NURBURG, Germany — The opening race to the second half of the DTM season offered fantastic racing in front of packed grandstands at the Nürburgring.
After 39 laps, Jack Aitken (GB/Emil Frey Racing) took the checkered flag as Saturday’s winner and, after his second win of the season, is the new championship leader.
“That was a mega race! Things can change quickly in the DTM, but for now, it feels great to be leading the championship,” Aitken said. “Thanks to our late pit stop, I had fresher tires in the final stages and was able to overtake Ricardo Feller.”
\His compatriot and teammate Ben Green completed Emil Frey Racing’s one-two finish by finishing second. Ricardo Feller (CH/Land-Motorsport) gained eight positions after a fantastic performance and took third place on the podium with the only Audi in the field.
The ninth DTM race began on Saturday afternoon with a hectic opening phase and had to be interrupted after several collisions.
After the restart, polesitter Aitken remained in the lead, with Green moving up to second. Luca Engstler (Kempten/TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT), Lucas Auer (A/Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf), and Jordan Pepper (ZA/TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT) followed in third to fifth place.
Feller, who had fought his way up to seventh place, was the first driver to make his mandatory pit stop and gained further places with this tactic.
Aitken was the last driver to get new Pirelli slicks and was overtaken by the Audi driver shortly afterwards, his tires still cold.
Spectators witnessed a fantastic duel between the Swiss and the Briton over several laps.
On lap 29, Aitken launched the race-deciding attack. Green was also able to overtake Feller, having just won a door-to-door duel with Marco Wittmann (Fürth/Schubert Motorsport). The top three crossed the finish line in this order.
Fourth place went to Pepper, while Wittmann, thanks to another early pit stop, gained nine places to finish fifth.
\Auer, the overall leader until then, finished sixth after a tire change that took too long, moving him to second in the standings. Engstler finished seventh in the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2, while Ben Dörr (Butzbach/Dörr Motorsport) secured eighth place in the McLaren 720S GT3 Evo after another strong performance.
Thomas Preining (A) drove the Porsche 911 GT3 R of local favorite Manthey EMA to ninth place. Behind him, Timo Glock (Kreuzlingen/Dörr Motorsport) achieved his second top-ten result of the current season.
