DTM Lausitzring: Bortolotti fends off Feller to win, grab points lead

Although Bortolotti held the lead from pole position at the start, he was unable to pull away from the chasing pack as he did at the Nurburgring a fortnight ago, with 20kg of success ballast on his Lamborghini keeping Feller in the hunt.

It wasn’t until Feller ran wide at the exit of Turn 7 after 25 minutes of racing that Bortolotti got some breathing space, with the Italian’s lead growing to over two seconds as a result of a rare error from his Abt rival.

Bortolotti and Feller stopped for fresh tyres at the same time on lap 22, with Thomas Preining in the Manthey EMA also joining them in the pitlane.

All three teams perfected their pitstops and the trio returned on track in the same positions, but Preining got overtaken by the HRT Mercedes of Luca Stolz on his outlap and subsequently dropped off the fight.

A tense battle for the lead ensued, with Feller closing back in on Bortolotti and attempting several moves at passing the heavily-ballasted Lamborghini, particularly at Turns 1 and 6.

Despite getting a great run out of the final corner on several occasions, Feller was never able to pull off a move, with Bortolotti incredibly holding on to victory by just 0.353s after 45 laps of racing at the 4.35km circuit in eastern Germany.

The result elevates the SSR Performance driver to the top of the standings, seven points clear of Preining, with Feller another 11 points adrift in third.

Stolz, who benefitted by pitting at the first opportunity when the pit window opened, finished just 1.2s in arrears at the flag to score his second podium of the season.

Preining had to settle for fourth at the finish after lacking the pace to fight with the leading trio in his second stint, with his team-mate Dennis Olsen finishing right behind him in fifth.

Winward Mercedes Lucas Auer bagged another solid haul of points after climbing from ninth to sixth, beating the Emil Frey Ferrari of Saturday winner Jack Aitken. Aitken was involved in an incident with Auer’s team-mate David Schumacher that led to the German’s retirement, but no action had been taken against him at the time of writing.

Further back, Kelvin van der Linde was eighth for Abt Audi, while Project 1’s Marco Wittmann was the top BMW driver in ninth despite a late attempt at passing van der Linde leaving him well off the track at Turn 1.

Schubert Motorsport’s Rene Rast completed the top 10 after starting 15th, three places ahead of his team-mate Sheldon van der Linde, who recovered to finish inside the points after a disappointing qualifying left him 21st on the grid.

Only 19 drivers reached the finish, with Lamborghini duo Clemens Schmid and Frank Perera among the list of retirees after they collided at Turn 13 while battling for third just as the pitstop window opened.

DTM Lausitzring - Race results:

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

       

Driver Info			Main Information Additional Data
Cla	Driver	#		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points
1	M. Bortolotti Mirko Bortolotti SSR Performance	92		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	45				25
2	R. Feller Ricardo Feller Abt Sportsline	7		Audi R8 LMS Evo II	45	0.326			20
3	L. Stolz Luca Stolz Mercedes-AMG Team HRT	4		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	45	0.566			16
4	T. Preining Thomas Preining Manthey EMA	91		Porsche 911 GT3 R	45	2.721			13
5	D. Olsen Dennis Olsen Manthey EMA	90		Porsche 911 GT3 R	45	5.403			11
6	L. Auer Lucas Auer Mercedes-AMG Team Winward	22		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	45	2.791			10
7	J. Aitken Jack Aitken Emil Frey Racing	14		Ferrari 296 GT3	45	3.161			9
8	K. van der Linde Kelvin van der Linde Abt Sportsline	3		Audi R8 LMS Evo II	45	1.531			8
9	M. Wittmann Marco Wittmann Project 1 Motorsport	11		BMW M4 GT3	45	0.789			7
10	R. Rast René Rast Schubert Motorsport	33		BMW M4 GT3	45	1.632			6
11	T. Vermeulen Thierry Vermeulen Emil Frey Racing	69		Ferrari 296 GT3	45	0.483			5
12	M. Dienst Marvin Dienst Toksport WRT	99		Porsche 911 GT3 R	44	7.859			4
13	S. Van Der Linde Sheldon Van Der Linde Schubert Motorsport	1		BMW M4 GT3	44	2.808			3
14	A. Maini Arjun Maini Mercedes-AMG Team HRT	36		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	44	0.655			2
15	L. Engstler Luca Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler	8		Audi R8 LMS Evo II	44	2.098			1
16	T. Heinemann Tim Heinemann Toksport WRT	9		Porsche 911 GT3 R	44	2.309
17	J. Owega Jusuf Owega Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf	84		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	44	0.553
18	S. Holzem Sandro Holzem Project 1 Motorsport	56		BMW M4 GT3	44	6.267
19	A. Deledda Alessio Deledda SSR Performance	6		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	43	1 lap
20	P. Maximilian Paul Maximilian GRT Grasser Racing Team	19		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	34	9 laps
21	A. Güven Ayhancan Güven KÜS Team Bernhard	24		Porsche 911 GT3 R	28	6 laps
22	M. Engel Maro Engel Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf	48		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	18	10 laps
23	C. Schmid Clemens Schmid GRT Grasser Racing Team	63		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	17	1 lap
24	P. Niederhauser Patric Niederhauser Tresor Orange1	83		Audi R8 LMS Evo II	17	1.806
25	D. Schumacher David Schumacher Mercedes-AMG Team Winward	27		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	17	1'01.192
26	F. Perera Frank Perera SSR Performance	94		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	15	2 laps
27	M. Drudi Mattia Drudi Tresor Orange1	40		Audi R8 LMS Evo II	4	11 laps
28	L. Heinrich Laurin Heinrich KÜS Team Bernhard	75		Porsche 911 GT3 R	2	2 laps
View full results