The smiling winner of the second DTM race on the Nurburgring is Marco Wittmann: the Schubert BMW driver, who began from sixth on the grid, benefited from his rivals’ errors after the beginning and on the first pit cease to grab his third DTM victory within the Eifel total.
“An outstanding race,” Wittmann mentioned fortunately on ProSieben. “A really wild race, particularly within the early levels, however we had been in a position to keep out of all of that and run precisely the fitting technique with our undercut. A very sturdy weekend with first and third place. So I’m very glad.”
Mercedes-AMG had began the race with large ambitions, however endured a medium-sized debacle on Sunday: Maro Engel (Winward-Mercedes) and Lucas Auer (Landgraf-Mercedes) collided shortly after the beginning, whereas polesitter Jules Gounon (Winward-Mercedes) in the end completed solely 14th, partly on account of a penalty.
The one pleasure for the model with the three-pointed star: Tom Kalender drove a faultless race and, due to his contemporary tyres, fought his method to second place within the closing levels, and with it his first podium end within the DTM. Thomas Preining (Manthey-Porsche) accomplished the rostrum in third.
“In fact I’d have preferred to remain in entrance, however no likelihood,” the Austrian admitted on ProSieben. “I believe the tyre was that a lot more energizing, not simply eight or ten laps, but it surely was actually a dominant efficiency from them. Principally, in fact, I’m very proud of how the race performed out. It couldn’t have gone higher for us.”
Arjun Maini (HRT-Ford) completed fourth, adopted by Mirko Bortolotti (Grasser-Lamborghini) and Abt-Lamborghini driver Lucas Engstler. Nicki Thiim (Comtoyou-Aston-Martin) reached the end line in seventh, forward of Timo Glock within the Dorr-McLaren. Marco Mapelli (Abt-Lamborghini) and Bastian Buus (Land-Porsche) accomplished the highest 10 on Sunday.
Maro Engel takes AMG colleague Lucas Auer out of the race
Mercedes-AMG suffered its first setback of the day shortly after the beginning, when championship chief Engel tangled with fellow Mercedes driver Auer. The Austrian spun consequently and subsequently additionally took Kelvin van der Linde (Schubert-BMW) out of the race. All three drivers needed to park their broken automobiles early.
“I want to have a look at it once more intently, but it surely appears to be like prefer it’s my mistake,” Engel instantly took the blame in an interview with ProSieben. “I must test once more whether or not I possibly acquired a [hit] from behind, I don’t know. However at first look I’d say, my mistake.”
After a brief security automotive interval, polesitter Gounon defended his lead from Ben Dorr (Dorr-McLaren) and the day past’s winner Matteo Cairoli within the Emil-Frey-Ferrari. Bortolotti (Grasser-Lamborghini), in the meantime, needed to drive via the penalty lap as soon as due to a soar begin, which dropped him to the again of the sphere early on.
Marco Wittmann advantages from pit-stop chaos
When the primary of two pit-stop home windows opened shortly afterwards, eighth-placed Engstler was the primary driver from the highest 10 to return in for a tyre change. Behind him, Ricardo Feller (Manthey-Porsche), Thierry Vermeulen (Emil-Frey-Ferrari) and Buus additionally opted for an early cease. Wittmann got here in three laps later, on lap 12.
As on the day past, there was additionally some exhausting racing on Sunday: the three-way battle between Kalender, Engstler and Feller significantly delighted the spectators, because the trio overtook one another a number of instances, in some instances even with mild contact.
The main group took considerably longer than the midfield drivers to make their first pit cease. Dorr lastly got here in on lap 16 as the primary driver from the highest 3, however the Dorr crew made one other mistake and failed to connect the right-front wheel correctly.
The McLaren teen made it again onto the monitor, however slid straight on on the very first nook. Gounon and Cairoli got here in a single lap later: whereas the Winward staff’s cease was good, Emil-Frey had a problem with the left-rear wheel.
Cairoli’s cease due to this fact lasted virtually 25 seconds, which dropped the Italian so far as eleventh place. The beneficiary of the pit-stop chaos was Marco Wittmann, who acquired previous Nicki Thiim, who misplaced quite a lot of time within the pit lane behind the struggling Dorr, and due to this fact moved as much as second place.
Gounon loses lead due to pit-stop infringement
To permit the stranded Dorr-McLaren to be recovered safely, the protection automotive got here out for a second time. Bitter for Gounon: as a result of the Frenchman was too quick within the pit lane throughout his cease, the Mercedes driver needed to drive via the penalty lap as soon as after the race was launched.
In consequence, the Frenchman dropped to sixth place and shortly afterwards additionally needed to concede to fellow Mercedes driver Kalender. Wittmann due to this fact took the lead for the primary time, adopted by Manthey-Porsche driver Thomas Preining and Nicki Thiim.
After the second security automotive, there have been additional duels within the midfield, together with between Bortolotti and Finn Wiebelhaus within the second HRT-Ford. For the rookie, the contact ended with a puncture. Race management briefly seemed on the incident, however didn’t difficulty a penalty to any of these concerned.
Arjun Maini, who was working on contemporary tyres after his early retirement the day past, had already fought his means as much as fourth place by this level. Shortly afterwards, the second pit-stop window opened, with the Indian driver the primary to show in for one more tyre change.
Tom Kalender takes first podium end within the DTM
The highest 3 got here in for his or her second cease a number of laps later, with no adjustments initially ensuing. Third-placed Thiim, nevertheless, might probably not get going once more afterwards. The Dane first needed to concede to AMG driver Kalender earlier than Engstler and Maini additionally went previous.
On the entrance, the highest three closed up: Kalender put Preining underneath stress within the remaining laps and, shortly earlier than the chequered flag fell, pulled off a powerful transfer to get previous the 2023 DTM champion. The 18-year-old, who had already completed fourth as soon as on the season opener on the Purple-Bull-Ring, is celebrating his first DTM podium.
Solely 20 automobiles began Sunday’s race: Christian Engelhart, who was in motion on the Nurburgring as a substitute for the injured Maximilian Paul, was unable to take any additional half within the race. His Grasser-Lamborghini was too badly broken within the heavy accident with Thierry Vermeulen within the closing levels of Saturday’s race.
Maro Engel retains DTM factors lead, however …
Winward-Mercedes driver Maro Engel retains the lead within the total standings regardless of his retirement, however Thomas Preining (Manthey-Porsche) has closed to inside one level due to his third place on Sunday. Nicki Thiim (Comtoyou-Aston-Martin) is in third place, 21 factors behind.
“We’re leaving just one level behind, who would have thought that,” Preining mentioned, sending out a warning to his rivals. “However I believe it’s deserved and I believe we are able to be glad about it.”
The 2026 DTM season now enters its decisive section, with solely 4 races remaining on the schedule in complete: the subsequent two races happen in 4 weeks on the Sachsenring (11 to 13 September), earlier than the brand new DTM champion is topped on the finale in Hockenheim (09 to 11 October).
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