Thomas Preining charged to victory for the 16th and final race in the 2023 DTM season at Hockenheim with Mirko Bortolotti in second place.

After Thomas Preining secured the 2023 DTM championship in qualifying, the attention was still on whether he could make it a clean sweep this weekend having taken both pole positions and the Race 1 victory so far.

SSR Performance Lamborghini driver Mirko Bortolotti was just six-thousandths-of-a-second away from the champion’s pole position time, after attempting to match him in yesterday’s qualifying, but had his fastest lap time deleted due to a track limits violation.

Nevertheless, the final hour of racing this season set drivers and teams fighting for the win around the 4.574 km Hockenheimring circuit, as last year’s champion Sheldon van der Linde started on the second row in his BMW M4 GT3.

As the lights went out for the final time this year, Preining fended off his lead with Bortolotti at the front, whilst S. van der Linde got the best of Luca Stolz by taking third position.

Behind them, the train of GT3 cars roared away staying close to one another and kicked up substantial dust, although it was last week’s Petit Le Mans GTD Pro winner Maro Engel who jumped up into sixth place, behind Stolz who was not able to retain his third grid spot during the opening laps.

A safety car was deployed after just five laps of racing, after the #19 Grasser Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Christian Engelhart suffered an accident when Marco Wittmann’s BMW caught him on the rear.

He cruised to second place in yesterday’s race, and so this was a premature ending for him in the barrier, although he made it clear he was safe after the incident.

Rene Rast was the most notable gainer during the opening phase, having climbed to P11 from 23rd position.

After his destroyed Lamborghini was retrieved, the race got back underway with under 50 minutes of racing remaining.

Engel’s Mercedes-AMG was quickly challenged by Kelvin van der Linde’s Audi behind him, and the pair continued to race closely with one another for sixth place.

Thierry Vermeulen of the #69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari lost several positions when he was forced off the track by Wittmann, who was given a black-and-white warning flag for the manoeuvre.

The #69 Ferrari 296 GT3 dropped to 12th position, and had Arjun Maini’s HRT Mercedes-AMG in his mirrors.

Twenty minutes into the race, the pit window opened for drivers to make their mandated pit stop for a set of new tyres.

Stolz and K. van der Linde made their early moves for the pitlane within the 20-minute window.

The front-runners stayed out, as Preining and Bortolotti fought for the lead and built a gap to third-placed S. van der Linde, before the Schubert Motorsport BMW driver made his trip to the pits.

Bortolotti pitted his Lamborghini on Lap 12 as Preining continued, and emerged on cold, fresh slicks from a well-executed pit stop.

Jack Aitken in the other Emil Frey Ferrari was amidst several tense fights in the midfield after many drivers, including himself, conducted their pit stops and remained in close proximity to one another.

Rast asserted strong pace amidst his surrounding rivals pitting before he did, maintaining his momentum as the triple DTM champion put in a redeeming drive from his underwhelming qualifying result.

Bortolotti’s earlier pit stop timing to Rast meant he warmed up the tyres sooner than the BMW driver, thus showcased an overtaking manoeuvre as the final pit stops were carried out.

The last drivers to pit were the SSR Performance Lamborghini teammates of Franck Perera and Alessio Deledda, as Perera waited until the very end of the pit window.

Elsewhere, Engel got himself in net-third place past Rast, who he built a gap upon shortly after he passed him.

Preining and Bortolotti were a second within another, as the field began to set personal fastest lap times.

Vermeulen was given a penalty lap three times for his collision with the #40 Audi of Mattia Drudi.

Right through into the final 15 minutes, Preining was under pressure from Bortolotti close behind, but the champion managed to keep his pace up in the #91 Porsche 911 GT3.R.

Preining eventually gained some space at the front, and the Austrian driver pulled 1.5 seconds ahead of the #92 Lamborghini of Bortolotti.

Deledda was ambitious upon a corner entry point, which led him to run into the dirt and the styrofoam billboards, although continued his way to the chequered flag.

After being crowned DTM champion this morning, he made it a clean sweep of both pole positions and race victories this weekend.

It was his third and final victory of this season and finished ahead of Bortolotti and Rast, who climbed 20 positions from 23rd on the grid.

