DTM OSCHERSLEBEN: ENGELHART LEADS PORSCHE 1-2-3-4 IN SUNDAY'S RACE
Preining had looked set for a third career victory in the DTM having led the race comfortably from pole position until the final 10 minutes, when his Manthey EMA team was found to have not correctly completed the pitstop procedure.
The 24-year-old was handed a long-lap penalty for the infringement, leaving him down in third and elevating Toksport WRT duo Engelhart and Tim Heinemann up to first and second positions.
At the start of the race, Preining pulled away cleanly from pole, while Grasser Lamborghini’s Clemens Schmid slipped past Heinemann to split the two Porsches.
Dennis Olsen got the jump on the SSR Performance Lamborghini of Mirko Bortolotti to take fourth, while eventual race winner Engelhart was only sixth at the end of the opening lap after passing the Bernhard Porsche of Ayhancan Guven.
By lap eight, three-time champion Rene Rast had broken inside the top 10 but the right-rear tyre of his Schubert BMW suddenly came off loose, sending him into the gravel trap and out of the race.
When the consequent safety car peeled into the pits and the action resumed, Preining was rapid in his reflexes and retained the lead of the race, while Heinemann managed to overtake Schmid to establish a Porsche 1-2 again.
The pitstop sequence followed soon after, with Preining again managing to stay in front after pitting 32 minutes into the race.
Engelhart was among the last of the frontrunners to complete a pitstop and this allowed him to jump up to second, albeit with a train of cars including Heinemann and Olsen circulating behind him.
René Rast, Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3
Photo by: Markus Toppmöller
The second safety car was deployed with 20 minutes to go when Kelvin van der Linde’s Abt Audi stopped on track with what appeared to be a technical issue.
At the restart, the order at the front remained the same, with Preining pulling away from the chasing pack led by Engelhart, who was able to keep Heinemann and Olsen at bay.
A third victory for Preining looked certain as he had managed to build a three-second buffer up front, but the race control handed him a long lap penalty for a pitstop infringement in the final 10 minutes, ending his chances of adding to his victories at the Norisring and the Red Bull Ring last year.
Serving his long lap penalty, Preining dropped down to third position, as Engelhart assumed the lead of the race en route to a maiden win in only his second-ever weekend in the DTM.
Second place for two-time DTM Trophy champion Heinemann put him in the lead of the championship, having also finished runner-up in Saturday’s race.
Olsen finished fourth behind his team-mate Preining to complete a historic 1-2-3-4 result for Porsche, even as Preining’s penalty dented the manufacturer’s celebrations a little.
Schmid lost positions in the pitstop sequence but still finished as the best of the rest in fifth, ahead of the fellow Lamborghini of factory driver Bortolotti.
Abt Audi driver Ricardo Feller charged to seventh position after a poor qualifying session left him 13th on the grid, with an early pitstop helping him move up the order.
Podium: Race winner Christian Engelhart, Toksport WRT
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
Jusuf Owega was the top representative for Mercedes in eighth place, as the AMG GT3s endured one of their worst showings in the DTM since the series’ switch to GT3 cars in 2021.
He was followed by the Team Bernhard Porsche of fellow rookie Laurin Heinrich, while last year’s championship runner-up Lucas Auer completed the top 10 for Winward Mercedes.
Schubert BMW’s Sheldon van der Linde put in a feisty drive to finish 11th after a torrid start to his title defence in Saturday’s opening race, and was the only points scorer for BMW in the race after a retirement for Rast and a long-lap penalty for Project 1's Marco Wittmann.
Franck Perera finished right behind in 12th with 20kg of ballast on his SSR Performance Lamborghini following his victory in the first race of the weekend.
DTM Oschersleben race results (41 laps):
| 1 | 99 | Christian Engelhart | Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) | |
| 2 | 9 | Tim Heinemann | Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) | 0.872 |
| 3 | 91 | Thomas Preining | Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) | 1.232 |
| 4 | 90 | Dennis Olsen | Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) | 1.687 |
| 5 | 63 | Clemens Schmid | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 | 0.762 |
| 6 | 92 | Mirko Bortolotti | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 | 2.685 |
| 7 | 7 | Ricardo Feller | Audi R8 LMS Evo II | 0.738 |
| 8 | 84 | Jusuf Owega | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 0.535 |
| 9 | 75 | Laurin Heinrich | Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) | 0.387 |
| 10 | 22 | Lucas Auer | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 3.610 |
| 11 | 1 | Sheldon Van Der Linde | BMW M4 GT3 | 1.793 |
| 12 | 94 | Frank Perera | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 | 0.508 |
| 13 | 27 | David Schumacher | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 0.889 |
| 14 | 48 | Maro Engel | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 0.342 |
| 15 | 36 | Arjun Maini | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1.311 |
| 16 | 69 | Thierry Vermeulen | Ferrari 296 GT3 | 0.497 |
| 17 | 14 | Jack Aitken | Ferrari 296 GT3 | 2.729 |
| 18 | 11 | Marco Wittmann | BMW M4 GT3 | 2.246 |
| 19 | 83 | Patric Niederhauser | Audi R8 LMS Evo II | 4.375 |
| 20 | 6 | Alessio Deledda | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 | 0.530 |
| 21 | 8 | Luca Engstler | Audi R8 LMS Evo II | |
| 22 | 24 | Ayhancan Güven | Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) | |
| 23 | 4 | Luca Stolz | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | |
| 24 | 3 | Kelvin van der Linde | Audi R8 LMS Evo II | |
| 25 | 19 | Mick Wishofer | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 | |
| 26 | 40 | Mattia Drudi | Audi R8 LMS Evo II | |
| 27 | 33 | René Rast | BMW M4 GT3 | |
| View full results |