KLETTWITZ, Germany —He waited patiently until shortly before the end, then Jack Aitken struck with ice-cold precision.
The Briton, driving a Ferrari, overtook BMW driver René Rast on the penultimate lap to secure a last-minute victory in a turbulent DTM Sunday race at the Dekra Lausitzring.
“What a race! In the final laps, I got closer and closer to René Rast and was able to put real pressure on him. But I didn’t expect to get the chance to overtake him so close to the finish. We want to fight for the title this season, and to do that, we need consistent top results,” said the 29-year-old happily.
In a photo finish, Rast finished the fourth DTM race of the season in second place – just 0.045 seconds later, Jules Gounon (F) crossed the finish line in third place in a Mercedes-AMG.
Sunday’s race at the Lausitzring thrilled spectators from the start with fierce wheel-to-wheel duels and numerous overtaking maneuvers. While pole-sitter Aitken and BMW driver Marco Wittmann (Germany) maintained their lead, Rast worked his way up from eighth to third. Following behind were Maro Engel (Monaco) in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 and Thierry Vermeulen (NL) in the second Ferrari of Emil Frey Racing in fourth and fifth, respectively.
After Wittmann fell back with brake problems, Aitken and Rast extended their lead to up to eight seconds. Thanks to an improved pit strategy during the first of two mandatory stops, Rast took the lead and was still on course for victory after the second stop with a solid four-second lead. But Aitken didn’t give up and closed in ever closer towards the end. On the penultimate lap, he took the lead after a spectacular maneuver against Rast and celebrated his fifth DTM victory after 42 laps. Behind Rast and Gounon, who was getting faster and faster towards the end, Jordan Pepper (ZA) secured fourth place in the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2, with Engel in fifth.
Reigning champion Mirko Bortolotti (Italy) delivered a strong race in the Abt Sportsline Lamborghini, improving from 20th to sixth after a fantastic recovery. Vermeulen drove his Ferrari to seventh place, while Wittmann finished eighth despite technical problems. Championship leader Lucas Auer (Austria) finished ninth in the Mercedes-AMG GT3, defending his lead in the overall standings ahead of Gounon. Former Formula 1 driver Timo Glock (Germany) finished tenth in the McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, scoring points for the first time this season.