Rast was a benefactor of Engel falling foul of a last-lap technical issue, where a bolt in the suspension of his Mercedes-AMG broke.

This allowed S. van der Linde through into fourth in the second Schubert BMW.

Engel wound up fifth, ahead of Laurin Heinrich’s Team75 Motorsport Porsche in sixth – Stolz finished in seventh, and Lucas Auer claimed eighth place.

Ricardo Feller claimed ninth position by the end, as Aitken rounded off the top-10 order.

The final Drivers’ standings leave the champion at the top on 246 points, and Bortolotti on 213.

Manthey EMA Porsche’s Thomas Preining became the first Austrian DTM Drivers’ Champion by securing pole position for Race 2 in Hockenheim.

After Preining’s victory in Race 1 on Saturday, championship-contender Mirko Bortolotti needed a mighty qualifying to see the championship go on to be decided later today in Race 2.

Preining entered the session with a 27-point advantage, meaning Bortolotti needed Preining to finish outside the top three positions in qualifying and the bonus points available, whilst landing a top two qualifying spot himself to reduce the advantage to at least 25 points.

In cool conditions, serious lap times weren’t put on the board until the closing moments.

Bortolotti laid down the gauntlet with two provisional pole times, breaking into the 1:36s barrier on his final attempt in the #92 SSR Performance Lamborghini Huracan EVO 2

However, Preining had the last laugh, snatching pole and with it the 2023 DTM Drivers’ Championship by sixth-thousandths of a second in the #91 Porsche 911 GT3 R.

After a teary radio exchange with colourful language, Preining pulled into pit lane, with Bortolotto the first to congratulate the new champion and last year’s champion Sheldon van der Linde quick to congratulate the Austrian shortly thereafter.

Preining’s time of 1:36.800s will go down in DTM history as a championship-winning time, with Bortolotti set to join him on the front row for the final race of the year, with a time just 0.006s back.

Luca Stolz secured third place in the #4 Team HRT Mercedes-AMG GT3, 0.201s back from Preining’s time, with 2022 champion S. van der Linde in fourth for Schubert Motorsport, with the #1 BMW M4 GT3 driver 0.228s off of pole.

Laurin Heinrich rounded out the top-five for Team 75 Motorsport in the #75 Porsche with a time of 1:37.048s.

Thierry Vermeleun led the line for the Ferrari 296 GT3 drivers, landing sixth spot in his #69 Emil Frey Racing machine with a time of 1:37.069s.

Seventh went to Kelvin van der Linde, the South African lapped the Hockenheimring in a time of 1:37.075s in the #3 ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, making him the fastest Audi driver of the session.

Eighth went to Christian Engelhart in the #19 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini, with a time of 1:37.110s.

Ayhancan Güven in the #24 Team75 Motorsport Porsche and Maro Engel in the #48 Team Mann-Filter Mercedes rounded out the top 10.

“I’m just extremely happy, I can’t even, I don’t even know what I feel, to be honest,” Preining said in pit lane after securing the title.

“A dream became a dream come true.”

Preining and the rest of the DTM field will sign off for the 2023 season with Race 2 later today, which commences at 13:30 local time (12:30 BST).

Thomas Preining commanded his way to victory during the opening DTM race at Hockenheim which extended his championship lead for Manthey EMA.

The penultimate race on the 2023 schedule provoked wheel-to-wheel racing on the eighth venue and final venue of the season, as the championship title fight edged closer to its conclusion.

Preining extended his championship after he took pole position, thus claimed the three points on offer for the privilege.

Mirko Bortolotti started in eighth position, as he attempted to close down the 13-point gap during the 1-hour Saturday race.

As the lights went out, Preining retained his lead ahead of Christian Engelhart’s #19 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, before Dennis Olsen quickly made a move to take second place.

This set Manthey EMA’s two Porsche 911 GT3.Rs in 1-2 formation at the front of the field as Jack Aitken jumped up to fourth place in his Ferrari 296 GT3.

Further back, there were several fights taking place with drivers keen to leave little room to spare.

Sheldon van der Linde’s BMW made contact with Jusuf Owega’s Team HRT Mercedes-AMG GT3 amidst the tension, as the pair fell back to the rear of the 28-car field.

