HOHNSTEIN-ERNSTTHAL, Germany — Strong and composed performance by Jack Aitken — The Ferrari driver from the Emil Frey Racing team celebrated a safe start-to-finish victory on Saturday at the 11th DTM race at the Sachsenring and was on the top step of the podium for the third time this season.
The event was broadcast LIVE by SPEED SPORT 1.
“At the beginning and directly after the tire change, I felt the pressure from Mirko Bortolotti,” Aitken said. “But I drove a flawless race and was therefore never in serious danger. During the pit stop, however, I got nervous for a moment when the wheel nut on the front tire jammed. That can happen in the high temperatures.”
Mirko Bortolotti took second place with a gap of 1.878 seconds in the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 from SSR Performance. The Italian thus took the lead in the overall standings again ahead of Kelvin van der Linde, who finished eighth in the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2 from Abt Sportsline.
In third place, Maro Engel in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 once again demonstrated his consistency and made it onto the podium for the fourth time in a row.
Aitken, who started from first position, was able to maintain his lead after the start and then steadily extend it. Bortolotti held on to second place, while Engel gained two positions in third place. His brand colleagues Luca Stolz (Brachbach) and Arjun Maini (IND) from the Mercedes-AMG Team HRT followed in fourth and fifth place.
After the mandatory pit stops, the top five held their positions, even though Aitken lost a little of his lead after a slightly slower tire change. The Briton, however, controlled the pace and was the first to be waved off after 46 laps.
The duel of the day was between Kelvin van der Linde, who was the overall leader before the race, and Porsche driver Thomas Preining (A), who was the fastest in qualifying but was relegated five places on the starting grid after a penalty. Van der Linde had worked his way up from tenth place to sixth, leaving Preining behind in the process. But the current champion stayed with him and kept attacking.
On lap 34, the Austrian from the Manthey EMA team finally pushed past van der Linde with a clever maneuver and finished sixth. René Rast (Bregenz), who had started the race from last place on the grid in the BMW M4 GT3 after being relegated, was also able to overtake the South African and finished the race in seventh place after an incredible comeback.
Van der Linde salvaged eighth place ahead of his brother Sheldon van der Linde. Jordan Pepper completed the top ten in his DTM racing debut with the Lamborghini Team TGI by GRT.