NURBURG, Germany — René Rast (Bregenz/Schubert Motorsport) celebrated the 30th victory of his DTM career on Sunday at the Nürburgring after a composed performance.
After 38 laps, the three-time champion took the checkered flag in first place with a lead of almost eight seconds.
“I didn’t expect such a dominant race. But even on the opening lap, I could feel how good the car feels. To have clinched the 30th victory of my DTM career means an incredible amount to me. When I started my DTM career in 2017, such a number was unimaginable,” said Rast, who celebrated his fourth victory at the Eifel circuit.
His teammate Marco Wittmann (Fürth) completed Schubert Motorsport’s one-two finish in the BMW M4 GT3 Evo.
Lucas Auer (Austria/Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf) reclaimed the lead in the standings with third place, ahead of Jack Aitken (Great Britain/Emil Frey Racing), who finished 16th after an unavoidable collision with a competitor and was unable to score points.
A total of 78,000 visitors experienced a fantastic motorsport weekend with thrilling races and three days of sunshine.
Shortly after the start on Sunday afternoon, Rast showed that he had ambitious goals for the tenth DTM race of the season. The 38-year-old gained three places and settled into third place behind polesitter Ben Dörr (Butzbach/Dörr Motorsport) in the McLaren 720S GT3 Evo and Auer.
After two more overtaking maneuvers, the BMW driver took the lead on lap six and subsequently pulled away from the field.
Rast was the last driver to make the first mandatory pit stop and remained in the lead ahead of Auer. Teammate Wittmann moved up to third place after an early tire change.
Gilles Magnus (B/Comtoyou Racing) in the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and Ford Mustang driver Arjun Maini (IND/HRT Ford Performance) followed in fourth and fifth place.
Rast was also quickly dealt with by his Schubert Motorsport team during the second pit stop and returned to the 3.629-kilometer track with a comfortable lead.
Shortly after, Wittmann was able to overtake Auer, who, like on Saturday, lost a lot of time changing tires. Behind the BMW pair and Auer, the tactically astute Maro Engel (Monaco/Mercedes-AMG Team Winward Racing) finished Sunday’s race at the Nürburgring in fourth place.
Ayhancan Güven (TR/Manthey EMA) completed the top five in his team’s home race in the Porsche 911 GT3 R after an unremarkable race.
Maini rewarded himself for another strong performance with sixth place in the Ford Mustang GT3.
Belgian driver Magnus celebrated his and his team’s first top-ten finish in seventh place. Dörr couldn’t keep up with the pace at the front, but finished eighth to reclaim the points.