Ricardo Feller, who is third in the standings, had his sights down on on Aitken’s fourth place.

After 10 minutes and seven laps completed, the field was more settled although a noticeable two-second gap separated third-placed Engelhart and Aitken behind, as the Emil Frey Racing driver faced more pressure from the cars which trailed him.

His position ahead of the closely-matched field enabled the front three runners to build a gap over Aitken, who was kept busy with defending from Feller.

Bortolotti ran in seventh position as his title rival pulled away, and his Grasser Racing teammate Franck Perera was with him in eighth.

After 20 minutes of racing, the (20-minute-long) pit window opened which saw Aitken and Feller each make their mandatory pit stop.

Bortolotti also pitted, keen to set himself about taking a fresh set of tyres as early as possible.

At the 26-minute mark, Preining made his pit stop having run a comfortable lead and emerged in third, although regained his lead after Olsen and Engelhart pitted.

Olsen emerged 10th as a handful of competitors had not yet pitted, nevertheless behind his teammate.

Their formation enabled Preining to keep the lead as Olsen was on-hand to fend off competitors, if need be, with a championship title at priority in the Manthey EMA.

Perera was awarded a penalty lap for speeding in the pitlane, hampering his proximity to teammate Bortolotti.

Speaking of which, Bortolotti was racing closely with Kelvin van der Linde.

K. van der Linde was waved a black-and-white (warning) flag after momentarily forcing Bortolotti off the circuit.

Meanwhile, Feller managed a cunning move on Aitken for net-fourth position.

Rene Rast’s race turned to misfortune as tyre damage was struck on his BMW M4 GT3, after wanting to defend himself after his pit stop on cold tyres which forced him to retire from the race.

As Preining led by four seconds over his teammate, and Bortolotti remained seventh, therefore the Lamborghini driver needed to climb at least one more position if he was to keep his title chances alive into Sunday’s race day.

Kelvin van der Linde was keen not to give away his vital sixth position to Bortolotti, though was kept on the stewards’ attention with a few track limits warnings.

With 10-minutes to go, Bortolotti made a push for sixth place stick in his Lamborghini.

Aitken was now being chased by Bortolotti, who was adamant to make up more places with his capable form.

Into the final five minutes, Aitken made a mistake which opened the door for Bortolotti and Feller to jump into the top-five runners.

By the chequered flag, Preining commanded the race lead ahead of his teammate Olsen, fronting a 1-2 for Manthey EMA and the Teams’ Championship.

Engelhart finished third in his #19 GRT Lamborghini, ahead of Feller and Bortolotti.

Sixth place was taken by K. van der Linde, who took the position in the final laps from Aitken, who finished in seventh position.

Eighth place was claimed by Luca Stoltz for Team HRT, as the highest-finishing Mercedes-AMG.

In ninth position was the highest-placed BMW of Marco Wittmann for Project 1, as Laurin Heinrich rounded off the top-10 positions.

Preining extended his championship lead to 218 points, after he took three for pole and 25 for the race win.

Bortolotti’s fifth place earned him 11 points, making his latest total points at 191.

He must claim first or second position in qualifying tomorrow in order to mathematically stay in the title fight.

Thomas Preining took a crucial pole position for Race 1 at Hockenheim in the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R, giving him the advantage heading into the penultimate race of a hotly contested DTM season.

The Manthey EMA Porsche driver snatched pole late on in a session run in dry conditions, extending his championship lead by a further three bonus points to 13 over Mirko Bortolotti, who encountered track limits issues in the #92 SSR Performance Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO 2.

Christian Engelhart was closest to Preining’s time of 1:37.148s, with the GRT Grasser-Racing-Team driver 0.137s back in his #19 Lamborghini, with Preining’s teammate Dennis Olsen taking third in the second Manthey EMA Porsche.

With just over five minutes remaining, Ricardo Feller laid down an early benchmark, in the #7 ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, which Bortolotti later eclipsed with just over two minutes remaining.

But the Italian driver, who sits second in the standings, had his lap time deleted for track limits and could not set a competitive time afterwards, resigning him to the fourth row of the grid in eighth.

