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 general.
“An excellent race,” Wittmann stated fortunately on ProSieben. “A really wild race, particularly within the early levels, however we have been capable of keep out of all of that and run precisely the appropriate technique with our undercut. A very sturdy weekend with first and third place. So I’m very happy.”
Mercedes-AMG had began the race with huge 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) finally completed solely 14th, partly because of a penalty.
The one pleasure for the model with the three-pointed star: Tom Kalender drove a faultless race and, because of his contemporary tyres, fought his technique 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 probability,” the Austrian admitted on ProSieben. “I believe the tyre was that a lot brisker, not simply eight or ten laps, but it surely was actually a dominant efficiency from them. Mainly, 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 in consequence 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 would like to take a look at it once more intently, but it surely appears prefer it’s my mistake,” Engel instantly took the blame in an interview with ProSieben. “I have to verify once more whether or not I possibly obtained a [hit] from behind, I don’t know. However at first look I’d say, my mistake.”
After a brief security automobile interval, polesitter Gounon defended his lead from Ben Dorr (Dorr-McLaren) and yesterday’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 sector 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 come back 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 yesterday, there was additionally some laborious racing on Sunday: the three-way battle between Kalender, Engstler and Feller notably delighted the spectators, because the trio overtook one another a number of instances, in some circumstances 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 teenager 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 group’s cease was excellent, Emil-Frey had a difficulty 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 obtained previous Nicki Thiim, who misplaced lots 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 security automobile 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 automobile, 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 appeared on the incident, however didn’t difficulty a penalty to any of these concerned.
Arjun Maini, who was operating on contemporary tyres after his early retirement yesterday, had already fought his approach 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 couple of laps later, with no adjustments initially ensuing. Third-placed Thiim, nevertheless, may not likely 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 below strain within the last 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 Pink-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 general standings regardless of his retirement, however Thomas Preining (Manthey-Porsche) has closed to inside one level because of 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 stated, 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 whole: the following 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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