Thomas Preining (Manthey-Porsche) won Saturday's DTM race at Oschersleben, taking his second victory of the season. The 2023 DTM champion started from pole position and led the race from start to finish - pit-stop adjusted - across the entire race distance.
"Overall a perfect day, starting from pole of course and then leading the whole race. So mega," Preining said to ran.de. "The car was truly perfect right from the first lap in practice, and strategy, pit stop, today everything just came together. I felt comfortable right from the start, so a huge thank you to the team and I naturally hope we can build on this."
After 40 laps, the "Grello" driver crossed the finish line 1.601 seconds ahead of Luca Engstler (Abt-Lamborghini). Maro Engel (Winward-Mercedes) finished third. Fourth place went to his fellow Mercedes driver Lucas Auer (Landgraf-Mercedes), who narrowly held off Mirko Bortolotti (Grasser-Lamborghini) in the closing stages.
Pit stop decides it: Winward slips up
Arjun Maini (HRT-Ford) finished sixth, while seventh place was secured by Kelvin van der Linde (Schubert-BMW), who made a strong comeback after his heavy crash at the Norisring. Timo Glock (Dorr-McLaren) was pleased with eighth place following a solid race. Thierry Vermeulen (Emil-Frey-Ferrari) and Ricardo Feller (Manthey-Porsche) completed the top 10.
Preining won the start from pole position, while behind him Engel made a decisive move past Engstler into turn one. In the opening laps, Preining initially pulled away from his pursuers, but Engel then picked up his pace and closed the gap to Preining.
The battle for the win was decided during the mandatory pit stop, which both Preining and Engel completed after lap 21. While Manthey serviced Preining's car quickly, Engel suffered a jammed left-front wheel. Due to the slow pit stop, he lost second place to Engstler.
BoP frustration for Thiim: Norisring dominator has no chance
Since Norisring maestro Nicki Thiim (Comtoyou-Aston-Martin) could not get beyond 12th place, also due to the unfavourable BoP classification of his car and the success ballast after his wins in Nuremberg. As such, Engel took over the championship lead with third place.
"Sure, second place was obviously possible," Engel told ran.de, frustrated by the botched pit stop. "We have to look into it and analyse what happened there. But until the end it was a good race, a good day, and plenty of points," he concluded, ultimately drawing a positive takeaway.
The race ended early for Ben Dorr (Dorr-McLaren). On the opening lap, he came together with Jules Gounon (Winward-Mercedes) at turn 3. Dorr was carried wide at the exit of the left-hander and touched Gounon's car, forcing him onto the grass. The resulting puncture ripped parts off the car, and Dorr subsequently retired the vehicle.
Maro Engel now in front: Three-way battle in the championship
The contact also had consequences for Gounon. The Mercedes driver ran off track slightly several times during the following laps. After lap 27, he parked his car in the garage.
Marco Wittmann was also forced to retire his Schubert-BMW prematurely due to a puncture. One minute before the pit-stop window opened, his left-front tire lost air pressure.
"We had a slow puncture. It was going on for about five laps. We thought we could still make it to the pit stop, but more and more air came out," explained team principal Torsten Schubert to ran.de. Wittmann, who was also slightly under the weather physically, did not continue the race.
Finn Wiebelhaus (HRT-Ford) could not match his stellar performance from the Norisring. Following a weak qualifying session, he drove outside the points positions. On lap 18, the youngster radioed: "Something is burning in the cockpit," and subsequently headed for the pits, where he retired. After lap 17, Nicolas Baert (Comtoyou-Aston-Martin) also retired, presumably due to a technical defect.
In the drivers' championship, Engel now leads after nine of 16 races this season. Sitting on 125 points, he holds a six-point lead over Auer (119), who in turn is just one point ahead of Thiim (118). Following today's victory, Preining occupies fourth overall (98), though he is already 27 points adrift of the leader.
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