This allowed championship leader Preining to ascend into a crucial provisional pole, which he would retain through to the end of the session as nobody could better his time of 1:37.148s.

Franck Perera in the #94 SSR Performance Lamborghini claimed fourth spot behind Preining, Engelhart and Olsen, with Jack Aitken claiming fifth spot in the #14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, just 0.345s back from pole.

Sixth went to Kelvin van der Linde in the #3 ABT Sportsline Audi, who set a time of 1:37.536s, with his teammate Feller taking seventh spot with a time of 1:37.567s.

Bortolotti lines up in eighth having surrendered three points in the championship standings to polesitter and series leader Preining.

Engelhart’s GRT teammate Clemens Schmid took ninth place in the #63 Lamborghini, with Luca Stolz rounding out the top 10 as the fastest Mercedes driver in the #4 Mercedes-AMG Team HRT GT3 machine, with a time just half a second back from polesitter Preining.

Last year’s champion Sheldon van der Linde had a miserable qualifying session, winding up in 27th place with a time of 1:38.856 in the #1 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3.

With Preining taking three points for pole, S. van der Linde’s poor qualifying run sees him ruled out of title-winning contention with 53 points left on the table across the two remaining races and Sunday morning’s qualifying.

As it stands, Preining leads the Drviers’ standings on 193 points, with Bortolotti on 180 and Feller still with an outside chance of title glory in third on 159 points, 34 points adrift.

Race 1 at Hockenheim commences at 12.30pm UK/01.30pm local time.

The Iron Dames, currently racing in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship for the Iron Lynx and Prema teams, have all seen their classifications changed in the latest FIA driver rankings, updated for the 2024 season.

The Dames include four drivers: Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting, Sarah Bovy and Doriane Pin. While 19-year-old Pin’s Silver rating has not changed, the other three have all be uprated or downrated accordingly.

Frey has been downgraded from a gold to a silver classification, while Gatting has gone in the other direction, from silver to gold. Bovy, meanwhile, has been upgraded from bronze to silver.

A number of other drivers have also been upgraded from silver to gold, including the likes of 2021 and 2022 WEC LMP2 runner-up, Sean Gelael.

Toyota GAZOO Racing protegé Ritomo Miyata, who recently finished on the GTE-Am podium on his WEC debut for Kessel Racing, has made the jump from gold to platinum.

Additionally, WEC GTE-Am Champion Nicolas Varonne, who will participate at the Rookie Test, has been upgraded from silver to gold.

Penske Indycar driver Scott McLaughlin, who will race at next week’s Petit Le Mans for Tower Motorsports, will race as a platinum next year, as will Peugeot Sport Hypercar driver Mikkel Jensen. Both were previously gold-rated.

DTM championship challenger Thomas Preining has also been upgraded to gold.

An appeal window will remain open until the 10th October for drivers to contest against a change with “relevant data”, before these changes become permanent. The changes will go into effect on 1st January 2024.

A list of the changes for some WEC/IMSA/DTM drivers et al:

• Ahmad Al Harthy – Bronze to Silver*
• Rui Andrade – Silver to Gold
• David Beckmann – Silver to Gold
• Sarah Bovy – Bronze to Silver*
• Nicolas (Nick) Cassidy – Gold to Platinum
• Henrique Chaves – Gold to Platinum
• Jake Dennis – Gold to Platinum
• Christian Engelhart – Gold to Platinum
• Mitch Evans – Gold to Platinum
• Rahel Frey – Gold to Silver
• Michelle Gatting – Silver to Gold
• Sean Gelael – Silver to Gold
• Ross Gunn – Gold to Platinum
• Tim Heinemann – Silver to Gold
• Scott McLaughlin – Gold to Platinum
• Ritomo Miyata – Gold to Platinum
• Patricio O’Ward – Gold to Platinum
• Jusuf Owega – Silver to Gold
• Alex Palou – Gold to Platinum
• Maximilian Paul – Silver to Gold
• Riccardo Pera – Silver to Gold*
• Josh Pierson – Silver to Gold
• Thomas Preining – Gold to Platinum
• Christian Rasmussen – Silver to Gold
• Marino Sato – Silver to Gold
• Clemens Schmid – Silver to Gold*
• Nolan Siegel – Silver to Gold
• Casper Stevenson – Silver to Gold
• Kay van Berlo – Silver to Gold
• Nicolas Varrone – Silver to Gold
• Thierry Vermeulen – Silver to Gold

Editor’s Note:

Ahmad Al Harthy and Sarah Bovy’s FIA licence ratings have been reinstated to bronze after a successful appeal, as of 25 October 2023.

