René Rast took his Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 Evo to a dominant win scoring his 30th DTM race victory in doing so in Sunday’s second race of the weekend at the Nurburgring.
The three-time champion took the chequered flag with a lead of roughly eight seconds. “I did not expect such a dominant race. However, I could tell on the formation lap that the car felt really good.
“The 30th win of my career in the DTM means the world to me. When I embarked on my DTM career in 2017, I could never have imagined achieving a figure like that,” said Rast, who tasted success at the circuit for the fourth time.
His Schubert team-mate Marco Wittmann made it a one-two for the team and for BMW.
Lucas Auer finished third in his Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf AMG GT3 Evo to reclaim the lead in the championship from Jack Aitken, who finished 16th and outside the points after contact with another car, for which he was not responsible.
From the green flag it was clear that Rast had the bit between his teeth in race ten of the DTM season. He climbed three places and slotted into third place behind pole-sitter Ben Dörr (who had scored pole position for the first time in DTM history for Mclaren), and Auer.
A further two overtaking manoeuvres saw the BMW driver take the lead on lap six, after which he proceeded to pull clear of the rest of the field.
Rast was the last driver to complete his first mandatory pit stop, and he rejoined the race in the lead, ahead of Auer. Team-mate Wittmann moved into third place after an early tyre change. Gilles Magnus (Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3) and HRT Ford Mustang driver Arjun Maini followed in fourth and fifth places.
The second pit stop again saw the Schubert Motorsport crew send Rast back out quickly and with a comfortable lead. Shortly after that, Wittmann was able to overtake Auer, who, as on Saturday, lost a lot of time during the tyre change.
Behind the BMW duo and Auer, Winward Racing’s Maro Engel (Monaco/Mercedes-AMG Team Winward Racing) produced an intelligent drive to claim fourth place after a def on Saturday.
Ayhancan Güven completed the top five at his Manthey EMA team’s home event, after a quiet race in the Porsche 911 GT3 R.
Sixth place was Maini’s reward for another impressive performance in the Ford Mustang GT3.
Belgian Gilles Magnus finished seventh to claim the first top ten result for himself and his team.
Pole-sitter Dörr was unable to match the pace at the front of the field, but did pick up points again for eighth place. Jordan Pepper (TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT) guided his Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 to ninth place and now lies third in the overall standings. Thomas Preining could do no better than tenth place in the second Manthey EMA Porsche 911.
Marco Wittmann: “After fifth place on Saturday, the podium is the perfect end to a strong weekend for us. Unfortunately, I was lacking the necessary speed in the first stint. That is why we decided on an early first stop. The strategy paid dividends, as it allowed me to gain a lot of positions.”
Lucas Auer: “The two BMW were on a different level. Second place might perhaps have been possible, but unfortunately, our second pit stop was not ideal. On the whole, it was an action-packed weekend. You can tell that the second half of the season is underway and that the behaviour on the track is somewhat more aggressive.”
