Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Autosport
Autosport
Sport

DTM Norisring: Rast wins Bavarian weather lottery

Rene Rast came out on top of a mixed-weather first DTM race at the Norisring, calling the conditions exactly right to win in his Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3.

The start was cleaner and tidier than some seen during the course of the Norisring’s long DTM history. Behind poleman Jack Aitken (Emil Frey Racing Ferrari), Rast’s team-mate Sheldon van der Linde slotted dutifully into second with Mirko Bortolotti (SSR Performance Lamborghini) taking up third position

The top six, completed by Maro Engel's Winward Mercedes, Rast and points leader Kelvin van der Linde (Abt Audi), had settled into position by midway around the second lap.

Things then remained largely unmoved through the first half of the race, as teams kept a beady eye on the weather. With heavy rain forecast to arrive during the 20-minute pitstop window, strategy was likely to be more decisive than any on-track moves.

Anticipation only grew as the stewards declared a wet race, and most teams delayed their stops until late in the window. Just to make things even harder, the rain stayed away until the very end of it.

Sheldon van der Linde had been first to blink, his undercut working as he emerged in front of Aitken to grab the lead. Both, however, were on slicks and rain began to fall heavily with 17 minutes remaining in the hour-long race.

While the likes of Sheldon van der Linde and Aitken returned to the pits for wet tyres, along with most of the others who had put on slicks during the pit window, new lead duo Rast and Franck Perera (GRT-Grasser Lamborghini) elected to stay out.

Both could already see the rain easing and trusted themselves to bring it home on slicks. That proved exactly the right choice as slicks were the tyres to have by the chequered flag and Rast triumphed in a terrific strategic battle.

Luca Engstler, Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracán EVO GT3, Mirko Bortolotti, SSR Performance Lamborghini Huracán EVO GT3 (Photo by: Alexander Trienitz)

Factory Lamborghini driver Perera, standing in for Christian Engelhart after the German underwent a knee operation, was joined on the rostrum by team-mate Luca Engstler.

He’d been nowhere early in the race after starting 15th, but also called it right by staying out and roared through on his slicks to claim third with a couple of laps remaining.

Nicki Thiim (SSR) and Bortolotti completed a strong day for Lamborghini as the marque locked out four of the top-five positions, while Kelvin van der Linde beat his brother to sixth.

Aitken slipped back to finish ninth at the finish, behind Engel, as Maximilian Paul completed the top 10.

DTM Norisring Race 1 Results

   
1
 - 
4
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Driver # Car Laps Time Interval Pits Points
1 Germany R. Rast Schubert Motorsport 33 BMW M4 GT3 69

1:01'35.627

    25
2
F. Perera GRT Grasser Racing Team
63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 69

+2.272

1:01'37.899

2.272   20
3 Germany L. Engstler GRT Grasser Racing Team 19 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 69

+37.075

1:02'12.702

34.803   16
4 Denmark N. Thiim SSR Performance 94 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 69

+44.111

1:02'19.738

7.036   13
5 Italy M. Bortolotti SSR Performance 92 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 69

+44.479

1:02'20.106

0.368   11
6 South Africa K. van der Linde Abt Sportsline 3 Audi R8 LMS Evo II 69

+44.956

1:02'20.583

0.477   10
7 South Africa S. Van Der Linde Schubert Motorsport 31 BMW M4 GT3 69

+47.506

1:02'23.133

2.550   9
8 Germany M. Engel Mercedes-AMG Team Winward 130 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 69

+50.850

1:02'26.477

3.344   8
9 United Kingdom J. Aitken Emil Frey Racing 14 Ferrari 296 GT3 69

+53.488

1:02'29.115

2.638   7
10 Germany P. Maximilian Paul Motorsport 71 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 69

+53.749

1:02'29.376

0.261   6
11 Germany L. Stolz Mercedes-AMG Team HRT 4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 68

+1 Lap

1:01'36.566

1 Lap   5
12 Germany M. Wittmann Schubert Motorsport 11 BMW M4 GT3 68

+1 Lap

1:01'36.853

0.287   4
13 Switzerland R. Feller Abt Sportsline 7 Audi R8 LMS Evo II 68

+1 Lap

1:01'37.458

0.605   3
14 Austria T. Preining Manthey EMA 91 Porsche 911 GT3 R 68

+1 Lap

1:01'38.506

1.048   2
15 India A. Maini Mercedes-AMG Team HRT 36 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 68

+1 Lap

1:01'42.397

3.891   1
16 Turkey A. Güven Manthey EMA 90 Porsche 911 GT3 R 68

+1 Lap

1:01'43.546

1.149    
17
T. Vermeulen Emil Frey Racing
69 Ferrari 296 GT3 68

+1 Lap

1:02'07.288

23.742    
18 Austria C. Schmid Dörr Motorsport 85 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo 67

+2 Laps

1:02'07.267

1 Lap    
dnf Austria L. Auer Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter 22 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 7

+62 Laps

8'57.837

60 Laps    
dnf
B. Dörr Dörr Motorsport
25 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo 4

+65 Laps

5'30.082

3 Laps    
Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.