DTM Oschersleben: Aitken capitalises on Wittmann dramas to win season-opener

BMW driver Wittmann was on course to take an unlikely victory from the last row of the grid after timing his pitstop to perfection, with Schubert Motorsport having brought him in for his mandatory stop just before a Full Course Yellow was deployed.

But with the end of the race in sight, his BMW M4 GT3 crawled to a halt at the start/finish straight due to a fuel pressure alarm, allowing Aitken to retake the position and claim his second career victory in the DTM.

Aitken had made a clean start from pole position as the 2024 campaign began at Oschersleben, with Mirko Bortolotti likewise holding on to second in the SSR Performance Lamborghini.

But as the initial laps wore on, Bortolotti started coming under pressure from the Abt Sportsline Audi of Ricardo Feller, who had passed HRT Mercedes of Arjun Maini for third at the start.

This allowed Aitken to build a buffer for himself at the front of the pack, the British driver pulling in an advantage of three seconds as the pit window opened after 20 minutes of racing.

Bortolotti was among the first of the frontrunners to peel into the pitlane, with Aitken and Feller following him into the pits on the next lap.

Aitken resumed the race in the net lead, but Feller managed to get the jump on Bortolotti as the overcut proved to be the superior strategy on a track where drivers struggled to get heat into their tyres.

Podium: Race winner Jack Aitken, Emil Frey Racing, second place Mirko Bortolotti, SSR Performance, third place Ricardo Feller, Team ABT Sportsline (Photo by: Alexander Trienitz)

It appeared Aitken would have a clean run to the finish, but the race was turned on his head when Ben Dorr lost a wheel on his McLaren exiting the final corner around the halfway point of the race.

With the loose wheel rolling its way on to the track, a caution period was necessitated, before the race control decided to bring out the full safety car.

However, just before the FCY came into force, Schubert cleverly called in Wittmann to the pits, the BMW driver having decided to go long in the first stint after a red flag in qualifying left him on 19th on the grid.

It appeared to be a masterstroke from Schubert, as Wittmann cycled back on track well clear of the chasing pack. Even as the safety car that followed closed the pack back up, Wittmann was able to make a brilliant restart as Bortolotti repassed Feller for third.

However, a first win since the 2022 finale at Hockenheim wasn’t to be, as a rare mechanical issue left the German stranded on track and put Aitken back in front.

The safety car was brought back on track to help retrieve Wittmann’s stranded BMW, but the track could be cleared for a one-lap dash to the finish.

Aitken made no mistakes as the SC peeled into the pits, keeping himself well clear of the competition to start the season with a stunning win.

Race winner Jack Aitken, Emil Frey Racing Ferrari Ferrari 296 GT3 (Photo by: Alexander Trienitz)

Bortolotti claimed second for Lamborghini, while Feller resisted the other Schubert BMW of Sheldon van der Linde on the final lap to claim the third spot on the podium.

Mercedes duo Luca Stolz (HRT) and Lucas Auer (Winward) finished fifth and sixth behind van der Linde, while Rene Rast ended up seventh in the third of the three Schubert BMWs.

A decision to stop early dropped Stolz’s team-mate Maini from fourth on lap one to eighth at the finish, ahead of the second Emil Frey Ferrari of Thierry Vermeulen and reigning champion Thomas Preining (Manthey EMA), the only Porsche runner inside the top 10.

Apart from Wittmann and Dorr, the only other driver to fail to finish the race was SSR’s Nicki Thiim, who retired after just 10 laps with technical issues of his own.

DTM Oschersleben 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	J. Aitken Emil Frey Racing	14		Ferrari 296 GT3	39	1:01'33.741
2	M. Bortolotti SSR Performance	92		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	39	+1.159 1:01'34.900	1.159
3	R. Feller Abt Sportsline	7		Audi R8 LMS Evo II	39	+1.595 1:01'35.336	0.436
4	S. Van Der Linde Schubert Motorsport	31		BMW M4 GT3	39	+1.982 1:01'35.723	0.387
5	L. Stolz Mercedes-AMG Team HRT	4		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	39	+3.744 1:01'37.485	1.762
6	L. Auer Mercedes-AMG Team HRT	22		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	39	+4.228 1:01'37.969	0.484
7	R. Rast Schubert Motorsport	33		BMW M4 GT3	39	+4.576 1:01'38.317	0.348
8	A. Maini Mercedes-AMG Team HRT	36		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	39	+5.025 1:01'38.766	0.449
9	T. Vermeulen Emil Frey Racing	69		Ferrari 296 GT3	39	+5.177 1:01'38.918	0.152
10	T. Preining Manthey EMA	91		Porsche 911 GT3 R	39	+5.928 1:01'39.669	0.751
11	L. Engstler GRT Grasser Racing Team	19		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	39	+6.276 1:01'40.017	0.348
12	K. van der Linde Abt Sportsline	3		Audi R8 LMS Evo II	39	+6.645 1:01'40.386	0.369
13	M. Engel Mercedes-AMG Team HRT	130		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	39	+6.853 1:01'40.594	0.208
14	A. Güven Manthey EMA	90		Porsche 911 GT3 R	39	+7.707 1:01'41.448	0.854
15	C. Schmid Dörr Motorsport	85		McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	39	+8.287 1:01'42.028	0.580
16	C. Engelhart GRT Grasser Racing Team	63		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	39	+8.989 1:01'42.730	0.702
17	P. Maximilian Paul Motorsport	71		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	39	+9.092 1:01'42.833	0.103
18	M. Wittmann Schubert Motorsport	11		BMW M4 GT3	36	+3 Laps 56'25.045	3 Laps
dnf	B. Dörr Dörr Motorsport	25		McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	20	+19 Laps 29'42.372	16 Laps
dnf	N. Thiim SSR Performance	94		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	10	+29 Laps 14'44.338	10 Laps
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