Sean Gelael has reversed his change to Gold, so he will remain a Silver-rated driver in 2024 along with DTM driver Clemens Schmid and GR Racing’s (WEC GTE-Am) Riccardo Pera.

IMSA GTD champion Madison Snow has been uprated from Silver to a Gold status. Other IMSA drivers include Scott Huffaker and Roman De Angelis (Heart of Racing driver).

Rene Rast claimed a dominant, unchallenged DTM Race 2 victory ahead of teammate Sheldon van der Linde, as Preining reclaimed the championship lead at the Red Bull Ring.

Round 14 of the 2023 DTM championship continued the excitement from yesterday, bringing the curtain down on this weekend’s racing action before a nearly month-long wait for the season finale at Hockenheim.

Unlike yesterday’s rain-stricken event, the Red Bull Ring was dry status which welcomed quicker lap times and less weather-related tension.

Rene Rast took a record-breaking 26th DTM pole position for Schubert Motorsport, and the team locked out the front row in qualifying thanks to Sheldon van der Linde.

In regards to the close championship title fight, second-placed Thomas Preining started fourth at his home race and standings leader Mirko Bortolotti started ninth in his Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

If they finished where they started, then the pair would have drawn equal on 187 points, though with Bortolotti in P1 on countback.

At lights out, the Schubert Motorsport drivers started well and controlled the lead, whilst Race 1 winner Kelvin van der Linde dropped back from his starting position when he spun his #3 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO2, triggered by contact with Tim Heinemann’s #9 Toksport WRT Porsche.

There was disaster for Bortolotti, as he fell to the back of the field after picking up a puncture from contact with the other Toksport WRT Porsche of Marvin Dienst.

This forced Bortolotti to make a non-mandatory pit stop, in addition to the mandatory pit stop he’d later have to take during the 20-minute pit window.

Meanwhile, his rival Preining had the upper hand after he moved up into third, taking advantage of Jack Aitken’s uncompetitive getaway at the green flag and distancing himself from the contact behind.

During the opening laps, Rast built upon his 1-second lead ahead of teammate S. van der Linde.

Several battles took place across the midfield, such as yesterday’s pole-sitter Laurin Heinrich who fought for P16 with Patric Niederhauser.

The highest-placed #63 Grasser Racing Lamborghini of Clemens Schmid was passed by Marco Wittmann in his #11 Project 1 BMW, having taken fourth position with a swift overtake.

Both Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3s rode in eighth and ninth, looking to fend off Bortolotti’s SSR Performance teammate – Franck Perera – who dropped to 10th after he started in seventh position.

After 20 minutes of racing, a 20-minute-long pit window opened for drivers to strategically conduct their mandatory pit stop, like third-placed championship contender Ricardo Feller in his #7 ABT Sportsline Audi.

A few raindrops began to fall on the track, but not enough for drivers to prefer the grooved wet tyres over slicks during the pit window.

Wittmann’s pit stop was slightly prolonged as his pit crew struggled to fit his new tyres, although he emerged ahead of Schmid who pitted as well, to initiate a duel for ninth, before Preining climbed his way past.

S. van der Linde pitted from second and maintained the position before his teammate Rast did the same from the lead, continuing a confident, mistake-free run at the front.

Twenty minutes remained of the 1-hour race, which marked the closure of the pit stop window.

The positions at the sharper end of the field settled as further back, Lucas Auer in the #22 Team Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO attacked his teammate, Maro Engel, and jumped into 11th position.

K. van der Linde was among the four retirees from this race, not being able to match his race-winning performance from yesterday.

The same could be said for the other Audis, as Feller resided in the highest place of P15, and was challenged by Luca Engstler’s #8 Mercedes-AMG behind during the final minutes.

