DTM Red Bull Ring: Rast holds off Preining to win, Bortolotti extends points lead

Three-time DTM champion Rene Rast held off Porsche rival Thomas Preining to claim victory in the second race at the Red Bull Ring, as Mirko Bortolotti extended his championship lead.

Boosted by an overnight Balance of Performance change, factory BMW driver Rast qualified third on the grid in Austria and moved up to second by the end of the opening stint.

A combination of a rapid pitstop from the Schubert crew and an overcut propelled him to the lead at the midway point of the race, which he converted into a second win of 2024 after fending off a late charge from Preining.

At the start, Saturday winner Bortolotti pulled away cleanly from pole position in his SSR Performance Lamborghini, while a failed attempt at passing Luca Engstler for second dropped Rast behind the Porsche of Preining.

The order at the front remained unchanged until Preining tried to overtake Engstler on lap 11, only to allow Rast to settle the score and repass him into Turn 8.

Rast then cleared Engstler two laps later when the Grasser Lamborghini driver ran wide at Turn 3, with Preining also dispatching the 24-year-old shortly afterwards.

When the pit window opened after 20 minutes of racing, Preining was the first of the frontrunners to complete his mandatory pitstop, with Bortolotti and Rast following him on successive laps.

Schubert was able to service Rast’s car in under seven seconds, which combined with the strength of the overcut at the Red Bull Ring, allowed the German driver to seize the net lead.

René Rast, Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 (Photo by: Alexander Trienitz)

Shortly afterwards, Preining overtook Bortolotti on track for second with a textbook pass on Turn 3, laying the foundation to a tense duel between him and Rast.

What was a comfortable three-second advantage for Rast quickly began to disappear, as Preining started hunting down the German for his first victory since the second round at the Lausitzring in May.

With a quarter of the race to go, Rast appeared to have done enough to stave off the reigning champion, but Preining again came back at him in the closing stages.

Ultimately, the BMW driver was able to keep Preining at bay with a winning margin of just 0.6s.

Third place went to the HRT Mercedes of Arjun Maini, who celebrated a double podium at the Red Bull Ring after emerging on top in an epic three-way battle with Schubert’s Sheldon van der Linde and Preining’s team-mate Aynchan Guven on the straight between Turn 3 and 4.

Maini was one of a handful of drivers to delay his mandatory stop until the end of the pit window, allowing him to demote polesitter Bortolotti to fourth.

The Italian, however, still returned from the race with a bigger lead in the championship, with his nearest rival and Abt driver Kelvin van der Linde finishing just behind him in fifth.

As was the case on Saturday, the South African was held back by a poor qualifying and could only recover a top-five finish after starting the race from 11th.

Mirko Bortolotti, SSR Performance Lamborghini Huracán EVO GT3 (Photo by: Alexander Trienitz)

His brother Sheldon van der Linde was classified sixth ahead of Manthey EMA’s Guven, who reported damage on his Porsche after going halfway over the grass in his battle with Maini and the younger van der Linde.

Maro Engel was the only finisher for the Winward Mercedes team in eighth after his team-mate Lucas Auer stopped at the start/finish straight with seven minutes to go with a mechanical problem.

The top 10 was rounded off by Grasser Lamborghini’s Frank Perera and Emil Frey Ferrari driver Jack Aitken.

Engstler, who battled for second with Rast and Preining early on, eventually retired from the race with a gear issue.

DTM Red Bull Ring Race Results

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points
1	R. Rast Schubert Motorsport	33		BMW M4 GT3	39	1:01'30.330			25
2	T. Preining Manthey EMA	91		Porsche 911 GT3 R	39	+0.668 1:01'30.998	0.668		20
3	A. Maini Mercedes-AMG Team HRT	36		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	39	+10.367 1:01'40.697	9.699		16
4	M. Bortolotti SSR Performance	92		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	39	+14.773 1:01'45.103	4.406		13
5	K. van der Linde Abt Sportsline	3		Audi R8 LMS Evo II	39	+15.877 1:01'46.207	1.104		11
6	S. Van Der Linde Schubert Motorsport	31		BMW M4 GT3	39	+17.359 1:01'47.689	1.482		10
7	A. Güven Manthey EMA	90		Porsche 911 GT3 R	39	+17.939 1:01'48.269	0.580		9
8	M. Engel Mercedes-AMG Team Winward	130		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	39	+24.194 1:01'54.524	6.255		8
9	F. Perera GRT Grasser Racing Team	63		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	39	+28.612 1:01'58.942	4.418		7
10	J. Aitken Emil Frey Racing	14		Ferrari 296 GT3	39	+29.433 1:01'59.763	0.821		6
11	M. Wittmann Schubert Motorsport	11		BMW M4 GT3	39	+30.236 1:02'00.566	0.803		5
12	R. Feller Abt Sportsline	7		Audi R8 LMS Evo II	39	+31.416 1:02'01.746	1.180		4
13	T. Vermeulen Emil Frey Racing	69		Ferrari 296 GT3	39	+32.061 1:02'02.391	0.645		3
14	P. Maximilian Paul Motorsport	71		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	39	+34.114 1:02'04.444	2.053		2
15	C. Schmid Dörr Motorsport	85		McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	39	+38.824 1:02'09.154	4.710		1
16	N. Thiim SSR Performance	94		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	39	+43.628 1:02'13.958	4.804
17	B. Dörr Dörr Motorsport	25		McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	39	+46.168 1:02'16.498	2.540
dnf	L. Auer Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter	22		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	32	+7 Laps 51'27.219	7 Laps
dnf	L. Stolz Mercedes-AMG Team HRT	4		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	25	+14 Laps 41'39.782	7 Laps
dnf	L. Engstler GRT Grasser Racing Team	19		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	17	+22 Laps 28'59.869	8 Laps
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