DTM Oschersleben: Lucas Auer dominates 2025 opening…

Landgraf Mercedes driver Lucas Auer made a perfect start to the 2025 DTM season, dominating Saturday’s race from pole position at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.

"It's a perfect day," said a delighted Auer following the contest. "Once again, I have to congratulate my Landgraf squad. They delivered the pitstop, delivered the set-up and came back like this after a year off – I have to take my hat off to them."

Jordan Pepper (Grasser-Lamborghini) came close to the AMG driver in the final laps, but ultimately took second place. Winward Mercedes driver Maro Engel completed the podium. Thomas Preining (Manthey-Porsche) finished fourth, followed by Jules Gounon (Winward-Mercedes) and Emil Frey Ferrari driver Jack Aitken.

Ayhancan Guven (Manthey-Porsche) took seventh from Marco Wittmann (Schubert-BMW), reigning DTM champion Mirko Bortolotti (Abt-Lamborghini) and Luca Engstler (Grasser-Lamborghini).

Mercedes driver Auer takes start-finish victory

Auer converted his pole position into a commanding lead and opened up a gap of more than two seconds in just a few laps. The AMG driver dominated the action at the front and was, at times, half a second faster than his rivals.

Ricardo Feller wanted to be the first driver to pit after 20 minutes, but the Land Audi driver was a few seconds too early, so the pitstop window had not yet opened and the tyre change therefore did not count as a mandatory pitstop. He had to come in again later and ultimately only managed 23rd place.

Around the halfway point of the race, the leading trio Auer, Pepper and Preining had their mandatory pitstops, entering the pits bumper to bumper. With none of their mechanics making major errors, the order remained unchanged among those three.

Jules Gounon, who had pitted one lap earlier, caught up with the leading trio thanks to his warmed-up tyres, but failed to overtake third-placed Preining.

Overcut paves the way for Engel podium

Maro Engel completed his pitstop one lap later and skillfully used the overcut to temporarily take the lead. But Auer and Pepper, who had significantly more grip with their tyres up to temperature, found their way past.

Engel's strategy still paid off. The Winward Mercedes driver, who came from fifth on the grid, moved up to third place. The classification remained unchanged in the final laps, with no major battles for position.

Podium: Race winner Lucas Auer, Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf, second place Jordan Pepper, Grasser Racing Team, third place Maro Engel, Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD, Klaus Landgraf, Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf. (Photo by: Alexander Trienitz)

Auer came under increasing pressure from Pepper in the closing laps, but held his nerve and defended his lead with confidence. After a flawless performance, the Austrian finally crossed the finish line with a 0.641s lead.

Ben Doerr (Doerr-McLaren) put in a solid performance and just missed out on the top 10 in 11th place, while team-mate Timo Glock finished in 20th position. Arjun Maini was the best-placed HRT-Ford driver in 15th place and collected the final point, with the Indian completing some remarkable overtaking manoeuvres, especially in the early stages of the contest.

Rast retires from Schubert’s home race

BMW driver Rene Rast suffered a debacle at Schubert’s home race. "Unfortunately, I was told before the start that I had lost engine power," said the three-time DTM champion, who had to park his M4 GT3 early.

"I noticed that right before the start," said Rast, who was "definitely five to 10km/h" slower on the straights and failed to make any progress in the race before eventually retiring.

Ferrari driver Ben Green, who was fastest in qualifying before being disqualified for being underweight, had to start from the back of the field and fought his way up to 18th position.