Third win of the season and back on top of the table: Mirko Bortolotti celebrates at the Sachsenring

Mirko Bortolotti (I) regained the lead in the DTM championship on Sunday at the Sachsenring. The Lamborghini driver from SSR Performance kept his cool, even after the race was temporarily stopped on lap one due to a collision involving multiple cars, and won race twelve of the season with a lead of 1.541 seconds.

“That was one of the most emotional wins of my career. Jack Aitken tried to pass me right at the start. It was extremely important, in that situation, for me to defend my lead. Unfortunately, there are only four races left this season. With my form as it is at the moment, I would like to drive another 20 races,” said Bortolotti. Behind the Italian, Saturday’s winner Luca Stolz (Brachbach) crossed the finish line second after 46 laps of racing in his Mercedes-AMG GT3. Ricardo Feller (CH) was third across the line in an Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2, but was subsequently handed a five-second penalty for causing a collision. That saw Bortolotti’s team-mate Franck Perera promoted to third place. The return of the popular series to the Sachsenring after 21 years was watched by 42,000 visitors, who were treated to three days of thrilling motorsport in sunny late summer weather.

The twelfth round of the DTM season was just two minutes old on Sunday, when it was interrupted following a collision involving several cars. It took more than 20 minutes until the drivers were able to resume the race behind the safety car. Pole-sitter Bortolotti controlled the field from the front again after the re-start, followed by Stolz, Ferrari driver Jack Aitken (GB), Perera and Feller in positions two to five. 

All the top drivers came in for their tyre change as soon as the pit stop window opened. Bortolotti competently held on to his lead. Behind him, Aitken was overtaken by first Stolz, then Feller, who had come out in front of Perera. The battle between the Brit and the Swiss driver resulted in Aitken’s car picking up a puncture, and he was forced to retire from the race shortly after. Feller received a time penalty for this manoeuvre after the race. The SSR Performance team endured a worrying moment when Bortolotti reported a drop in oil pressure.

However, the 33-year-old refused to surrender his lead and went on to take victory for the third race weekend in a row, taking his tally for the season to three. In doing so, Bortolotti also returned to the top of the DTM Drivers’ Championship. Behind the top three, Porsche works driver Thomas Preining (A) came home fourth and drops back to second place in the overall standings. 

Thierry Vermeulen (NL) produced another strong display to finish fifth in the Ferrari 296 GT3 of Emil Frey Racing. Feller found himself down in sixth place following his penalty. Behind him, Mercedes-AMG driver Arjun Maini (IND) crossed the finish line seventh to claim his first top-ten result of the season. The best BMW driver was René Rast (Bregenz), who, as on Saturday, showed plenty of fighting spirit to climb from 15th to eighth place. Patric Niederhauser (CH) was ninth in an Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2, Mercedes-AMG driver Jusuf Owega (Cologne) ended the twelfth DTM race of the season in tenth place.

Luca Stolz: “I still cannot find the right words to describe this weekend. It is mega to back up our good form after the third place at the Lausitzring. Given the success ballast, it was clear that it would be tough to stay with the leading group. I had to give it everything to defend my position against Jack Aitken when exiting the pit lane, and also a few times against Ricardo Feller. “