DTM Zandvoort: Wittmann takes shock win in red-flagged second race

The Schubert BMW driver started 14th, but a masterful pitstop strategy enabled him to take the lead and win the second race of DTM’s Zandvoort weekend.

Mirko Bortolotti and Kelvin van der Linde joined him on the podium with the latter extending his championship lead.

As the lights went out for the sixth round of the campaign, pole winner Maximilian Paul led into Turn 1 but failed to fend off Bortolotti who claimed the lead around the outside.

But moments later Clemens Schmid hit the barrier approaching Turn 5, while a separate incident saw Lucas Auer stop with smoke coming from the rear of his Mercedes, causing a 10-minute red flag.

Racing resumed with 55 minutes left where Bortolotti kept his lead, before a safety car period was called 12 minutes later when Ayhancan Guven spun at the exit of Turn 3.

The safety car lasted for six minutes with drivers keeping position at the restart until the pitstop window arrived with 36 minutes left in the race.

Van der Linde was first of the frontrunners to pit from fourth, with Thierry Vermeulen in third switching tyres the following lap and Bortolotti driving another tour before boxing.

Van der Linde’s undercut worked though, as he overtook Vermeulen with a daring move around the outside of Turn 7 on Bortolotti’s out-lap while Paul finally pitted with 27 minutes remaining.

Mirko Bortolotti, SSR Performance Lamborghini Huracán EVO GT3

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

The overcut initially worked as he left the pits ahead, but on his out-lap Paul was overtaken by Bortolotti at Turn 7 before dropping behind Van der Linde and Vermeulen at the subsequent corners.

But Wittmann was able to make the overcut work, as he pitted while those battles were happening, leaving the pitlane two seconds ahead of Bortolotti.

The Lamborghini driver quickly made strides though and was attacking Wittmann and the pair collided at Turn 12.

This caused damage to Wittmann’s rear left bodywork, but he was able to continue and actually gain time on Bortolotti to claim victory by 7.2 seconds.

Van der Linde thwarted a late attack from Vermeulen to claim his third podium of the season, while Luca Stolz rounded up the top five.

It means Van der Linde leads second-placed Bortolotti by eight points the championship with Ricardo Feller a further eight points behind in third.

DTM Zandvoort - Race 2 results

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points
1	M. Wittmann Schubert Motorsport	11		BMW M4 GT3	38	1:15'41.704			25
2	M. Bortolotti SSR Performance	92		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	38	+7.239 1:15'48.943	7.239		20
3	K. van der Linde Abt Sportsline	3		Audi R8 LMS Evo II	38	+7.373 1:15'49.077	0.134		16
4	T. Vermeulen Emil Frey Racing	69		Ferrari 296 GT3	38	+7.592 1:15'49.296	0.219		13
5	L. Stolz Mercedes-AMG Team HRT	4		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	38	+8.001 1:15'49.705	0.409		11
6	A. Maini Mercedes-AMG Team HRT	36		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	38	+8.292 1:15'49.996	0.291		10
7	R. Rast Schubert Motorsport	33		BMW M4 GT3	38	+8.601 1:15'50.305	0.309		9
8	S. Van Der Linde Schubert Motorsport	31		BMW M4 GT3	38	+8.753 1:15'50.457	0.152		8
9	P. Maximilian Paul Motorsport	71		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	38	+9.347 1:15'51.051	0.594		7
10	T. Preining Manthey EMA	91		Porsche 911 GT3 R	38	+9.977 1:15'51.681	0.630		6
11	R. Feller Abt Sportsline	7		Audi R8 LMS Evo II	38	+10.547 1:15'52.251	0.570		5
12	L. Engstler GRT Grasser Racing Team	19		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	38	+11.021 1:15'52.725	0.474		4
13	M. Engel Mercedes-AMG Team Winward	130		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	38	+11.264 1:15'52.968	0.243		3
14	N. Thiim SSR Performance	94		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	38	+11.827 1:15'53.531	0.563		2
15	B. Dörr Dörr Motorsport	25		McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	38	+11.916 1:15'53.620	0.089		1
16	J. Aitken Emil Frey Racing	14		Ferrari 296 GT3	38	+18.165 1:15'59.869	6.249
dnf	C. Engelhart GRT Grasser Racing Team	63		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	15	+23 Laps 39'53.222	23 Laps
dnf	A. Güven Manthey EMA	90		Porsche 911 GT3 R	10	+28 Laps 28'56.482	5 Laps
dnf	L. Auer Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter	22		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	0
dnf	C. Schmid Dörr Motorsport	85		McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	0
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