased with his haul of points, as he kicked the season off with third and second place. Defending champion Kevin Siggy (Team Redline) had to settle for 17th after a collision in race one. However, he bounced back with third place in the main race.

Last-gasp victory for Csincsik
Löhner secured pole position in a close qualifying session. He shared the front row of the grid with Csincsik, who was just 0.006 seconds off snatching pole himself. Jarschel was just 0.007 seconds slower than Löhner and started the opening race from third place. The start took place behind the safety car. When the race was released after one lap, Jarschel used the first hairpin to move ahead of Csincsik and Löhner and into the lead. The pole-sitter made a poor start and had to slot in behind his rivals. While the positions behind the leading trio were hard fought, it was relatively quiet out in front and the positions seemed to be settled. However, Csincsik seized his opportunity and surprised race leader Jarschel in the final corner. The Hungarian passed his rival on the inside, leaving Jarschel no chance to counter. He took victory ahead of the Falken Simracing driver and Löhner. The opening race did not go to plan at all for defending champion Siggy. Running sixth at the time, he was hit from behind by Dominik Blajer (Williams Esports) in turn one after roughly eight minutes of racing. Siggy spun and consequently dropped out of the top ten.

Jarschel wins convincingly
The duel between Jarschel and Csincsik continued into the main race. Jarschel secured pole position in qualifying, ahead of the Hungarian and Siggy. Csincsik took the lead at the start, followed by Jarschel, Gianmarco Fiduci (Veloce Esports) and Löhner. The 2020 DTM eSports Champion guided his BMW into fourth place. Out in front, Jarschel soon regained the lead and proceeded to open a lead of almost three seconds. Csincsik’s chance of a second podium came to an end on lap six. He spun and dropped back to 14th place. Fiduci inherited second place, with Löhner again on course for a podium result. Siggy overtook Fiduci after the mandatory pit stop to secure third place. While Jarschel went on to take a comfortable victory, Löhner came under pressure from Siggy, Fiduci and Rietveld. The German held his nerve and crossed the finish line in second place ahead of Siggy. The Fastest Lap Award went to Fiduci. Jarschel leads the championship with 60 points, ahead of Löhner on 52. Fiduci and Siggy follow with 36 and 32 points respectively. Löhner and Jarschel each picked up a point for the Pole Position Award.

Tim Jarschel: “I trained hard in the run-up to the season, and that paid dividends. It was obviously a shame that I was not able to hold onto first place in race one. However, the victory came later in the main race – what more could I ask for. We are only one race day into the season, and I don’t want to jump to any premature conclusions, but my goal is obviously to be challenging at the front.”

Moritz Löhner: “The second qualifying obviously went really badly with tenth place. However, the start was then really good. I muddled my way through on the right and left and suddenly found myself in fourth place. Later on, Marcell spun in front of me, and I was also able to gain a place during the pit stop. That put me in second place. It could not have gone much better for me.”

Kevin Siggy: “That was a race day of highs and lows. I knew it would be tough for me. Blajer totally missed his braking point and took me out in race one. In the second race, my strategy allowed me to pass Fiduci, but that was as much as I could have hoped for.”

The next race day at the Nürburgring takes place this Friday (15th March 2024). The action will be streamed live from 19:15 on the DTM YouTube channel, with commentary available in German and English.