Bortolotti Grabs Points Lead With Red Bull Ring Victory

Mirko Bortolotti captured the championship lead in DTM by taking his first victory of the season during the Saturday race at the Red Bull Ring, while Rene Rast came out on top in Race 2.

Although he scored five podiums earlier in the season, Bortolotti had been without a race victory when he lined up fourth on the grid behind Arjun Maini, Maximilian Paul and fellow title contender Maro Engel.

A choice to start the race on wet tires amidst light rain paid off for the Lamborghini factory driver, as it allowed him to pass both Maini and Engel to assume the lead on lap seven.

The No. 92 SSR Performance Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 subsequently opened up a gap of eight seconds before the track began to dry out, prompting a switch to slick tires.

Bortolotti maintained the lead through the pitstop cycle but came under increasing pressure from Engel, although the Lamborghini driver managed to take victory by a margin of 1.161 seconds.

Maini came home in third to secure his third career podium, ahead of Luca Stolz and Ayhancan Guven. Kelvin van der Linde, who came into the weekend as championship leader, finished eighth after starting 17th.

Bortolotti, meanwhile, followed up his Saturday display by taking pole position for Race 2 on Sunday, qualifying ahead of Luca Engstler, Rast, Thomas Preining and Ayhancan Guven. His main title rivals Van der Linde and Engel qualified eleventh and 13th respectively.

The Italian led the opening phase of the race, with Rast moving up to second ahead of Engstler after initially coming out on top in a fierce battle with Preining for third.

An overcut strategy then allowed the No. 33 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 to leapfrog Bortolotti and take the lead, with the No. 92 Lamborghini later dropping to fourth behind Preining and Maini.

Preining, meanwhile, set off in pursuit of Rast but could not prevent the BMW factory driver from securing his second victory of the season. The No. 91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R finished second, with Maini taking a second consecutive podium in third.

Bortolotti crossed the line in fourth ahead of the fifth-placed No. 3 ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Van der Linde, allowing Bortolotti to further widen his points lead heading into the finale.

He now sits on 204 points with two races remaining, holding a 15-point lead over Van der Linde in second place. Engel is in third place, five points further back.

The DTM season wraps up with its traditional season finale at the Hockenheimring on Oct. 18-20.

RESULTS: Race 1/Race 2