DTM Sachsenring: Wittmann wins to keep title hopes alive

Schubert BMW driver Marco Wittmann picked up where he left off in the last race at the Nürburgring: the two-time champion celebrates his second win of the season on Saturday at the Sachsenring and cuts his deficit in the DTM overall standings to just 14 points.

"I knew we had a good starting position with pole position, but nevertheless it was extremely difficult," Wittmann tells ProSieben. "I know the track is not a track where you can overtake easily. So it was important to run the right strategy, have a good pit stop and basically make no mistakes throughout the race."

The competition actually had the better strategy, as Jules Gounon (Winward Mercedes) initially took the lead after the pit stop. "It was a super-fair duel, where we gave each other room," adds the BMW driver, who benefited from a small mistake by his rival and was able to retake the lead.

"It was not a race to manage, it really was about going flat out every lap and really not allowing yourself any mistakes. I think we did not have the fastest race car today, but because of the track characteristics we were able to stay in front." Gounon finishes second in the end, less than half a second behind Wittmann.

Thomas Preining (Manthey Porsche) is third. "Yes, a good day for us," says the Austrian, who is on the podium for the fifth time in a row, at ProSieben. "Super, I'm really satisfied. It certainly could have gone better, but we were missing a little something. Basically a solid result, important for the championship."

Schubert BMW driver Kelvin van der Linde comes home fourth, closely followed by Maro Engel (Winward Mercedes) and Matteo Cairoli (Emil Frey Ferrari). Mirko Bortolotti (Grasser Lamborghini) holds off Nicki Thiim's Comtoyou Aston Martin. Thierry Vermeulen (Emil Frey Ferrari) and Ben Dörr (Dörr McLaren) complete the top 10.

Landgraf Mercedes driver Lucas Auer, who had to start from the back of the field after his accident in qualifying, at least makes it to 11th place and thereby limits the damage. Nevertheless, Auer has dropped to fifth place in the overall standings, now already 36 points off the championship lead.

Wittmann defends pole amid chaotic start

Polesitter Marco Wittmann held the lead at the start of the race, while second-placed Thomas Preining fell back to fourth. Both Jules Gounon and Kelvin van der Linde moved past the Manthey Porsche.

Further back, meanwhile, there were several duels and collisions, as a result of which Bastian Buus's Land Porsche ended up beached in the gravel. The two Abt Lamborghinis of Marco Mapelli and Luca Engstler, as well as Timo Glock (Dörr McLaren), were also involved in the incident. The safety car had to be deployed.

But Buus was lucky: the Dane was allowed to continue, even though he had received outside assistance, because in the stewards' view he was not to blame for the incident. However, the Land Porsche driver had to pit shortly afterwards because of a slow puncture.

But while the Dane was at least able to continue, Engstler and Mapelli had to park their cars. "I don't know exactly what happened. I need to look at it," Engstler tells ProSieben. "I actually had a good start, and a good first corner. I got through there cleanly."

"And then there was somehow contact in front of me, a lot of dust, [I] was then on the inside," the Abt Lamborghini driver continues. "And then a car spun in front of me, hit me and from then on I was just a passenger."

At the restart after the race's only safety-car period, there were no changes at the head of the field: Wittmann stayed in the lead, ahead of Gounon, van der Linde and Preining. By that point Auer had already fought his way up to 16th position.

Round two in the feud between Thiim and Kalender

In the midfield, a familiar duel continued, which had already gathered momentum at the Nürburgring: Nicki Thiim hit the rear of Tom Kalender's Landgraf Mercedes and pushed him off the track, allowing several drivers to get past. Race control ordered a position swap, meaning Thiim had to drop back from eighth to 13th. In addition, the Aston Martin driver was given his first warning of the season.

At the front, Wittmann and Gounon pulled away from the rest of the field: Kelvin van der Linde held up the field in third place, meaning the gap to the two leaders had already grown to more than five seconds by the time the pit-stop window opened.

The South African was among the first drivers to pit, along with Vermeulen, HRT Ford driver Arjun Maini, Manthey Porsche driver Ricardo Feller and Kalender. That disproved the assumption that the Schubert BMW driver wanted to back up the field in order to help his team-mate Wittmann at the front.

Jules Gounon gets a taste of the lead, but ...

Wittmann came in for his stop on lap 16, while second-placed Gounon stayed out for one more lap. That was enough for the Winward Mercedes driver to briefly take the lead. Shortly afterwards, however, the polesitter was able to take advantage of a small lock-up in the first corner to successfully counterattack.

Preining also benefited from the pit stop: the Manthey Porsche driver had also previously overtaken Kelvin van der Linde with a later pit stop and then managed to close the gap to the leading duo. From that point on, the top three were bunched closely together at the front.

While the top three were largely in agreement, things were all the wilder behind them: Thiim and Vermeulen fought a duel for ninth position, while Engel and Cairoli were slowly able to close in on fourth-placed van der Linde. Ricardo Feller's Manthey Porsche was also badly battered after several collisions.

Auer, who had taken the lead in the meantime, came in for his tyre change shortly before the pit-stop window closed as the last driver to do so. That dropped the Austrian back to 16th position, but he had the freshest tyres for the closing stages and used them to fight his way up to 11th place.

Preining further extends DTM overall lead

Simon Connor Primm takes the chequered flag on his DTM debut in the Seyffarth Audi in 15th position, leaving both Nicolas Baert (Comtoyou Aston Martin) and Finn Wiebelhaus (HRT Ford) behind him. Maximilian Paul (Grasser Lamborghini) does not reach the finish on his comeback after the serious Norisring accident.

Preining, who had already taken over the overall lead with second place in qualifying, further extends the top spot with third place in the race. The Austrian now has a six-point lead over second-placed Engel. Wittmann has cut his deficit to 14 points. Thiim (-30 points) is fourth.

The second DTM race at the Sachsenring starts on Sunday. The starting positions for the third-to-last race of the 2026 season will be determined beforehand in the second qualifying session.