DTM Race Nürburgring 2: Wittmann takes BMW victory after crazy AMG debacle

– The shining winner of the second DTM race at the Nürburgring (race result) is Marco Wittmann: The Schubert-BMW driver, who started from sixth place, benefited from the mistakes of the competition during the first pit stop and secured his third overall DTM victory in the Eifel.

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Because especially Mercedes-AMG experienced a moderate debacle on Sunday: Maro Engel (Winward-Mercedes) and Lucas Auer (Landgraf-Mercedes) collided shortly after the start, while polesitter Jules Gounon (Winward-Mercedes) only finished 14th due to a penalty.

The only joy for the brand with the star: Tom Kalender showed a flawless race and fought his way to his first DTM podium in the final phase with second place. Thomas Preining (Manthey-Porsche) completes the podium in third.

Arjun Maini (HRT-Ford) finished fourth, followed by Mirko Bortolotti (Grasser-Lamborghini) and Lucas Engstler in the Abt-Lamborghini. Nicki Thiim (Comtoyou-Aston-Martin) crossed the finish line seventh, ahead of Timo Glock in the Dörr-McLaren. Marco Mapelli (Abt-Lamborghini) and Bastian Buus (Land-Porsche) completed the top 10 on Sunday.

Engel takes AMG teammate Auer out of the race

Mercedes-AMG suffered the first setback shortly after the start when points leader Engel collided with teammate Auer. The Austrian spun and subsequently took Kelvin van der Linde (Schubert-BMW) out as well.

“I have to look at it again carefully, but it looks like it was my fault,” Engel immediately took the blame in an interview with ProSieben. “I have to check if maybe I got hit from behind, I don’t know. But at first glance, I would say it was my fault.”

After a short safety car phase, polesitter Gounon defended his lead ahead of Dörr and previous day’s winner Matteo Cairoli in the Emil-Frey-Ferrari. Meanwhile, Bortolotti (Grasser-Lamborghini) had to serve a penalty lap for a jump start and fell to the back of the field.

Marco Wittmann benefits from pit stop chaos

When the first of two pit stop windows opened shortly after, eighth-placed Engstler was the first driver from the top 10 to come in for a tire change. Behind him, Ricardo Feller (Manthey-Porsche), Thierry Vermeulen (Emil-Frey-Ferrari), and Buus also opted for an early stop.

Similar to the previous day, there was fierce fighting on Sunday as well. Especially the three-way battle between Kalender, Engstler, and Feller delighted the spectators. The trio overtook each other multiple times, sometimes with slight contact, with the Abt-Lamborghini driver initially emerging as the winner.

The leading group took significantly longer with the first pit stop than the midfield drivers. Dörr was finally the first driver from the top 3 to pit on lap 16, but the Dörr team made another mistake and did not properly secure the right front wheel.

The McLaren youngster managed to get back on track but slid straight on in the next corner. Gounon and Cairoli came a lap later: while the stop at the Winward team went perfectly, there was a problem with the left rear wheel at Emil-Frey.

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The stop for Cairoli therefore lasted almost 25 seconds, causing the Italian to drop back to eleventh place. The beneficiary of the chaos was Marco Wittmann, who moved up to second place and also passed Nicki Thiim, who lost a lot of time behind the struggling Dörr in the pit lane.

Gounon loses lead due to pit stop violation

To safely recover the stranded Dörr McLaren, the safety car came out for the second time. Bitter for Gounon: because the Frenchman was too fast during his pit stop in the pit lane, the Mercedes driver had to serve a penalty lap after the race was restarted.

As a result, the Frenchman dropped back to sixth place and shortly afterwards also had to yield to Kalender. Wittmann took the lead for the first time, followed by Manthey-Porsche driver Thomas Preining and Nicki Thiim.

In the midfield, there were further battles after the second safety car, including between Bortolotti and Finn Wiebelhaus. For the HRT-Ford driver, this ended with a tire damage. The race control briefly reviewed the incident but did not issue a penalty.

Arjun Maini, who was running on fresh tires after his early exit the day before, had already fought his way up to fourth place at this point. Shortly afterwards, the second pit stop window opened, with the Indian being the first driver to come in for another tire change.

Tom Kalender takes first podium in DTM

The top 3 came in for the second stop a few laps later, with no changes initially. However, third-placed Thiim did not get going well afterwards. The Dane first had to yield to AMG driver Kalender before Luca Engstler and Maini also passed him.

Kalender put pressure on second-placed Preining in the last laps and passed the 2023 DTM champion with a strong maneuver shortly before the checkered flag. The 18-year-old, who was already fourth at the season opener at the Red Bull Ring, celebrates his first DTM podium.

In the second race on Sunday, only 20 cars started: Christian Engelhart, who was driving as a replacement for the injured Maximilian Paul at the Nürburgring, could no longer intervene in the race. His Grasser-Lamborghini was too badly damaged in the heavy crash with Thierry Vermeulen in the final phase of Saturday’s race.

Winward-Mercedes driver Maro Engel retains the lead in the overall standings despite his retirement, but Thomas Preining (Manthey-Porsche) closes the gap to just one point thanks to his third place on Sunday. Nicki Thiim (Comtoyou-Aston-Martin) is third, 21 points behind.

The 2026 DTM season now enters the crucial phase, as only four races remain: The next two rounds will take place in four weeks at the Sachsenring (September 11 to 13), before the new DTM champion is crowned at the finale in Hockenheim (October 9 to 11).

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