HOHENSTEIN-ERNSTTHAL, Germany — Ayhancan Güven (TR/Manthey EMA) is the king of the Sachsenring.
Following his victory on Saturday, the Porsche driver also won the DTM championship race on Sunday, thus bringing his season total to four.
The 27-year-old Turk kept his cool in a heated race and benefited from a collision between the leading duo Jack Aitken (GB/Emil Frey Racing) and Thomas Preining (A/Manthey EMA).
“Wow, what an outstanding weekend! I really wanted to win. However, I didn’t necessarily expect to be back at the front with the extra weight from Saturday’s win. Of course, the collision between Jack Aitken and Thomas Preining played into my hands, but at the same time, I delivered a top performance,” said a delighted Güven.
Ben Dörr (Butzbach/Dörr Motorsport), who was the first McLaren driver to stand on the DTM podium, was initially delighted.
However, the 20-year-old was subsequently disqualified because his team had changed tires on the starting grid before the start of the race. This moved Jules Gounon (F/Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter) up to second place, while Ben Green (GB/Emil Frey Racing) finished third in the Ferrari 296 GT3.
The 12th DTM championship round at the Sachsenring initially ran without incident on Sunday afternoon.
Polesitter and championship leader Aitken led the field, followed by Güven, who overtook his teammate Preining after the start. Green finished fourth, with second-place finisher Jordan Pepper (ZA/TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT) completing the top five.
After the first mandatory pit stop, Aitken remained in front, while Preining overtook Güven into second place.
Behind them, Green and Pepper engaged in a fierce wheel-to-wheel duel, after which the South African had to retire his Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 with a technical defect.
On lap 20, things turned furious: Preining attacked the leading Aitken in turn one and spun the Briton, who ended up in the gravel. For this action, the Austrian was penalized with three penalty laps and fell far back. Aitken continued the race at the back of the field after a brief safety car period.
This cleared the way for Güven, who confidently maintained his lead after a perfect second tire change and took the checkered flag first after 41 laps.
Behind Gounon and Green, Marco Wittmann (Fürth/Schubert Motorsport) finished fourth.
The BMW driver once again demonstrated a strong recovery drive, gaining 14 positions thanks to clever tactics and skillful overtaking maneuvers. His teammate René Rast, who started from 17th place and was classified fifth, was similarly successful.
Maro Engel (Monaco/Mercedes-AMG Team Winward Racing) maintained his championship hopes with sixth place. Morris Schuring (NL/Manthey Junior Team) finished seventh in the Porsche 911 GT3 R. Lucas Auer (A/Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf) finished eighth, enough to reclaim first place in the overall standings ahead of Aitken and Güven.
