René Rast claims his first victory for BMW at the Red Bull Ring

René Rast (Bregenz) cleaned up at the Red Bull Ring: having secured his 26th pole position on Sunday morning, the three-time DTM champion not only claimed his 26th victory in the DTM, but also his first for BMW. “First the pole position and then my first win for BMW – that was a perfect outing for us. Maybe the imminent birth of my son might provide another highlight. I will put a big ring round this day in my calendar. My lead may have made it look easy from the outside, but you have to remain focussed all the time, in order to avoid making any mistakes,” said the delighted father-to-be, who left to be with his heavily pregnant wife immediately after the podium ceremony. His team-mate Sheldon van der Linde (ZA) followed him over the finish line 1.263 seconds later. However, despite this good result, he now only really has a mathematical chance of successfully defending his title.

It is a very different story for Porsche driver Thomas Preining (A), who regained the lead in the Drivers’ Championship thanks to third place in his home race. As such, a three-way battle for the title awaits fans at the finale at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg (20th to 22nd October) – Preining, Lamborghini works driver Mirko Bortolotti (I) and Ricardo Feller (CH) in an Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2 all still have ambitions to be crowned champion.

The 14th race of the DTM season in Spielberg, Austria, was far quieter than the hectic race on Saturday. Pole-sitter Rast retained his lead at the start, ahead of Sheldon van der Linde. As the race progressed, the Schubert Motorsport duo was able to open a small gap ahead of the rest of the field. Manthey EMA driver Preining followed in third, ahead of Clemens Schmid (A) in a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 and BMW racer Marco Wittmann (Fürth) from Project 1. The loser in the early stages was SSR Performance’s Bortolotti, who led the championship coming into the race. The 33-year-old started from ninth on the grid and fell back more than half a lap following a puncture. Bortolotti eventually ended the race in 21st place. The Italian now lies second in the championship and trails Preining by ten points with two races to come.

The top drivers came in late for their mandatory pit stops, in order to be able to react, as the first drops of rain started to fall. However, it turned out to be nothing more than a light drizzle, which did not make a big difference to the track conditions. As such, all the cars returned to the track on slicks. The leading trio of Rast, Sheldon van der Linde and Preining impressed with fast tyre changes and comfortably held onto the three podium positions through to the finish. Wittmann climbed into fourth place, Dennis Olsen (N) came home fifth in his Porsche 911 GT3 R after 41 laps of racing. Local favourite Schmid from GRT Grasser-Racing-Team, which is based in the Austrian town of St. Margarethen, finished sixth, ahead of another Porsche 911 GT3 R with Ayhancan Güven (TR) at the wheel. He was followed by team-mates Jack Aitken (GB) and Thierry Vermeulen (NL) in the Ferrari 296 GT3 of Emil Frey Racing in places eight and nine. Arjun Maini (IND) was the fastest Mercedes-AMG driver in tenth place. 

Sheldon van der Linde: “I immediately tried to pass René Rast on the opening lap. Unfortunately, I was unable to do so. After that, René did not make any mistakes and deserved his win. There was no question of team orders, I am not a fan of such things. Realistically, the title race is over for me. However, I will do my best to get third place.”

Thomas Preining: “We have turned a nine-point deficit coming into the race weekend into a ten-point lead. That is how fast things can change in the DTM. I leave the Red Bull Ring with huge goosebumps. My home event started with many media appointments last weekend and felt amazing from the outset. I could sense the great support from the Austrian fans. That was something very special.”