It’s often said in sport that once you reach the top, the only way is down. All you can do is prolong the inevitable. To carry the champion's #1 is to have a target daubed on your back, signifying to all the benchmark against which success is measured. And it also means more scrutiny than normal is applied when results aren’t coming.
That the high points of defending DTM champion Maximilian Gotz’s 2022 season so far have not come in the series he won last year says much about a title defence that has yet to properly get going. Finishing runner-up in the Nurburgring 24 Hours and the recent Spa 24 Hours is nothing to be sniffed at, and shows that the AMG Mercedes stalwart hasn't forgotten how to drive overnight. After all, it’s not for nothing that champion status is earned.
