Norisring or Nordschleife?! Rene Rast (Schubert-BMW) won Saturday’s DTM race on the Nuremberg street circuit thanks to the best tire strategy. While a large part of the 20-strong field switched to wet tires because of a rain shower, Rast and the later second and third-placed Franck Perera (GRT-Lamborghini) and Luca Engstler in the second GRT-Lamborghini bravely stayed out.
The risk paid off because only parts of the track were really wet and it was possible to continue on Pirelli slicks. So Rast crossed the finish line first after 69 laps from seventh place on the grid. For the three-time DTM champion, it was the first win of the season and the 27th in the DTM. “I had it in my urine,” laughed Rast. “I told the guys: If it rains, leave me on the track!”
Tactics fox Gottfried Gasser is rewarded with a double podium
GRT team boss Gottfried Grasser once again proved himself to be a tactical fox in these difficult conditions and let Engstler and Perera, who is standing in for Christian Engelhart (knee surgery) at the Norisring, use slick tires. A strong performance from DTM returnee Perera, who had secured fourth place on the grid in the dry qualifying. “When I saw that Rene Rast was also staying out, that gave me confidence,” said the Frenchman. GRT newcomer Engstler had started the race from P15. The racing driver’s son benefited from his tire advantage in the final minutes and stormed forward to the podium.
Kelvin van der Linde defends overall DTM lead
Nicki Thiim and teammate Mirko Bortolotti finished fourth and fifth as the best rain tyre drivers at their team SSR-Lamborghini’s home race. Kelvin van der Linde (Abt-Audi) finished sixth and defended his lead in the championship. With 92 points, the newly crowned German from South Africa leads the field ahead of Bortolotti, Rast and his brother Sheldon van der Linde, who came in seventh.
Maro Engel (Winward-Mercedes), pole-setter Jack Aitken (Emil-Frey-Ferrari) and Maximilian Paul (Paul-Lamborghini) completed the top 10. The Dresden racing team had made the right decision during the mandatory pit stop phase and put Paul on rain tires – but the tire change cost a long 34 seconds, which meant that a podium place was a long way off.
DTM Norisring: This is how the race went on Saturday
The starting line-up: Jack Aitken achieved his third pole of the season in the split group qualifying. The Emil Frey Ferrari driver won the long-distance duel in the faster Group B against Sheldon van der Linde, who had set the best lap time in Group A. Mirko Bortolotti and Franck Perera shared the second row of the grid. Kelvin van der Linde, Maro Engel, Rene Rast and Arjun Maini followed in fifth to eighth place. The reigning DTM champion Thomas Preining could not get beyond P13 in his Manthey Porsche.
The start: After two formation laps, Jack Aitken defended the lead from Sheldon van der Linde at the flying start. Kelvin van der Linde gained one position on the inside of Turn 1 against Franck Perera and improved to P4. A little later, the Abt driver fell back to P6, while Maro Engel stormed forward from sixth to fourth place. Ricardo Feller gained four positions from 12th place on the grid. Lucas Auer had to head for the pits after the first lap due to a puncture and was already lapped after leaving the pits.
The first half of the race: Ben Dörr had to park his Dörr-McLaren after the fifth lap due to a technical problem. The DTM rookie’s car had already experienced gearbox problems on Friday. The race also ended prematurely for Auer and his Winward-Mercedes in the Mamba design. Kelvin van der Linde, lying in sixth place on lap 13, complained loudly about the handling of his car (“The car drives so badly!”).
After 15 laps or 15 minutes of driving, the first drivers received information about possible heavy rain during the pit stop phase (minutes 40-20). The race management declared the race a ‘wet race’. After the pit stop window opened, all drivers initially stayed outside. Aitken and pursuer van der Linde (0.6 seconds behind) were able to pull away slightly from third-placed Bortolotti. Thomas Preining was the first to turn off from P10 on lap 26 for the mandatory tire change, where a mechanic dropped a wheel nut. On top of that, the Manthey driver received a penalty lap because a mechanic had not held a tire in place in time with his own muscle power.
On lap 32, after 30 minutes of racing, Nicki Thiim, in second place, headed to the pit lane for a fresh set of Pirelli slicks, while the rest of the field stayed out in anticipation of rainy conditions.
The rest of the race: Luca Engstler gave his GRT Lamborghini new slick tires on lap 37, as did Ricardo Feller from P9. On lap 40, Maro Engel lost fourth place to Maro Engel, who was just able to catch his Mercedes in the Grundig bend – one of very few overtaking maneuvers up to that point. Mirko Bortolotti immediately took advantage of this duel from P3 to make his obligatory pit stop. Marco Wittmann and Luca Stolz also came into the pits.
On lap 42, second-placed Sheldon van der Linde made his mandatory tire change in the Schubert BMW, and his brother Kelvin did the same in the Abt Audi. Rene Rast and Franck Perera also got a fresh set of tires, while Aitken continued to do his laps on the starting tires. On lap 45, the Ferrari driver finally turned off and stayed on slicks, while the Dörr-McLaren speculated on rain tires. It was at this exact time that rain was reported to be beginning at the Dutzendteich.
As he was leaving the pit lane, Aitken had to watch as Sheldon van der Linde and Mirko Bortolotti drove past on their warmed-up tires. And then it started to rain harder! Seconds earlier, Maximilian Paul had also had rain tires put on, just before the pit stop window closed. The tire change on the Lambo took 34 seconds, however. The rain continued, but it was initially possible to continue driving on slicks. There was contact between Wittmann and Stolz, but this had no consequences.
The rain got heavier 15 minutes before the end: Engel, Wittmann and Feller had rain tires put on, followed one lap later by Kelvin van der Linde, Mirko Bortolotti, Sheldon van der Linde from P1, Thomas Preining and Jack Aitken. Only Rene Rast and Franck Perera continued their journey on slicks – and continued their journey happily at the front on a half-wet track. What was somewhat overlooked was that Luca Engstler was also still driving on slicks in the back of the field.
Third place was hotly contested in the end! Sheldon van der Linde overtook Mirko Bortolotti, while behind him Luca Engstler stormed up on his slicks and took third place shortly before the end! Sheldon van der Linde could not keep up the fight for long and fell back to P7 behind the SSR Lambos of Bortolotti and Thiim.