Emil Frey Ferrari driver Jack Aitken has celebrated his first DTM victory of the 2025 season at the Lausitzring.
Schubert BMW racer Rene Rast did undercut polesitter Aitken with their first pitstops, but the latter stayed close and fought his way back into the lead with a determined move.
“Yes, I'm super happy,” said Rast, who didn’t expect BMW to be so competitive. “Of course, I would have liked to win today, and losing the victory two laps before the end is always annoying, but it was incredibly fun today.”
Jules Gounon (Winward Mercedes) attacked Rast for second place on the last lap in the final corner, pulling alongside, but came 0.045s short and had to be content with third.
Jordan Pepper (Grasser Lamborghini) secured fourth position, followed by Maro Engel (Winward Mercedes) and DTM champion Mirko Bortolotti, who scored his best result of the season in the Abt Lamborghini. Thierry Vermeulen (Emil Frey Ferrari) finished seventh ahead of Marco Wittmann (Schubert BMW) and Saturday race winner Lucas Auer in the Landgraf Mercedes.
Maximilian Paul was 10th under the chequered flag but got a 60-second penalty for taking his second pitstop too late, with Timo Glock inheriting the last top-10 spot.
Bortolotti and Scherer benefit from chaos at the start
The race start was chaotic again, with Thomas Preining (Manthey Porsche) colliding with polesitter Aitken and having to retire in the pits, while Marco Wittmann (Schubert BMW) attempted to take advantage but was pushed off by the leading Ferrari. Auer was pushed onto the grass by Wittmann and lost a few positions.
Bortolotti emerged from the chaos in 10th, having started 20th, while HRT Ford driver Fabio Scherer moved up to ninth from 22nd.
Wittmann then ran into ABS issues and started dropping back; a tyre change seemed to solve the problem. Meanwhile, Bortolotti was tapped by Ben Doerr (Doerr McLaren) and lost several placecs, with the youngster being awarded a penalty lap. Doerr went on to spin Morris Schuring (Manthey Porsche) around, which earned him three penalty laps – but he still salvaged 14th position in the end.
Rast undercuts Aitken for the lead
Aitken and Rast pulled away in the early stages of the race, and the German driver undercut his rival, pitting one lap earlier. The safety car was then deployed due to contact between Wittmann and Schuring, and Rast confidently maintained his lead when the race restarted, while Aitken had to fend off Engel.
Further back, there was more drama as Ricardo Feller span Nicolas Baert (Comtoyou Aston Martin) around while Arjun Maini and Timo Glock collided when battling for 15th.
Rast defends staunchly, but Aitken finds a way through
The second pitstop phase made no difference in the battle for victory, with Rast keeping the lead from Aitken and Engel. The latter made a mistake in his out-lap on cold tyres, allowing Pepper and Gounon through.
In the closing laps, Aitken closed the gap to Rast and put him under pressure. The Scot found a way through with a bold manoeuver on the penultimate tour to secure his first win of the season, moving up to fifth in the standings.
Auer still leads the championship with 69 points, followed by Gounon (63), Pepper (55) and Engel (52). The next round will take place at Zandvoort in two weeks’ time.