After dominant form since starting on pole, Rast claimed victory ahead of S. van der Linde, securing a 1-2 finish for the Schubert Motorsport team.

Third place was taken by Preining who took 16 championship points, re-taking the championship lead from Bortolotti.

He occupies a 10-point lead in the standings with 190 points, against Bortolotti’s 180 after scoring no points in Race 2.

Feller finished in 15th place, and so claimed one point to take his championship points total to 159.

In fourth position was Wittmann, ahead of Preining’s Manthey EMA teammate, Dennis Olsen.

Schmid was in sixth position, the highest finishing spot out of the five participating Lamborghinis.

Ayhancan Güven took seventh place in the #24 Team75 Motorsport Porsche.

Both Emil Frey Racing Ferraris finished in eighth and ninth positions, with Aitken ahead of Thierry Vermeulen.

Arjun Maini’s #36 Team HRT Mercedes-AMG rounded out the top-10 finishers at the Red Bull Ring.

The final two races take place next month at the Hockenheimring, on 20-22 October, where a champion will be crowned.

Three-time champion Rene Rast took his record-breaking 26th DTM pole position for Schubert Motorsport ahead of his teammate Sheldon van der Linde for Race 2 at the Red Bull Ring.

Unlike yesterday’s qualifying session, drivers took to a dry track surface on slick tyres, even if the sky was overcast above the Spielberg circuit.

The fight for the DTM championship title remained close, as SSR Performance Lamborghini driver Mirko Bortolotti leads on 180 points, with rival Thomas Preining just six points behind.

Red Bull Ring is a medium-speed, engaging circuit with fewer overtaking opportunities compared to other venues, which placed emphasis on starting high up.

Preining’s objective will be to close the points gap in the race, whilst Bortolotti’s aim runs in the opposite direction, to extend his lead.

Traffic was a factor in qualifying, as 28 drivers set their best efforts around the 4.318 km configuration, whilst attempting to distance themselves from one another for their flying laps.

After 10 minutes out of 20, Thierry Vermeulen of the #69 Emil Frey Racing was at the top of the order with a 1:28.312 lap time.

The Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 package showed promising form, with three provisionally situated in the top-five, and Bortolotti putting in his quickest efforts in the final minutes.

During the closing stages, where the track evolution was at its quickest, the lap times began their descent into the 1:27 margin.

Moreover, the entirety of the top-10 drivers’ lap times resided in the 1:27 threshold which demonstrated a close fight where the gaps were separated by tenths-of-a-second.

Schubert Motorsport claimed the front row with their two BMW M4 GT3 cars, marking a strong qualifying outing for the team.

Rast took his 26th pole position with a time of 1:27.671, a record-breaking feat in the history of DTM ahead of S. van der Linde’s time of 1:27.782.

Jack Aitken finished third in his #14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 after he set a 1:27.873.

In fourth place, Preining in his #91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3.R completed a fastest time of 1:27.882, as fifth place was taken by Marco Wittmann’s Project 1 BMW, which laid down a 1:27.948.

Sixth position was secured by Grasser-Racing Team’s Clemens Schmid in the #63 Lamborghini, with a time of 1:27.958.

Another Lamborghini landed seventh position, as Franck Perera completed a fastest time of 1:27.960.

Ayhancan Güven’s #24 Porsche was in eighth place, with a time of 1:27.974, ahead of ninth-placed Bortolotti and his 1:27.985 time.

Dennis Olsen completed the top-10 order after his fastest time of 1:27.989 in the #90 Porsche.

Race 2 will take place later today at 12:30 pm UK time, for Round 14 on the 2023 schedule.

Kelvin van der Linde took victory in Race 1 of DTM’s double-header at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, after executing a solid pit-stop strategy amidst changeable conditions.

The ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II pilot finished ahead of maiden polesitter Laurin Heinrich in the Team 75 Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3.R and Ricardo Feller in the second ABT Sportsline Audi, who climbed from 26th to third.

The race got underway in damp, greasy conditions, with only a handful of drivers gambling to option for slick tyres, which proved to be a mistake with the damp conditions holding in the early exchanges.

