DTM has moved from the Netherlands' Zandvoort circuit to Germany's Lausitzring, where the third round of the season took place.
The race weekend at Lausitzring was a true challenge for the drivers as the June heat hit the track and temperatures rose above 30 degrees Celsius. However, it seemed that the heat wasn't a big deal for Nicki Thiim, as he was able to secure pole position for Saturday's race. For both him and Aston Martin, it was a maiden pole position in DTM. Just 0.062 seconds behind ended up Arjun Maini in his Ford Mustang, while third place belonged to Mercedes driver Lucas Auer.
Shortly before the first race, the heat gave way to heavy rain. Although it had stopped by the start of the race, the track was still wet. Despite that, many drivers, including polesitter Nicki Thiim, decided to start on slick tyres. The damp asphalt meant that those running on slicks were unable to match the pace of the rest of the field, and Thiim lost the lead shortly after the start.
Three drivers, including Andrea Mapelli, then got very lucky as they pitted just before a Full Course Yellow was deployed, allowing them to build a gap of around 20 seconds to the rest of the field. With Mapelli leading, Ben Dörr in second and Ricardo Feller in third, the order remained unchanged until the end of the race.
For Lamborghini, it was a race from a fairytale, as they are competing this year with the brand-new Temerario, which, according to paddock rumours, has suffered from several "teething problems". Therefore, this success meant the world to them. However, they later had to wake up from the dream after receiving a 15-second penalty, which dropped Mapelli to second place.
Ben Dörr was the beneficiary and inherited the victory, claiming his maiden DTM win.
"This win is very special for me! I would obviously rather have celebrated this success on the podium, but it is still an incredible moment for me. Now in our third year in the DTM, our goal was to compete at the very front of the field. We have done that, and want to continue to do so," said Dörr.
In the second part of the weekend, it was Arjun Maini who secured pole position for Sunday's race, which was also his first-ever pole in DTM.
However, during the race he was unable to defend first place, as he was overtaken by Matteo Cairoli. Later on, Thiim, Wiebelhaus and Mirko Bortolotti moved up to positions three to five.
In the final minutes of the race, the battle for victory came down to Nicki Thiim and Cairoli, with Thiim running right behind the Italian's diffuser. However, Cairoli defended his position well and claimed his second victory of the season, having already won in Zandvoort.
He now even leads the drivers' championship by a single point ahead of Maro Engel and Lucas Auer.
DTM will return on July 3–5 at the Norisring.