Victory for Luca Stolz, Thomas Preining returns to the top of the table

A serene Luca Stolz (Brachbach) won the first DTM race for 21 years at the Sachsenring on Saturday. After 45 laps of racing, the Mercedes-AMG driver took the chequered flag with a lead of 2.688 seconds to claim his second victory in the DTM. “First pole position, then a lights-to-flag victory. This has been a perfect day. I am mega pleased with my second DTM win, as the Sachsenring is one of the highlights of the DTM calendar for me. The lead may have made it look easy from the outside, but I still had to remain focussed and could not afford any mistakes,” said the 28-year-old from Mercedes-AMG Team HRT. Thomas Preining (A) was runner-up in his Porsche 911 GT3 R, and consequently regained the lead in the championship. Fellow Porsche driver Ayhancan Güven (TR) from Team75 Motorsport finished third to claim his first podium in the DTM and also set the fastest lap of the race. 

Spectators witnessed a frantic start to the race on the narrow track on Saturday afternoon. The drivers came through the first tight right-hander wheel to wheel, resulting in several contacts. Amidst all this, pole-sitter Stolz was immediately able to pull clear at the front. Within a matter of a few laps, he had extended his lead to more than three seconds over Güven, Preining, Ferrari driver Jack Aitken (GB) and Mirko Bortolotti (I), who came into the race as championship leader in his Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2. Even after a short safety car period on lap seven, to clear car parts off the track, the Mercedes-AMG driver stayed out in front. Aitken, on the other hand, was forced to retire with a broken radiator after a heavy contact in the early stages of the race. 

When the pit stop window opened after 20 minutes, Stolz and Preining were the first in to change their Pirelli tyres. This tactic paid dividends. Stolz remained out in front and passed Güven, who came in for his new set of tyres one lap later and rejoined the race in third place. The big loser in the round of pit stops was Bortolotti: running fourth at the time, the Italian was given a penalty for an infringement in the pit lane and consequently fell back to ninth place. Team-mates Ricardo Feller (CH) and Kelvin van der Linde (ZA) were the beneficiaries of Bortolotti’s misfortune. The two Abt Sportsline drivers ended Saturday’s race at the Sachsenring in fourth and fifth place in their Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2.

Reigning DTM champion Sheldon van der Linde (ZA) steered his BMW M4 GT3 to sixth place. Porsche driver Dennis Olsen (N) came seventh, followed by René Rast (Bregenz), who climbed from 18th on the grid to finish eighth in the second Schubert Motorsport BMW. Bortolotti was ninth, ahead of Thierry Vermeulen (NL) in a Ferrari 296 GT3. The Emil Frey Racing driver underlined his fine form with his fifth top-ten finish in a row. Preining leads the overall standings with 151 points, ahead of Bortolotti (145 points) and Feller (132 points).