Nicki Thiim successfully completed a dream DTM weekend at a sold-out Norisring, with the Dane backing up his Saturday success with another triumph from pole position in Sunday’s Race 2 aboard his #007 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo.
It began to rain lightly at the Norisring shortly after the start of Race 2. At this point, all the drivers were on slicks. Pole-sitter Thiim led from HRT Ford Racing’s Finn Wiebelhaus, his team-mate Arjun Maini and Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf’s Lucas Auer.
Ten minutes into the race, increasingly heavy rain and a collision involving Emil Frey Racing Ferrari driver Matteo Cairoli and Red Bull Team Abt’s Luca Engstler in a Lamborghini Temerario GT3 caused the action to be suspended for 14 minutes. When the field returned to the 2.162-kilometre track on wet-weather tyres after the restart, Auer took advantage of a lack of concentration from Maini and climbed into third place.
Shortly after that, it stopped raining and the drivers used the first mandatory pit stop to switch back to slicks. Wiebelhaus, who had changed tyres a little earlier, attacked race leader Thiim in the subsequent laps. However, the 37-year-old was able to fend off every attack.
In fact, he actually extended his lead and had a clear advantage after a perfect second pit stop. Thiim took the chequered flag as the race winner after 62 laps.
In doing so, he ensured that he scored the maximum 56 points available on any given race weekend. The only other driver to achieve this feat in the DTM’s GT3 era is Thomas Preining, who did so at the 2023 season finale at the Hockenheimring.
The Dane’s stunning brace was enough to catapult him to the top of the drivers’ championship.
“An unbelievable weekend for me! Two pole positions and two wins feel like a dream. After my father in 1992, my grand goal has always been for the name Thiim to one day return to the top of the table in the DTM.
“Finn Wiebelhaus put me under incredible pressure over the course of the race. My experience definitely helped me there,” Thiim, who received his trophy from the Minister President of the Free State of Bavaria, Dr. Markus Söder, said.
Wiebelhaus came home 0.887 seconds behind Thiim to take second place and earn the second podium of his rookie season. Auer completed the podium, working his way to third place from fifth on the grid, with Maini coming home fourth despite a poor pit stop, and Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter’s Jules Gounon completing the top five.
Thierry Vermeulen guided his Emil Frey Racing Ferrari to sixth place. Mercedes-AMG Team Ravenol’s Maro Engel climbed five place to finish seventh, whilst Land-Motorsport’s Bastian Buus made up seven places to come home eighth ahead of fellow Porsche racer Preining.
Local favourite Marco Wittmann showed great fighting spirit at his home event, and battled his way to tenth place from 18th on the grid aboard his Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 Evo.
At the halfway point of the season, Thiim now leads Engel by nine points in the drivers’ championship, with Auer a further two points back in third. Cairoli, who entered the weekend in the drivers’ championship lead, has fallen back to fourth, 34 points off the top spot.
Winward Racing has a 21-point advantage over Emil Frey Racing in the teams’ championship, with Mercedes-AMG a comfortable 71 points clear of Ferrari in the manufacturers’ standings, whilst Wiebelhaus has moved into a 14-point lead over Nicolas Baert in the Rookie of the Year contest.
The 2026 DTM season continues at Oschersleben, on 24th to 26th July.
Image courtesy of Gruppe C Photography
