Bortolotti Takes Maiden DTM Victory From Pole at Nürburgring

Mirko Bortolotti took his first race victory in DTM by holding off Lucas Auer to win a incident-filled Saturday race under changeable conditions at the Nürburgring.

Bortolotti, who started the race from pole position, crossed the line in his No. 92 SSR Performance Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 with a 1.199-second lead over the No. 22 Mercedes-AMG Team Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo piloted by Auer.

The Austrian driver pressured Bortolotti in the closing stages after he successfully managed to wrestle his way past Manthey EMA’s Thomas Preining following a late-race safety car, triggered when Alessio Deledda slid into the gravel at turn 1 under damp conditions.

At the restart, Bortolotti was aided by his out of position teammate Franck Perera, who was a lap down after a troubled race that saw him given three penalty laps after colliding with Kelvin van der Linde on the opening lap and a gamble for wet tires.

The Frenchman was positioned behind Bortolotti during the safety car and ran at a slower speed out of the final corner when the race was restarted.

This allowed Bortolotti to pull a gap taking the green flag, while Auer took the opportunity to move around Preining’s No. 91 Porsche 911 GT3 R to claim second place through the Mercedes-Arena.

Preining, in turn, withstood a challenge from the No. 7 ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Ricardo Feller to finish third ahead of Dennis Olsen, Marco Wittmann and Sheldon van der Linde.

Kelvin van der Linde recovered from his opening lap collision with Perera with a comeback drive that ended with the South African charging past Patric Niederhauser in the final minutes en route to eighth place, while the No. 69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 piloted by Thierry Vermeulen completed the top ten.

Vermeulen’s teammate Jack Aitken was one of a few drivers to gamble with a move to wet tires as a rain shower struck the Nürburgring.

Aitken, along with Schubert Motorsport driver Rene Rast as well as Perera and Laurin Heinrich, pitted for wets but struggled on a drying surface and came back in to refit slicks.

Five cars failed to reach the checkered flag, with Deledda eliminated at turn 1 while Luca Engstler and David Schumacher both pulled into the pits with unconfirmed issues.

Ayhancan Guven and Christian Engelhart caused a Full Course Yellow near the halfway stage of the race, triggered when an out-of-control Engelhart slammed into the Turkish driver at Turn 1.

The collision inflicted significant damage to both Porsches, but both drivers walked away from the crash unaided.

RESULTS: Race 1