Preining, Engel Claim Red Bull Ring Victories

Photo: Gruppe C Photography

Mercedes-AMG driver Maro Engel is the early DTM championship leader after taking a win and a third place during the season-opening weekend at the Red Bull Ring.

The Winward Racing driver had started the first contest from pole and proceeded to lead the first portion of the race, but a slow tire change at his pit stop proved costly and ultimately left him finishing third in the No. 80 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo racer Thomas Preining was able to capitalize on Engel’s misfortune to take the honors, helped by jumping into second spot at the first corner.

The 2023 DTM champion was chased by Jules Gounon in the latter stages until his Winward Mercedes-AMG picked up rear damage and was forced into retirement.

This promoted the Landgraf-run Mercedes-AMG of Lucas Auer to second and meant Austrian drivers finished 1-2 on their home turf.

Behind Engel, Auer’s rookie team-mate Tom Kalender and the lead BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Marco Wittmann completed the top five.

It was the sister Schubert Motorsport BMW of Kelvin van der Linde — who retired in the final minutes of the opening contest — that qualified on pole for Race 2.

He managed to resist an attack from the fast-starting HRT Ford Mustang GT3 Evo of Finn Wiebelhaus to maintain his lead until the opening round of stops.

But shortly after this he was passed by Engel, who was determined to make up for his disappointment on Saturday.

Engel held on to take his first DTM win since June 2023, while Wittmann climbed from ninth on the grid to finish second.

Auer bagged another podium in third, while van der Linde tumbled down the order to finish an eventual sixth.

The BMW was also passed by Gounon and Nicki Thiim’s Comtoyou Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, the fifth place for the Dane marking the best Vantage result in the DTM in the category’s GT3 era.

It was another tricky early European event for the new Lamborghini Temerario GT3 as the best result for the quartet of cars in Austria was Mirko Bortolotti’s 12th place in Race 1.

RESULTS: Races 1 & 2

Source: Sports Car 365