Stolz Takes Lights-To-Flag Saturday Sachsenring Win

Luca Stolz converted pole position to a dominant victory during the Saturday DTM race at the Sachsenring, while Thomas Preining finished second to recapture the championship lead.

The No. 4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo crossed the line 2.688 seconds ahead of Preining’s No. 91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R, with Ayhancan Guven completing the podium for KÜS Team Bernhard.

Stolz secured his second career win in the championship. His maiden victory came during the Sunday race at the Nürburgring last year.

The German driver led from the start and maintained first place over Guven even as an early gap was slashed by a safety car after ten minutes for debris on the track.

Although Preining vaulted in front of the No. 24 Porsche during the round of mandatory stops, Stolz remained in control and kept the Austrian driver at bay for the remainder of the contest.

Second place for Preining resulted in the Austrian retaking the championship lead from Mirko Bortolotti.

The No. 92 SSR Performance Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 ran in fifth place in the early exchanges, but dropped down the order when Bortolotti was ordered to serve a penalty lap for spinning wheels on the jacks during his pitstop.

The Italian driver then battled through reported ABS issues to finish in ninth place.

Preining now leads the championship with 151 points, with Bortolotti dropping to second six points behind.

The No. 7 ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Ricardo Feller finished the race in fourth place after resisting close pressure from teammate Kelvin van der Linde in the closing laps.

Sheldon van der Linde crossed the line in sixth, ahead of Dennis Olsen and Rene Rast.

Bortolotti and the No. 69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Thierry Vermeulen completed the top ten.

RESULTS: Race 1