Auer Defeats Engel in Lausitzring Victory Scrap

Lucas Auer prevailed in a wheel-to-wheel battle with fellow Mercedes-AMG driver Maro Engel to become the first repeat winner of the DTM season at the Lausitzring.

Polesitter Auer (Landgraf Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo) controlled the opening phase of the race from Winward rival Engel, who moved ahead of Ricardo Feller’s Land Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II at the start to claim second spot.

The Austrian enjoyed a 2.8 second lead when he made his mandatory stop on lap 23, but found himself behind when Engel emerged from his own pit visit two tours later.

However, Engel’s advantage proved short-lived. With his tires now up to temperature, Auer quickly closed in and passed Engel into the first corner starting lap 27, with his better exit onto the banking allowing him to sneak up the inside.

Auer soon extended his gap and had enough of a buffer that, although Engel closed noticeably in the final laps with his fresher rubber, he never came under serious threat and won by 1.344 seconds.

Rene Rast (Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 Evo) completed the podium in third, as Jules Gounon (Winward) capped a strong day for Mercedes-AMG by finishing fourth.

Gounon had slipped backwards in the opening stint, carrying 20 kilos in success ballast following his victory last time out at Oschersleben. But the Frenchman made impressive progress following the pitstops, benefitting from warmer tires than his rivals.

Gounon demoted Jack Aitken (Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3), Thomas Preining‘s Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R and Marco Wittmann’s Schubert BMW to grasp fourth.

Gounon staved off intense pressure from Wittmann to move up to second in the standings, behind new points leader Auer, as 2023 champion Preining beat Aitken and Ayhancan Guven in the second Manthey EMA Porsche to sixth position.

After his promising qualifying showing to get among the Mercedes-AMGs in second, Feller had fallen to ninth before he retired with 10 minutes to go, the Swiss complaining he had no power.

Feller’s demise elevated Ben Doerr to ninth place finish in his family-run McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, and Ben Green’s Ferrari to tenth.

Pre-event championship leader Jordan Pepper (Grasser) survived first lap contact and a pitlane speeding penalty to finish 11th in the leading Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO 2 on a difficult day for the marque.

Defending champion Mirko Bortolotti (Abt) had stormed into the top 10 by gaining five positions at the start, but tumbled back down the order after being spun by Thierry Vermeulen’s Ferrari at the first corner.

Bortolotti was passed late on by Arjun Maini’s HRT Ford and had to settle for 13th ahead of team-mate Nicki Thiim, while the penalised Vermeulen was the final point scorer.

The race was interrupted briefly by a safety car on the opening lap, following a tangle at the first corner between Pepper and Morris Schuring’s Manthey Junior Team Porsche, which shed bodywork down the back straight on its way to retirement.

RESULTS: Race 1