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Factory Lamborghini driver Mirko Bortolotti moved back into the lead of the DTM standings with his first victory of the 2024 season at the Red Bull Ring.
Starting fourth in his SSR Performance-entered Lamborghini Huracan GT3, Bortolotti showed rapid pace on a damp but drying track to move into the lead as early as lap eight.
Mercedes rival Maro Engel put up a late fight after the entire field had switched to slick tyres, but Bortolotti was able to fend off his advances to take the chequered flag with a winning margin of 1.1 seconds.
With Bortolotti’s key rival Kelvin van der Linde only finishing eighth after a tough qualifying session that left him 17th on the grid, the result was enough for Bortolotti to wrest back the control of the championship with just three races to run in 2024.
Arjun Maini pulled away cleanly from pole position in his HRT Mercedes at the start of the race, with Engel and Bortolotti dispatching front-row starter Maximilian Paul to move up to second and third respectively.
Winward driver Engel then got a great run on Maini out of Turn 4, passing the Indian in the Turn 5/6 sequence to grab the lead.
Bortolotti also managed to clear Maini on lap six to set off after Engel, who had established a small advantage at the front by this time.
But, with the performance between drivers fluctuating wildly as they tried to keep their wet tyres cool on what was now a dry track, Bortolotti quickly managed to close in on Engel and made the decisive pass for the lead on lap eight when the Mercedes driver ran wide into the uphill Turn 3.
Once in the lead, Bortolotti was able to disappear into the distance, building a lead of over seven seconds over Engel, who fell into the clutches of third-placed Maini.
When the pit window opened after 20 minutes of running, Engel stopped at the first opportunity to ditch his wet tyres for slicks, while the likes of Bortolotti and Maini followed him on the next lap.
Maro Engel, Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD Mercedes-AMG GT3
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
Bortolotti managed to rejoin the track with a five-second advantage over Engel, who himself came out well clear of Maini.
From there, it appeared that the Italian driver would have a clear run to the finish, but Engel upped his pace in the second half of the stint to close to within a second of him with 10 minutes to run.
Ultimately, Bortolotti was not to be usurped, the 34-year-old going on to become the 10th different race winner of 2024 and end a victory drought stretching back to last year’s Sachsenring event.
A second-place result put Engel firmly in the mix for the 2024 title, while Maini finished third to celebrate his third career podium in the DTM.
Maini’s team-mate Luca Stolz took fourth after emerging on top in an epic midfield battle with Manthey EMA’s Ayhancan Guven, front-row starter Paul and Winward Mercedes’ Lucas Auer – the quartet running four-abreast at one point.
Behind, Abt Audi driver van der Linde was able to recover from a disastrous qualifying session to take eighth place behind Auer, but it meant he dropped to second in the standings, 10 points behind new leader Bortolotti.
Three-time DTM champion Rene Rast was the top finisher for Schubert BMW in ninth, passing the second Abt car of Ricardo Feller on the final lap.
Rast’s team-mate Sheldon van der Linde was classified 11th ahead of defending champion Thomas Preining (Manthey EMA), while Nicki Thiim (SSR Performance), Jack Aitken (Emil Frey Ferrari) and Clemens Schmid (Dorr McLaren) rounded out the points scorers.
Schmid was the only driver to gamble on slick tyres at the start and was able to run as high as fourth, but fell down the order rapidly after making his mandatory stop at the halfway-point of the race.
