Schubert BMW driver Rene Rast was unbeatable in the first DTM race at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, overtaking polesitter Marco Wittmann on the third lap before pulling away to score a comfortable win.
"There's nothing to complain about today," the three-time DTM champion said in an interview with ran.de. "I think the guys did a brilliant pit stop. We had a good strategy and a good car. That’s why, for once, there’s really nothing to complain about today."
While Rast enjoyed a clean race at the front, there was drama behind him on the final lap as Emil Frey Ferrari's Jack Aitken made an error and ended up in the barriers. The incident promoted Rast’s team-mate Wittmann and the sister Emil Frey Ferrari of Thierry Vermeulen to second and third in the final classification.
Ben Green, also from Emil Frey, finished fourth, followed by Winward's Maro Engel and Manthey Porsche driver Thomas Preining.
Title contender Jordan Pepper (Grasser Lamborghini) came seventh, after the South African managed to squeeze past Jules Gounon towards the end of the race. Winward Mercedes driver Gounon slowed down considerably in the final two laps and dragged his smoking car across the line, which he then had to park and extinguish shortly after.
Behind him, Gilles Magnus (Comtoyou Aston Martin) and Luca Engstler (Grasser Lamborghini) completed the top 10.
At the start, Wittmann initially held the the lead from pole position, but Rast was already putting him under pressure. Behind them, Aitken slotted his Emil Frey Ferrari into third position after the first lap, followed by Feller, Green and Engstler.
Meanwhile, Timo Glock’s disappointing weekend continued; in the first-lap chaos, the former Formula 1 driver suffered a puncture on his Dorr McLaren, forcing him into an early pit stop and dropping him towards the rear of the field. Glock was left chasing the pack for the rest of the race and finished last.
Things also went badly for Gilles Magnus, who had qualified third on the grid in the Comtoyou Aston Martin, as he dropped several positions. To make matters worse, the Belgian received his third warning for forcing AMG driver Engel off track, meaning he will be handed a five-place grid penalty for Sunday’s second race
At the front, the BMW drivers swapped positions at the start of lap three, allowing Rast to take the lead from Wittmann. Aitken also came under pressure early on from Land Audi driver Feller, but the Swiss couldn’t find a way past and had to drop back for the time being.
When the pitstop window opened, Rast had already pulled more than two seconds clear of his BMW teammate at the front. By this point, Wittmann even had to start looking in his mirrors, as Aitken and Feller were closing in on the two-time DTM champion.
Feller was one of the first drivers to pit for fresh tyres, but the Land Audi driver’s stop was a complete disaster: first, the wheel nut flew off, then the wheel gun didn’t fit properly. Feller was stationary for nearly 15 seconds, dropping far down the order and eventually finishing only 13th.
Aitken’s stop, one lap later, also took slightly longer, but the undercut on Wittmann still worked. Although the BMW driver tried to defend from the charging Ferrari driver, Aitken didn’t let himself be shaken off — even after a slight rear-end contact — and moved into second place.
But at the front, Rast was untouchable, the Schubert crew delivering yet another perfect pit stop in 5.8 seconds, allowing the three-time DTM champion not only to defend his lead but even extend it in the laps following the tyre change.
RIn the end, he crossed the finish line with a clear 3.5-second lead over his teammate Wittmann, who benefitted from the unfortunate mistake by Aitken on the final lap.
This means there’s a change at the top of the drivers' standings in the DTM. BMW driver Rast now leads on 157 points, while previous leader Lucas Auer (155 points) has dropped to second place. Jordan Pepper (154 points) is in third.
Auer lost the championship lead to Rast after finishing only twelfth on Saturday.
The second DTM race starts on Sunday at the usual time of 1:30 p.m. In the morning qualifying session (from 9:15 a.m.), the starting positions will first be determined, with rain showers expected in the morning.
Race results:
| Cla | Nº | Driver | Car / Engine | Laps | Time | Gap |
| 1 | 33 | René Rast | BMW | 38 | 57'35.568 | |
| 2 | 11 | Marco Wittmann | BMW | 38 | 57'39.132 | 3.564 |
| 3 | 69 | T.Vermeulen | Ferrari | 38 | 57'41.605 | 6.037 |
| 4 | 10 | Ben Green | Ferrari | 38 | 57'46.620 | 11.052 |
| 5 | 24 | Maro Engel | Mercedes | 38 | 57'51.159 | 15.591 |
| 6 | 91 | Thomas Preining | Porsche | 38 | 57'52.568 | 17.000 |
| 7 | 63 | Jordan Pepper | Lamborghini | 38 | 57'56.242 | 20.674 |
| 8 | 48 | Jules Gounon | Mercedes | 38 | 57'56.384 | 20.816 |
| 9 | 7 | Gilles Magnus | Aston Martin | 38 | 57'56.471 | 20.903 |
| 10 | 19 | Luca Engstler | Lamborghini | 38 | 57'56.524 | 20.956 |
| 11 | 36 | Arjun Maini | Ford | 38 | 58'02.122 | 26.554 |
| 12 | 22 | Lucas Auer | Mercedes | 38 | 58'02.931 | 27.363 |
| 13 | 29 | Ricardo Feller | Audi | 38 | 58'05.680 | 30.112 |
| 14 | 25 | Ben Dörr | McLaren | 38 | 58'06.202 | 30.634 |
| 15 | 64 | Fabio Scherer | Ford | 38 | 58'06.872 | 31.304 |
| 16 | 1 | Mirko Bortolotti | Lamborghini | 38 | 58'07.906 | 32.338 |
| 17 | 90 | Ayhancan Guven | Porsche | 38 | 58'08.568 | 33.000 |
| 18 | 84 | Tom Kalender | Mercedes | 38 | 58'12.190 | 36.622 |
| 19 | 92 | Morris Schuring | Porsche | 38 | 58'12.528 | 36.960 |
| 20 | 2 | Nicki Thiim | Lamborghini | 38 | 58'13.481 | 37.913 |
| 21 | 8 | Nicolas Baert | Aston Martin | 38 | 58'15.380 | 39.812 |
| 22 | 16 | Timo Glock | McLaren | 38 | 58'23.043 | 47.475 |
| 23 | 14 | Jack Aitken | Ferrari | 37 | 56'07.982 | Not running |
| (14) | 71 | Maximilian Paul | Lamborghini | 17 | 26'03.332 | Retirement |