Polesitter Heinrich took the field to green after two formation laps and the Team 75 Motorsport driver held onto the holeshot into the first corner in his Porsche 911 GT3.R.

K. van der Linde challenged Heinrich all the way to Turn 3, but ran deep, falling back as the rest of the runners shuffled, slipped and slid behind the leader.

Heinrich’s teammate Ayhancan Güven managed to cycle through to second in the opening laps, to give the Team75 Motorsport squad an early 1-2.

Thanks to the greasy circuit conditions, there was fighting all the way down the field, with Championship leader Mirko Bortolotti battling in 10th early on and reigning champion Sheldon van der Linde trying to climb through the order to keep himself in contention for this year’s title.

As the field approached the pit-stop window, Heinrich held a three-second lead over Maro Engel’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 and K. van der Linde, who’d battled past Güven, resided in third.

Rene Rast had steered his Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 ahead of Thomas Preining’s Manthey EMA Porsche and Güven to take fourth, with Preining also passing Güven as the pit window opened and a dry line had started to appear, but rain threatened to intervene again.

And intervene it did as the field kept circulating despite the pit window being open, with rain starting to fall.

Meanwhile, Bortolotti was charging hard, putting two wheels on the gravel to pass Marco Wittmann’s Project 1 BMW for eighth, before dispatching Dennis Olsen’s Manthey Porsche for seventh, as the rain decided to ease with 13 minutes of the pit window remaining.

With 12 minutes of the window remaining, the first few runners headed to pit lane, Marvin Dienst, Jusuf Owega and Luca Stolz being amongst the first to switch tyres, with the latter gambling to take on slicks.

But the front runners continued around the Red Bull Ring – waiting for the opportune moment to pit.

Championship contender Feller chose to switch to slick tyres in his ABT Sportsline Audi with just under 10 minutes of the pit-stop window left to run.

A flurry of midfield runners then gambled to pit for slick tyres, with the the leaders still running out front on wet tyres.

K. van der Linde was the first of the leading pack to head to pit lane and pulling the plug first out of the leading pack would pay dividends with Heinrich, Engel, Rast and Preining pitting a few minutes later and Bortolotti pitting a lap later still.

As the window came to a close, Emil Frey Racing’s Thierry Vermeulen was sent into the gravel in the second-to-last corner by Clemens Schmid, bringing out the Safety Car.

As the field circulated under caution, K. van der Linde had inherited the lead with Heinrich falling to second, Engel third, Preining fourth, Feller fifth and Bortolotti slipping all the way down to ninth in the pit window reshuffle.

The Safety Car came in with just over 13 minutes of the race remaining and K. van der Linde got the perfect restart to streak away.

K. van der Linde maintained his advantage all the way to the chequered flag to take a resounding victory, his first since 2021, ahead of Heinrich and Feller, who completed a remarkable 23-place charge after a late defence against the hard-charging Rast in fourth with the pair swapping places and paintwork on multiple occasions in numerous thrilling exchanges.

Preining pounced on Engel on the penultimate lap to take fifth, with Luca Stolz in the Team HRT Mercedes finishing seventh behind Engel.

Wittmann took eighth, with championship leader Borotlotti finishing ninth, maintaining his championship lead over Preining with a margin of six points.

The top 10 was completed by Olsen in what was an enthralling DTM race in Austria.

Laurin Heinrich of the #75 Team75 Motorsport Porsche grasped his first DTM pole position in wet conditions, ahead of the first race of the weekend at the Red Bull Ring.

A thrilling qualifying session took place at the Red Bull Ring, in Austria, where drivers qualified for their Race 1 grid positions in wet, tricky conditions.

During the dry free practice sessions, the Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO2 cars seemed to struggle, with none finishing in the top-20 in FP1, and Luca Engstler being the highest-finishing Audi in FP2 at P18.

The championship fight played a part during the 20-minute session, with overtaking expected to be a worthy challenge around the medium-fast turns of the Spielberg circuit, and thus the protagonists of Mirko Bortolotti and Thomas Preining needed to match or outqualify one another.

The former driver leads the standings on 173 points, as the latter trailed on 164, and prior to the usual allocated qualifying points to the top-three finishers (P1/pole position – three points, P2 – two points, P3 – one point).

