HOHENSTEIN-ERNSTTHAL, Germany — Spectators witnessed a spectacular 11th championship race with a memorable finale Saturday afternoon at the Sachsenring.
On the final lap, Ayhancan Güven (TR/Manthey EMA), who was running third, took the lead with a clever maneuver after contact between his two teammates, Jordan Pepper (ZA/TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT) and Thomas Preining (A/Manthey EMA) – and celebrated his third win of the season after 38 laps.
“That was one of the best races of my career! When Thomas Preining and Jordan Pepper went into the corner side by side in the rain and on slicks, I knew that neither of them would pull away and that a gap could open up for me. I was waiting for exactly such a moment and seized the opportunity. I was able to win in Zandvoort under similar weather conditions, and as far as I’m concerned, there are more wet races this season,” explained the overjoyed Turk.
Pepper crossed the finish line in second place. This moved the 29-year-old up to second place in the overall standings. The new DTM leader is Jack Aitken (GB/Emil Frey Racing), who finished third.
After heavy rainfall, all drivers started the 11th DTM race of the season with Pirelli rain tires. Polesitter Pepper maintained his lead ahead of Jules Gounon (F/Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter), with Ferrari driver Ben Green (GB/Emil Frey Racing) following in third.
Aitken gained one position in the Ferrari 296 GT3 and moved up to fifth. While Güven was initially stuck in the midfield in ninth, Preining, driving like a wild horse, began a comeback on the drying track.
Shortly before the mandatory pit stop, the Austrian, who had started from eighth on the grid, was already in third behind Pepper and Gounon, with Güven also having gained several positions.
The second half of the race was also spectacular: Shortly before the end, after a safety car period as the rain began to fall again, Preining took the lead from Pepper. Güven had worked his way up to third place at that point. After a mistake by Preining on the penultimate lap shortly before the start-finish straight, Pepper moved up alongside him – the two drove wheel-to-wheel on a wide line through turn one in the battle for the lead.
Güven, lurking behind, took full advantage of this, overtaking his rivals on the inside and securing the last-minute victory ahead of Pepper and Aitken, who also managed to overtake Preining.
The 2023 DTM champion thus finished a memorable race in fourth place. Gounon completed the top five in the Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Ricardo Feller (CH/Land-Motorsport) delivered a fantastic performance in the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2, gaining 13 places to finish sixth.
Marco Wittmann (Fürth/Schubert Motorsport) also demonstrated his fighting spirit, improving from twelfth to seventh place in the BMW M4 GT3 Evo. Fabio Scherer (CH/HRT Ford Performance), who drove his Ford Mustang GT3 from 16th on the grid, also delivered a strong performance, finishing eighth.
