Rast Takes Lights-to-Flag Race 2 Win at Red Bull Ring

Rene Rast picked up his first DTM victory of the season in a dominant display during Race 2 at the Red Bull Ring, while Thomas Preining moved ahead of Mirko Bortolotti in the points standings after a difficult race for the Italian.

Rast, piloting the No. 33 BMW M4 GT3, led home teammate Sheldon van der Linde by 1.263 seconds to claim a 1-2 finish for Schubert Motorsport.

The two stablemates started the race from first and second position after locking out the front row in qualifying and maintained their lead even as Thomas Preining moved from fourth to third aboard the No. 91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R.

While Preining put himself on track for a podium finish, championship rival Mirko Bortolotti suffered a significant setback on the opening lap when contact from the No. 99 Toksport WRT Porsche of Marvin Dienst resulted in a rear puncture for the No. 92 SSR Performance Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

This condemned Bortolotti to spend the rest of the race at the back of the field, eventually coming home in 22nd position while Preining finished the race in third place.

As a result, the Austrian vaulted ahead of Bortolotti in the championship standings, holding a lead of ten points heading into the Hockenheim finale.

Marco Wittmann finished fourth aboard the No. 11 BMW, taking the place by wrestling past GRT Grasser Racing Team’s Clemens Schmid shortly before the pit window opened.

Schmid eventually came across the line in sixth place behind Manthey EMA’s Dennis Olsen, while Ayhancan Guven picked up seventh aboard the No. 24 KÜS Team Bernhard Porsche.

After starting the race from third place, Jack Aitken faded to eighth place behind the wheel of the No. 14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, leading home stablemate Thierry Vermeulen.

Arjun Maini led a trio of Mercedes-AMG entries to complete the top ten, with Lucas Auer and Maro Engel eleventh and twelfth ahead of the No. 94 SSR Performance Lamborghini of Franck Perera.

Dienst finished 14th, with Ricardo Feller picking up the final point in the No. 7 ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.

Feller, third in the standings, now trails Preining by 31 points going into the final weekend with 56 points still up for grabs.