During the early stages of the session, Toksport WRT’s Tim Heinemann set the outright fastest pace in his #9 Porsche 911 GT3.R, from a 1:38.133 lap time.

A red flag was called with under 12 minutes remaining, after David Schumacher crashed sideways into a tyre wall after slipping up on the wet track surface at Turn 2, ruling himself out of the session in his #27 Team Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO2.

Bortolotti topped the order before the session was disrupted, indicating that conditions changed as lap times got quicker, after being the first to enter the 1:37 margin.

Wet tyres were still favoured as the session continued once the #27 was recovered.

During the closing stages of the session, many drivers entered the 1:37 bracket when they returned their GT3 cars to optimum running as those who experimented with the slick tyre decided to switch back to wets.

Kelvin van der Linde shot to the top of the order with a 1:36.843 lap time in his #3 ABT Sportsline Audi, showing pace in the rain-soaked conditions.

At the chequered flag, Laurin Heinrich narrowly beat van der Linde to the top spot with a 1:36.778 in his #75 Porsche.

Van der Linde finished second 0.065 seconds behind, as third was claimed by the other Team75 Motorsport Porsche of Ayhancan Güven after a 1:36.859.

Fourth place was claimed by Preining from a 1:36.594, followed by his Manthey EMA teammate of Dennis Olsen, who set a 1:36.978.

In sixth position, Maro Engel was the highest-placed Mercedes after he set a 1:36.985, followed by seventh-placed Rene Rast in his BMW M4 GT3.

His time of 1:37.010 surpassed Marco Wittmann’s #11 Project 1 BMW, which completed a lap of 1:37.016.

Luca Stolz’s #4 Team HRT Mercedes finished in ninth place from a 1:37.027 time.

Championship-leader Bortolotti rounded off the top-10, and occupied six positions behind his title rival, after his best time of 1:37.123 in the #92 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

Ricardo Feller attempted to qualify on slicks, and so finished in P26 out of 28 cars, setting a tall order to narrow the gap from P3 in the championship on 142 points.

Race 1 takes place later today from 12:30 pm UK time.

Lamborghini factory driver Andrea Caldarelli has been confirmed at Grasser Racing Team for the remainder of the DTM season, with his debut commencing at the Red Bull Ring on 22-24 September.

The 33-year-old Lamborghini Squadra Corse driver is set for his DTM debut next week with GRT, competing in the #19 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 in both the penultimate and final races of 2023.

Located in the Spielberg region of Austria, the Red Bull Ring is regarded by GRT as their home circuit as it is situated just 10 minutes away from their headquarters.

Caldarelli said: “I am really looking forward to join GRT for their home race at the Red Bull Ring.

“The level in the DTM is really high and I know it won’t be easy to join for a race at the end of the season.

“But I’m very confident and, together with GRT, I will give everything to bring the #19 Lamborghini to the front.

“It’s great to be working with the team again for the first time since 2018. I remember we had a fantastic race at the Red Bull Ring back then.

“It was probably one of the best races I’ve ever had.

“Those are great memories and I can’t wait to tackle a new challenge in the DTM next weekend together with GRT.”

The remaining rounds on the 2023 schedule will take place at two venues: Red Bull Ring and Hockenheimring.

Lamborghini’s Huracan GT3 EVO2 package has proven to be successful in the hands of championship-leader, and three-time race winner this season, Mirko Bortolotti, who is a fellow Lamborghini works driver.

Gottfried Grasser, Team Principal of GRT, added: “We are very happy about the cooperation with GGMT Revolution for the DTM races at the Red Bull Ring.

“Our home race has ever since been a special highlight for us and, as always, we are highly motivated to go full throttle with a new partner at our side.

“The Lamborghini in the GGMT Revolution design is certainly an absolute eye-catcher and those who scan the QR code on the car will be even more excited.

“With Andrea Caldarelli, we have a superb line-up for the number 19 car. We have known each other for many years and know about his outstanding qualities.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Lamborghini Squadra Corse for their support in this project. I am sure it will be a really golden weekend for us.”

The penultimate round of the 2023 DTM season will take place at the Red Bull Ring next week on 22-24 September.