HOCKENHEIM, Germany — Ayhancan Güven (TR/Manthey EMA) made motorsport history at the Hockenheimring on Sunday.
The 27-year-old crowned himself DTM Champion with his fifth win of the season, becoming the first Turkish racing driver to win the title.
“I’ve been working towards this moment for over 20 years. This is the greatest success of my career; I’ll never forget this day for the rest of my life. The finale was one of the most exciting in DTM history. I wasn’t playing any games of calculation; I simply wanted to win this race and thus clinch the championship,” explained the happy champion.
Marco Wittmann (Fürth/Schubert Motorsport) really let his BMW M4 GT3 Evo fly in the final championship race, gaining 15 positions and finishing second. Maro Engel (Monaco/Mercedes-AMG Team Winward Racing) took third place. Lucas Auer (A/Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf), who started the final DTM weekend as the leader, fell back to second place in the overall standings, finishing fourth. After 16 championship races, the Austrian trailed Güven by just four points. Mercedes-AMG won the manufacturers’ championship. Morris Schuring (NL/Manthey Junior Team) was the overall winner of the new “DTM Rookie of the Year” classification.
Sunshine greeted the starting field on Sunday afternoon at the Hockenheimring for the decisive race of the season. The title showdown began furiously: Third-placed René Rast (Bregenz/Schubert Motorsport) in his BMW M4 GT3 Evo, after a good start, moved up to third place behind pole-sitter Gilles Magnus (B/Comtoyou Racing) and Güven, and attacked the Turkish driver ahead of him. During this duel, he was hit from behind and retired with his damaged car.
Thus, Rast’s championship dream, who contested his last DTM race for the time being at Hockenheim, ended prematurely and through no fault of his own.
Newcomer Magnus continued to circle the front, but Güven remained within striking distance in his Porsche 911 GT3 R. Behind him were Jack Aitken (GB/Emil Frey Racing), Jordan Pepper (ZA/TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT), and Auer in third to fifth place.
After the first pit stop, Güven, who was one of the last drivers to change tires, took the lead from Magnus. Wittmann, on the other hand, was one of the first drivers to get new Pirelli slicks and, using this strategy and some strong overtaking maneuvers, worked his way up to third place.
Engel, who had gained ten positions since the start, was already behind Aitken in fourth place. On lap 22, Magnus’s strong performance came to an end: the Belgian retired with a technical problem on his Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
Güven held on to the lead even after the second tire change, ahead of Wittmann and Engel. At this point, Güven was well on course for the championship. Things turned dramatic on the final lap: Wittmann attacked and took the lead – in this constellation, Auer would have become champion.
But shortly afterward, Güven created a moment that will go down in the DTM history books: In front of a packed grandstand, he attempted a counterattack in the Sachskurve, drove partially over the grass during his overtaking maneuver, and shortly thereafter crossed the finish line first with a lead of 0.169 seconds. Wittmann and Engel followed behind the new champion.
Auer was classified fourth, as Aitken and Pepper failed to serve a penalty imposed by race control and were disqualified after the race. 17-year-old Tom Kalender (Hamm/Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf) celebrated a great end to the season with his first top-five finish.
Thomas Preining (A/Manthey EMA) finished sixth in the Porsche 911 GT3 R. Lamborghini driver Mirko Bortolotti (I/Abt Sportline) crossed the finish line in seventh place after 33 laps, followed by fellow Lamborghini driver Luca Engstler (Kempten/TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT) in eighth.
Ricardo Feller (CH/Land-Motorsport) secured ninth place in the only Audi in the field, while Maximilian Paul (Dresden/Paul Motorsport) fought his way up from 21st place on the grid to 10th after a strong recovery.
