Race report
DTM Lausitzring
DTM Lausitzring: Aitken scores first win, disaster for Preining
One-time Formula 1 race starter Jack Aitken clinched his maiden DTM win at the Lausitzring on Saturday, as a penalty wrecked the race of championship leader Thomas Preining.
Rachit Thukral
Edited: Aug 19, 2023, 2:15 PM
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Emil Frey Ferrari driver Aitken led nearly the entire race from pole position, save for the pitstop phase, beating the SSR Performance Lamborghini of Mirko Bortolotti by 2.3s after one hour of racing at the 4.35km circuit. Kelvin van der Linde finished third for Abt Audi, making it three different manufacturers on the podium.
When the first of the two races at the Lausitzring got underway, Aitken held the top spot going into the opening left-hander, while Winward Mercedes driver Lucas Auer attempted a move on Bortolotti for second before backing down and settling for third.
Further down the field, Preining was in a three-way battle for the final-points scoring positions when he hit the side of Franck Perera into Turn 2, who in turn collided with the Audi of Luca Engstler that was already on the edge of the track.
The contact left Engstler's Audi beached in the gravel, prompting the deployment of the safety car, while Perera also suffered terminal damage that forced him to pit to retire his Lamborghini from the race.
The stewards held Preining responsible for the collision and slapped with three separate long-lap penalties, which he served after the SC period, sending him tumbling down the order.
Back at the front, Aitken perfected the restart to hold the top spot from Bortolotti, extending his lead gradually to one second by the time the pitstop window opened at the 20-minute mark.
Aitken waited until the third lap of the pit window to complete his mandatory pitstop, which allowed Bortolotti to undercut him, but the British driver was able to repass the Lamborghini on his outlap to reinstate the status quo.
From there on, Aitken wasn’t challenged for the top spot of the podium, the 27-year-old becoming the ninth different driver to score a win in 2023 in as many races
It also marked the first victory for the new Ferrari 296 GT3 in the DTM, as well as the first for the Emil Frey squad that entered the championship this season.
Although Bortolotti was no match to Aitken, the runner-up result moved him up to second in the championship on a day points leader Preining finished down in 15th place.
Abt driver Kelvin van der Linde finished half a second behind Bortolotti in third after passing the Mercedes of Auer right after the latter’s pitstop.
Fifth place went to van der Linde’s younger brother and defending champion Sheldon, who was again the top finisher for BMW and Schubert Motorsport.
The South African passed the second Abt Audi of Ricardo Feller for fifth just before their pitstops, with Feller also losing a place to HRT Mercedes of Luca Stolz when he ran wide at Turn 7 on his outlap. He eventually finished seventh.
Three-time DTM champion Rene Rast (Schubert BMW) bagged some solid points in eighth after starting from 11th, while the top 10 was completed by Aitken’s team-mate Thierry Vermeulen and Project 1 BMW’s Marco Wittmann.
After dropping outside the top 20 following his triple long-lap penalty, Preining was able to salvage a solitary point in 15th place, passing the Grasser Lamborghini of Maximilian Paul with just 10 minutes to go in the race.
DTM Laustizring: Race results:
Cla Nº Driver Car / Engine Gap 1 14 Jack Aitken Ferrari 2 92 Mirko Bortolotti Lamborghini 2.394 3 3 K.van der Linde Audi 5.272 4 22 Lucas Auer Mercedes 6.973 5 1 S.van der Linde BMW 7.917 6 4 Luca Stolz Mercedes 8.899 7 7 Ricardo Feller Audi 11.078 8 33 René Rast BMW 12.252 9 69 T.Vermeulen Ferrari 12.505 10 11 Marco Wittmann BMW 14.968 11 63 Clemens Schmid Lamborghini 17.204 12 90 Dennis Olsen Porsche 20.279 13 48 Maro Engel Mercedes 21.295 14 84 Jusuf Owega Mercedes 26.320 15 91 Thomas Preining Porsche 39.529 16 24 Ayhancan Guven Porsche 44.549 17 56 Sandro Holzem BMW 46.626 18 99 Marvin Dienst Porsche 48.924 19 19 Maximilian Paul Lamborghini 2 laps (20) 6 Alessio Deledda Lamborghini Retirement (3) 36 Arjun Maini Mercedes Retirement (4) 27 David Schumacher Mercedes Retirement (16) 83 P.Niederhauser Audi Retirement (23) 75 Laurin Heinrich Porsche Retirement (16) 40 Mattia Drudi Audi Retirement (25) 9 Tim Heinemann Porsche Retirement (27) 94 Franck Perera Lamborghini Retirement 8 Luca Engstler Audi Retirement
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