– Manthey-Porsche driver Thomas Preining travels as the big favorite for this year’s DTM title to the finale in Hockenheim: The Austrian leads after the Sachsenring weekend with a 23-point lead over his closest pursuer Maro Engel. The Winward-Mercedes driver is currently in second place in the standings.
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But exactly that could still actually change: If the Grasser team succeeds with its appeal against the disqualification of Mirko Bortolotti in the second race in Oschersleben, the standings in the overall classification would change again – and Preining would suddenly have a completely different pursuer.
Engel would no longer receive the points for the win in the second race in Oschersleben, but only the points for second place, thus five points less. The AMG driver currently has 174 points and would therefore have only 169 points in the event of a successful Grasser appeal.
But the leader Thomas Preining would also be affected by the change in points allocation: The Manthey-Porsche driver currently has the points for second place on his side, but would fall back to third position and then receive only 16 instead of 20 points, a minus of four points.
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The 28-year-old Austrian currently has 197 points and would consequently fall back to 193 points. And then there is Schubert-BMW driver Marco Wittmann, who is currently in third place in the DTM overall standings, but would suddenly be second overall through a successful Grasser appeal.
And this can be explained as follows: Wittmann would fall back from third to fourth position in the Oschersleben race and would no longer receive the 16 points for the last podium place, but only 13 points, a deficit of three points.
In the overall standings, the BMW driver would then no longer have the current 173 points, but only 170 points. This would allow the two-time champion to slip past Engel, who would have one point less. Wittmann’s deficit to the top of the table would also shrink by one point.
How the Sachsenring weekend went for Wittmann
One thing is certain: Wittmann still has chances for his third title at the finale. “It’s mega great, I wouldn’t have thought it possible before the weekend,” says the BMW driver with a view to the Sachsenring weekend, when he was able to secure his second win of the season on Saturday. “We managed to really take a lot of points with us.”
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After the second qualifying on Sunday, it already looked as if the title fight was finally lost when the Schubert-BMW driver was only classified in 18th place. Thanks to two penalties, he moved up to 16th on the starting grid, but even that remained a challenge for the chaotic Sunday race.
“But in the end, I think we improved well,” Wittmann summarizes, “fought our way forward, also repeatedly benefited from the duels of others. And that’s what I actually always do. Then, when it gets serious, go full throttle, but maybe also sometimes stay out of it and take points.”
In the end, the two-time champion still takes ten points for sixth place on Sunday for the championship and thus remains in the title fight. “In the last lap, I made an overtaking maneuver against Mr. Vermeulen, that was also pretty cool,” Wittmann reports.
However, he was not completely satisfied with it, because the Emil-Frey-Ferrari driver apparently defended himself hard. “In the end, we are racing for the championship, I don’t know if that is always necessary,” the Schubert-BMW driver was slightly annoyed. “But whatever, I got past him.”
“Everything that still comes would be the icing on the cake”
Before the last two races of the year in Hockenheim, Wittmann is still 24 points behind leader Preining. “That we travel home with so many points from the Sachsenring and are now really within striking distance before Hockenheim is a dream,” he says.
“Considering that we were over 60 points behind, I think that’s great.” In fact, the 36-year-old was already 56 points behind the top of the table after the Oschersleben weekend, before a third place and the two wins followed.
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At the finale in Hockenheim, however, only 56 points are still up for grabs, which clearly complicates the BMW driver’s situation, even if the Grasser appeal is successful. But Wittmann is apparently already satisfied with his season so far: “Everything that still comes now would be the icing on the cake.”
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