Engel Takes Lights-to-Flag Saturday Win at Zandvoort

Maro Engel took a dominant victory from pole position in the Saturday DTM race at Zandvoort.

The German, driving the No. 48 Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, took the checkered flag with a lead of six seconds to Sheldon van der Linde.

Engel and Van der Linde’s No. 1 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 started the race from first and second place and maintained their positions throughout the 60-minute contest.

The reigning champion was unable to challenge the Mamba-liveried Mercedes-AMG as Engel opened a gap of 3,5 seconds after twenty minutes and retained the advantage through the mandatory pit stop window.

Engel took his second DTM career win in the process, following on from his maiden victory at Moscow Raceway in 2017.

Franck Perera completed the podium aboard the No. 94 SSR Performance Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, leading home teammate Mirko Bortolotti by 1.1 seconds.

Bortolotti held off a challenge from the No. 11 Team Project 1 BMW of Marco Wittmann for the second half of the race.

Wittmann started the race from third place but lost positions to both Lamborghini drivers, falling behind Bortolotti when the Italian wrestled his way past at the Mastersbocht with 32 minutes remaining.

Both drivers were subsequently leapfrogged by Perera, who pitted a lap later than Wittmann and emerged on track ahead to claim third place.

With his third place, following on from victory in the opening race at Oschersleben, Perera assumed the championship lead with 48 points.

Lucas Auer finished sixth aboard the No. 22 Mercedes-AMG Team Winward entry, ahead of Manthey EMA’s Thomas Preining and the No. 14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Albert Costa.

The top ten was rounded out by Dries Vanthoor and Jusuf Owega, with Luca Stolz and Kelvin van der Linde eleventh and twelfth.

Van der Linde ran as high as fifth in the opening exchanges but dropped back after a penalty for assuming an inaccurate grid position at the start.

Ayhancan Guven, Luca Engstler and Ricardo Feller secured the final points-paying positions.

RESULTS: Race 1