The 2026 debutant Matteo Cairoli took his third win of the season during the first race at the Nürburgring. Marco Wittmann shone in the second race.
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| Photo: ADAC Motorsport |
Probably the most famous track in the world, the Nürburgring, hosted the sixth round of the DTM. As usual, the weekend format consisted of two one-hour races — the first one on Saturday and the second one on Sunday.
The young driver Matteo Cairoli took pole position for Saturday's race by just 0.036 seconds ahead of Porsche driver Thomas Preining. Lucas Auer and Marco Wittmann lined up on the starting grid in the second row, right behind them.
Later that day, in a crazy first race of the weekend, where only twelve drivers saw the chequered flag, the Emil Frey driver behind the wheel of the Ferrari 296 was absolutely unstoppable and secured his third win in his debut season.
"This win was really important, but today, honestly, it is a pleasure to drive a car like this. I really enjoyed it and had fun. A big thank you goes to the team, because without them I wouldn't be here," said Cairoli.
Thomas Preining finished second with his bright yellow Grello Porsche, while Marco Wittmann came home third in his Schubert Motorsport BMW.
The second available pole position of the weekend was taken by Jules Gounon, which marked his first pole of the season. Ben Dörr qualified second with a 0.113-second deficit to Gounon. The second row was occupied by Matteo Cairoli in third and Nicki Thiim in fourth.
Gounon went into the race with hopes of securing his maiden DTM victory, and this vision seemed achievable as he kept the race lead after the start. However, his hopes were ruined by a penalty. After the Frenchman drove too fast in the pit lane later in the race, he was given a penalty lap, which ruined his race, and from pole position at the start, he crossed the finish line in P14.
It wasn't a disaster only for him, but also for his fellow Mercedes driver, as Maro Engel crashed into Lucas Auer right after the race start. The Austrian spun off and collided with Kelvin van der Linde, and both drivers were unable to continue in the race.
Marco Wittmann, who started only sixth, benefited from his rivals' mistakes to take his third victory at the Nürburgring and his 20th overall victory in the DTM.
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| Photo: ADAC Motorsport |
"A superb race. A very wild race, especially in the early stages, but we were able to stay out of all of that and run exactly the right strategy with our undercut. A really strong weekend with first and third place. So I'm very satisfied," said Wittmann after the race.
Tom Kalender finished second, and that result marked his first-ever podium finish in the DTM. Thomas Preining joined them on the podium to pick up his trophy for third place.
In the drivers' standings, things look at least interesting, as current championship leader Maro Engel is only one point ahead of second-placed Thomas Preining. Nicki Thiim is third in the standings, but the gap to the leader is quite significant, as he is 20 points behind.
The DTM is moving to its penultimate race weekend of the season, which will take place at the Sachsenring from September 11–13.