Team Ravenol’s Maro Engel won the second DTM race of the season earlier today at the Red Bull Ring. The experienced racer overtook race leader Kelvin van der Linde’s Schubert BMW around the halfway point of the race, and went on to take his third DTM victory after 37 laps of the picturesque Austrian circuit.
“I am overjoyed to finally have won a race again,” said the Mercedes-AMG driver, delighted with his first DTM success since June 2023. “This win feels all the better after it unfortunately did not work out on Saturday. The key was a super start, when I raced straight through to second place.”
Runner-up was eventually Schubert’s other star driver, Marco Wittmann, who produced a tactically astute performance from ninth on the grid. Local favourite Lucas Auer came home third to claim another podium at his home event in front of over 51,000 fans, having finished second on Saturday in his Landgraf AMG.
Engel made an impressive start to the Sunday race: the experienced racer immediately gained three positions and slotted into second place behind pole-sitter van der Linde. He was followed in third place by fellow Mercedes-AMG driver Auer, with Wittmann down in seventh place in his BMW M4 GT3 Evo at this point.
Engel moved into the lead after the first pit stop. Wittmann, who came in very early for his tyre change, battled his way into second place after overtaking van der Linde and Auer. Jules Gounon followed in fifth aboard his Team Mann-Filter AMG.
Engel remained in front after the second mandatory pit stop, and proceeded to pull clear of his rivals over the remainder of the race. He eventually crossed the finish line 4.857 seconds ahead of Wittmann. Auer came home third, with Gounon and Comtoyou’s Nicki Thiim taking fourth and fifth place.
Pole-sitter van der Linde was unable to back up his qualifying performance and ended the second race of the season in Styria in sixth. Ben Dörr guided his McLaren GT3 Evo to seventh place. Newcomer Finn Wiebelhaus finished eighth in his HRT Ford Mustang GT3 to claim his first top-ten result in the DTM.
The best-placed Ferrari driver was Thierry Vermeulen for Emil Frey Racing in ninth. Youngster Bastian Buus rounded out the top ten.
Image courtesy of ADAC/DTM
