There have been some memorable events in the 40-year history of the DTM, but there have never been any victories by a father-son team. After the race weekend at the Norisring, historians can now tick this feat off their list. On the Nuremberg street circuit, Norisring followed in his father Kurt’s footsteps and won a race in the traditional German series.
Thiim Junior triumphed on Sunday exactly 10,521 days or almost 29 years after father Thiim’s last of 19 DTM victories on September 17, 1995 on the Alemannenring street circuit in Singen. At that time, the senior was driving an AMG-Mercedes C-Class entered by Zakspeed, while his son Nicki is now driving a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 from the Munich racing team SSR Performance.
Kurt Thiim: “We have been waiting for the knot to burst for a long time”
Kurt Thiim was not able to celebrate his son’s victory at the race track, but followed the action on television, but that did not affect the family’s happiness. “To be honest, I have been waiting for a long time for Nicki to finally break the deadlock in the DTM,” said the 65-year-old, extremely proud, as he Motorsport-Magazin.com reached on the phone.
Thiim Senior continued: “Perhaps his victory at the 24-hour race in Spa also helped and provided even more motivation – also for the second half of the DTM season that is now coming up. I hope that he uses the current flow and has now really got a taste for it!” It was an amazing week for Nicki: first he added the overall victory at the 24-hour race in Spa with Aston Martin to his already impressive motorsport resume, followed seven days later by his first DTM victory in the Lambo.
For Nicki Thiim, a dream comes true with DTM victory
“For Nicki, the DTM victory was probably a dream come true, because I was always his role model, especially because of my DTM career, in which I won the title and 19 races,” said Kurt Thiim, who won the 1986 DTM championship in a Rover Vitesse ahead of Volker Weidler. “The victory certainly means a lot to him.”
Nicki made no secret of this at the Norisring: after winning from pole position, the 35-year-old practically didn’t want to let go of the big winner’s trophy. Thiim, who is a fan favorite in Germany because of his open manner and wild hairstyle, said after his difficult start to the season, “A win in the DTM has been my dream for 20 years. The hard work pays off and bad times pass. Never piss on a Viking’s leg!”
Nicki needed twelve DTM races across the seasons for his first victory, as well as his first podium finish and first pole position. Papa Kurt was at the top of the podium in his very first race on March 30, 1986 in Zolder, Belgium, before later bagging the title in his DTM debut year. The Dane competed in a total of 211 races from 1986 to 1996 for Rover, Alfa, BMW and Mercedes. “I plan to be there in person again at the next DTM event at the Nürburgring,” announced Kurt.
Are you a real DTM insider and want to know what happened behind the scenes at the Norisring weekend? Then you have to read our exclusive notes now: