A hot race at the Lausitzring, and not just because of the high temperatures: Emil Frey Ferrari driver Matteo Cairoli celebrates his second win of the season in Sunday’s second race and at the same time takes the lead in the overall standings. But the Italian had to worry about the victory right up to the checkered flag.
Because Comtoyou Aston Martin driver Nicki Thiim, who had already started from pole position the day before, put the Ferrari driver under massive pressure in the closing stages. Despite his fresher tyres, the Dane could not find a way past and ultimately missed out on Aston Martin’s first DTM victory by just 0.413 seconds.
“The Dane really made me sweat, and I even had the air conditioning on in the car,” says a visibly worn-out and exhausted Cairoli on ProSieben. “He can’t hear this right now, but he really put me under pressure. At some point I thought: ‘Okay, everything is falling apart here with the tires,’ because they were really done.”
“But yes, I fought until the end and won my second DTM race,” adds the Emil Frey Ferrari driver, who had already triumphed in Zandvoort and has now also taken over the championship lead. “That’s really good to know! I didn’t know that until now, and now I’m even happier. We’ll just keep going like this.”
Ford youngster Wiebelhaus celebrates first DTM podium
The battle for the final podium spot was also intense: HRT Ford driver Arjun Maini, who had started Sunday’s race from pole position, had to concede to his young teammate Finn Wiebelhaus in the closing laps. The 20-year-old rookie thus secured his first podium finish in the DTM.
“We had a great duel at the end,” says Wiebelhaus on ProSieben. “I’m super happy with the result for the team. It wasn’t a fight, we left each other enough space and it was a very nice duel. Huge respect to Arjun for pushing me so much to the limit there, but not beyond the limit.”
“I had a tire advantage, that also has to be said,” adds the HRT Ford driver. “Arjun had already used the tire because unfortunately I had to park the car yesterday due to the contact with Thierry Vermeulen. I don’t think that was shown on the live broadcast either, just to make that clear again. That’s why it worked out well in the end.”
Mirko Bortolotti (Grasser Lamborghini) finishes fifth, followed by fellow brand driver Luca Engstler in the Abt Lamborghini. Kelvin van der Linde (Schubert BMW) finishes seventh, ahead of Winward Mercedes driver Maro Engel. Marco Wittmann (Schubert BMW) and Thomas Preining (Manthey Porsche) complete the top 10.
HRT Ford driver Maini takes the lead at the start
The start of the race passed without any major chaos: Ford driver Maini initially converted his pole position into the lead, though already closely followed by Cairoli, Thiim and Wiebelhaus. One of the sufferers on the opening lap was Manthey driver Thomas Preining, who was dropped from sixth place to 11th position.
The safety car had to come out as early as the second lap to allow carbon parts to be removed from the start-finish straight. The trigger for the first neutralization was Maximilian Paul, whose Grasser Lamborghini had lost a large part of its rear bodywork.
The subsequent restart also brought no changes at the front. In the midfield, however, Preining battled with Ben Dörr’s Dörr McLaren, with the Porsche driver hitting the rear of his rival several times. “He keeps pushing me in every corner,” Dörr complained immediately over the radio.
Although the youngster, who had inherited the victory from Marco Mapelli (Abt Lamborghini) retrospectively the day before, was carrying 20 kilograms of success ballast, Preining was unable to find a way past him until the first pit stop window opened.
Cairoli benefits from Maini pit stop blunder
Fourth-placed Wiebelhaus was the first driver to peel off for a tire change shortly afterward, though followed by numerous drivers from the midfield, including Schubert BMW driver Kelvin van der Linde and Lucas Auer in the Landgraf Mercedes.
While Preining was able to get past Dörr in the midfield thanks to an undercut, Maini also lost a position during the pit stop: the tire change by the HRT Ford crew took a little longer than planned, allowing Cairoli, who had come into the pits a lap earlier, to take the lead with his undercut.
“In itself it was a good, fun race. I had a good start, but then I made a mistake during the pit stop,” Maini reveals after the race on ProSieben, explaining exactly what went wrong: “I overshot the pit box a little, and that made it really hard for the guys. The mistake was on me.”
Maini verlor seine Führung gegen Cairoli beim Boxenstopp
Foto: ADAC Motorsport
As a result, the polesitter dropped back to second place, just ahead of teammate Wiebelhaus, who also benefited from his early pit stop. While most drivers peeled off for service early, one driver waited particularly long: Nicki Thiim only headed for the pits shortly before the pit stop window closed.
The Dane, who had no fresh slick tires available after his tire gamble on Saturday, slotted into the gap between Maini and Wiebelhaus and successfully defended his third place, although he first had to bring his used tires up to temperature.
Maro Engel and Jules Gounon, the two AMG drivers, were unlucky at the first stop: because the Winward mechanics apparently had not permanently secured a wheel at both stops, both drivers had to complete a penalty lap and thus lost valuable positions. The Frenchman later even retired his AMG completely.
Maini also unlucky at the second pit stop
At the front, Cairoli was meanwhile coming under pressure from Maini. The Indian at times fought his way back up close to the Emil Frey Ferrari driver, but could not find a way past. Thiim was also able to close up to the two leaders before the second pit stop.
When the second pit stop window opened, Wiebelhaus was the first driver from the leading group to come into the pits. However, the tire change at HRT once again did not go optimally, so the youngster could not use the possible undercut and initially remained in fourth place.
AMG youngster Tom Kalender caused a tense scene: the Landgraf Mercedes driver braked so late when turning into the pit lane that he almost crashed into the rear of Bastian Buus’ Land Porsche. Kalender was only able to prevent a rear-end collision with an evasive maneuver.
Two laps after his teammate, Maini also completed his second tire change. However, the Indian’s undercut attempt against Cairoli, who came into the pits a lap later, did not bring the hoped-for success. The Ford driver’s gap was too large to take advantage of the tires that had already been brought up to temperature.
Thiim was also the last driver from the leading group to come in for a tire change at the second pit stop. A move that paid off: the Aston Martin factory driver returned to the track ahead of Maini in second place and was able to defend his gained position against the Indian, who then even dropped further back.
Of all people, teammate Wiebelhaus closed in during the final phase and put the polesitter under pressure. The two HRT Ford drivers fought an intense duel for the final podium place. Two laps from the end, Wiebelhaus finally managed to pass his teammate and take over third place.
“I think he was on new tires at the end and therefore significantly faster, but he fought fairly and it was a great race,” Maini praises his young teammate, who had already surprised with second place on the grid at the season opener in Spielberg. “Honestly, I had no chance at the end. Congratulations to him.”
“He’s doing a really solid job throughout the whole season, and it’s fantastic to have such a young, fast teammate who always pushes you,” adds the Indian, who ultimately narrowly misses the hoped-for podium in fourth place. “I’m very happy for him, he deserved it.”
Matteo Cairoli takes the overall lead in the DTM
The two Schubert BMW drivers Marco Wittmann and Kelvin van der Linde also fought an internal team duel. “That was mega, really,” says the South African with a grin on his face. “I was happy, the battles with Marco and also with Maro Engel were clean and exactly what we want to see in the DTM.”
“And of course, I was the one who benefited and came out ahead there,” adds van der Linde on ProSieben. “I think it was a good result for the package today. My qualifying wasn’t perfect, it lacked a little something. But of course, in the end it was a really tough race and I’m glad we came back.”
With his victory, Cairoli also takes the championship lead: the Ferrari driver now has 78 points to his name and thus pushes Lucas Auer (77 points) down to second place. After his win on Saturday, Ben Dörr finishes only 16th and therefore comes away empty-handed. Dörr teammate Timo Glock also retires early once again.
The teams and drivers do not have much time to process the events of the past weekend: the fourth race weekend of this year’s season (the full DTM race calendar 2026) is already taking place in two weeks (July 3 to 5), when the only street race of the year is on the schedule at the Norisring in Nuremberg.
