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Race report
DTM Sachsenring

DTM Sachsenring: Stolz inherits race two win after Vermeulen penalty

A pitstop infringement denies Max Verstappen’s protege his maiden victory in the DTM, while the championship lead changed hands once again

HRT Mercedes driver Luca Stolz claimed his first victory of the 2024 DTM season in race two at the Sachsenring on Sunday after long-time leader Thierry Vermeulen was penalised for a pitstop infringement.

Max Verstappen’s protege Vermeulen had appeared on course for his maiden DTM victory having dominated the race from pole position, in a carbon copy of the performance put in by his Emil Frey Ferrari team-mate Jack Aitken on Saturday.

But with just under 15 minutes to go, race control handed the Dutchman a penalty 'lap' for a mistake on his team’s part, dropping him to third place and gifting Stolz his third career victory in the DTM.

Abt Audi driver Kelvin van der Linde finished second ahead of a recovering Vermeulen, wresting back the control of the championship in the process.

At the start of the race, Vermeulen made a clean launch from pole position into Turn 1, while van der Linde dropped to fourth behind Stolz and Grasser Lamborghini of Luca Engstler.

Vermeulen continued to extend his lead in the first stint of the race over Stolz, while Kelvin van der Linde managed to repass Engstler at Turn 12 to put himself back in the podium position.

By the time the pitstop window opened after 20 minutes of racing, Vermeulen’s lead had grown to 2.7s, having peaked at over three seconds at one stage.

Thierry Vermeulen, Emil Frey Racing Ferrari Ferrari 296 GT3

Thierry Vermeulen, Emil Frey Racing Ferrari Ferrari 296 GT3

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Stolz was the first of the frontrunners to peel into the pits on lap 17, with Vermeulen following him on the next tour.

This brought the gap down to 1.7s, but the Dutchman had started extending his lead again when the safety car was called in with 25 minutes to go for a collision between debutant Jordan Pepper and Schubert BMW’s Marco Wittmann.

The incident was triggered by three-time champion Rene Rast hitting the rear of Pepper’s GRT Lamborghini into Turn 1, sending him into the path of an innocent Wittmann as they both ended up in the gravel.

Wittmann was furious after the incident, pushing back Pepper when he approached him and then throwing his gloves as he walked to the service road. He later apologised to Pepper for his ‘overreaction’.

When the racing resumed with 19 minutes left on the clock, Vermeulen quickly built up a lead of 1.7s, but his hopes of a maiden win were dashed when he had to go through the long loop for a pitstop infringement. Replays showed a mechanic leaving a tyre on the ground in the pitlane, which is against the regulations.

Vermeulen rejoined in third place behind Stolz and Kelvin van der Linde, with Stolz going on to take Mercedes’ first victory of 2024 by 0.769s.

Vermeulen kept the pressure up on Kelvin van der Linde until the finish, but had to settle for third, which was still good enough for his first podium in the series.

Kelvin van der Linde, Team ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3

Kelvin van der Linde, Team ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Second place for Abt driver Kelvin van der Linde, who had benefitted from overnight Balance of Performance boost for Audi, puts him back in the lead of the championship, with his nearest rival Mirko Bortolotti only finishing seventh in the SSR Performance Lamborghini.

Manthey EMA driver Thomas Preining took fourth at the finish, having passed the Winward Mercedes of Maro Engel at the safety car restart when Engel was eyeing a move on Kelvin van der Linde.

Saturday winner Aitken was classified sixth, while Bortolotti could only recover to seventh after qualifying down in 11th place.

Ayanchan Guven was eighth in the other Manthey Porsche, while the two remaining Schubert BMWs completed the top 10, with Sheldon van der Linde leading home Rene Rast.

Rast, who had risen from dead-last on the grid, remains under investigation for the collision with Pepper that also took out Wittmann.

Engstler, who was in podium contention early on, retired with damage after making contact with Guven at Turn 1.

DTM Sachsenring - Race two results

   
1
 - 
4
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Driver # Car Laps Time Interval Pits Points
1 Germany L. Stolz Mercedes-AMG Team HRT 4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 44

1:02'22.057

    25
2 South Africa K. van der Linde Abt Sportsline 3 Audi R8 LMS Evo II 44

+0.769

1:02'22.826

0.769   20
3
T. Vermeulen Emil Frey Racing
69 Ferrari 296 GT3 44

+1.315

1:02'23.372

0.546   16
4 Austria T. Preining Manthey EMA 91 Porsche 911 GT3 R 44

+2.246

1:02'24.303

0.931   13
5 Germany M. Engel Mercedes-AMG Team Winward 130 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 44

+4.422

1:02'26.479

2.176   11
6 United Kingdom J. Aitken Emil Frey Racing 14 Ferrari 296 GT3 44

+8.141

1:02'30.198

3.719   10
7 Italy M. Bortolotti SSR Performance 92 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 44

+12.038

1:02'34.095

3.897   9
8 Turkey A. Güven Manthey EMA 90 Porsche 911 GT3 R 44

+12.557

1:02'34.614

0.519   8
9 South Africa S. Van Der Linde Schubert Motorsport 31 BMW M4 GT3 44

+13.001

1:02'35.058

0.444   7
10 Germany R. Rast Schubert Motorsport 33 BMW M4 GT3 44

+17.334

1:02'39.391

4.333   6
11 Denmark N. Thiim SSR Performance 94 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 44

+18.424

1:02'40.481

1.090   5
12 Austria C. Schmid Dörr Motorsport 85 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo 44

+22.517

1:02'44.574

4.093   4
13 Austria L. Auer Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter 22 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 44

+22.735

1:02'44.792

0.218   3
dnf Germany L. Engstler GRT Grasser Racing Team 19 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 31

+13 Laps

48'13.908

13 Laps    
dnf
B. Dörr Dörr Motorsport
25 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo 29

+15 Laps

42'41.671

2 Laps    
dnf Germany M. Wittmann Schubert Motorsport 11 BMW M4 GT3 22

+22 Laps

30'16.918

7 Laps    
dnf South Africa J. Pepper GRT Grasser Racing Team 63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 22

+22 Laps

30'17.416

0.498    
dnf Germany P. Maximilian Paul Motorsport 71 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 21

+23 Laps

29'15.181

1 Lap    
dnf Switzerland R. Feller Abt Sportsline 7 Audi R8 LMS Evo II 17

+27 Laps

23'17.063

4 Laps    
dnf India A. Maini Mercedes-AMG Team HRT 36 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 15

+29 Laps

20'28.576

2 Laps    
 

 

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