The winner of a completely crazy Sunday race at the Sachsenring is Ben Dorr. The Dorr-McLaren driver was unstoppable and triumphed despite a wild tyre gamble before the start as well as several accidents and safety-car periods, which wiped out his comfortable lead shortly before the end.
Thomas Preining (Manthey-Porsche) finished second and has taken a step towards winning the title. That is because rival Maro Engel, who had started from pole, did cross the line in fifth, but the AMG driver was then given a penalty because shortly before the end he hit the rear of Kelvin van der Linde’s Schubert-BMW and took him out of the race.
The stewards handed Engel a 15-second penalty for the collision, which dropped him to 17th place. The field was tightly bunched because of the late safety-car period, making the penalty particularly painful: the Winward driver therefore leaves empty-handed on Sunday and is now as much as 23 points behind in the overall standings.
Ricardo Feller (Manthey-Porsche) finished third, followed by Matteo Cairoli, who started 14th in the Emil-Frey-Ferrari and produced a strong charge through the field. Lucas Auer (Landgraf-Mercedes) inherited fifth place from fellow AMG driver Engel. Marco Wittmann (Schubert-BMW) finished sixth.
Thierry Vermeulen (Emil-Frey-Ferrari) crossed the finish line in seventh, followed by Lucas Engstler in the Abt-Lamborghini. Bastian Buus (Land-Porsche) and Maxmilian Paul (Grasser-Lamborghini) completed the top 10.
No rain, but tyre gamble before the race start
The start phase already presented teams and drivers with a difficult decision: although the rain over the Sachsenring had by now cleared and no further precipitation was in sight either, qualifying in the morning had already shown that the asphalt on the undulating circuit dries only slowly.
Accordingly, the initial tyre choices varied: while polesitter Engel and title rival Preining, for example, opted for slick tyres, Feller initially chose the wet tyre. The start of the race, however, was delayed by ten minutes because of a dirty track.
That gave the teams another opportunity to rethink their decision, and the majority now did opt for slick tyres after all. Only six drivers, namely Buus, Vermeulen, Primm, Glock, Thiim and Kalender, ultimately still started the race on grooved tyres – and at first they proved to be absolutely right.
Because already during the formation lap polesitter Engel slid into the gravel on the damp track. The AMG driver was able to get going again, however, and retake his leading position. Race control decided on two formation laps, with the race distance already beginning to count down after the end of the first lap.
Buus storms into the lead on wet tyres, but …
The actual race start was correspondingly chaotic as well: Buus charged into the lead from fifth on the grid in the first few metres, followed by Engel and Feller. Further back there were several spins and off-track moments, including from Auer and guest starter Primm in the Audi.
Vermeulen and Glock also benefited from their tyre choice and moved up to third and sixth. After a few laps, however, the track had already dried enough for the drivers on slick tyres to be increasingly at an advantage.
At that point Buus had pulled more than three seconds clear at the front, but the opposition rapidly made up the deficit. At the start of the fifth lap Dorr, who in the meantime had also passed polesitter Engel, took the lead.
Engel, by contrast, was finding things increasingly difficult and became embroiled in a hard-fought duel with Buus. That also brought van der Linde, Preining and Feller within striking distance. Both the BMW driver and Preining passed the polesitter a short time later, leaving him already down in fourth position.
Ben Dörr puts on a show at the front
When the first pitstop window opened, all the drivers on wet tyres came straight in for a tyre change. Engel, meanwhile, also had to concede to Engstler. The Winward team had apparently gambled on high tyre pressures, which gave Engel an advantage in the opening phase but became a problem as temperatures rose.
Dorr was already putting on a show at the front and within just a few laps had pulled more than 10 seconds clear of the opposition. Kelvin van der Linde had to defend his second place from Preining and Engstler. That also brought fourth-placed Engel closer again.
After 11 laps, Preining was the first driver from the top five to come in for a tyre change. A lap later there was a curious scene: Kelvin van der Linde wanted to turn in for his pitstop, but shortly beforehand received the instruction to continue after all.
Engstler took advantage of that to overtake the South African on the start-finish straight. Only a lap later did Engstler, van der Linde and Engel all come in for their stops together, with no position changes between the three drivers.
Preining, Feller and Cairoli, who had stopped earlier and had already brought their tyres up to temperature, however slipped through on track. Only Ben Dorr remained completely unfazed at the front: the McLaren driver completed his stop and defended his lead with a large margin.
Thiim takes out Gounon – Dorr loses advantage
After the first pitstop, Cairoli, who had started the race only from 14th on the grid, was the man of the race: the Emil-Frey-Ferrari driver overtook Feller in the fight for third position and then set off in pursuit of Preining.
Until the second pitstop window opened, the race action remained largely calm: Engel passed Engstler in the fight for sixth place, while Cairoli was able to close right up to Preining’s bumper but could not launch an overtaking move.
Feller was the first driver in for the second stop, followed by van der Linde, Engel and Engstler. All the stops went largely smoothly, so there were initially no changes. Preining came in two laps later, with Dorr and Cairoli another lap after that.
In the meantime there was a collision between Jules Gounon and Nicki Thiim: the Comtoyou-Aston-Martin driver slammed hard into the side of the Frenchman’s “yellow Mamba”, which had only just come out of the pits. Both drivers had to park their cars, and the safety car was deployed.
Maro Engel takes out Kelvin van der Linde
That will above all have annoyed Dorr, who lost his big lead as a result. The race was released again for the final three laps, but Preining seemed to be asleep at the restart. Cairoli was already able to get alongside on the way to the first corner. However, he did not manage to complete an overtaking move; instead, Feller slipped past.
Behind them, the chaos continued: Maro Engel ran into the rear of Kelvin van der Linde’s Schubert-BMW and took the South African out. The safety car had to be deployed again, but the marshals were quick enough to allow one more restart.
Dorr also left no doubt about his victory at that point: the McLaren junior brought the triumph safely across the finish line, followed by Preining and Feller. It is the second win for Dorr, but the first success he has been able to claim on his own merit. At the Lausitzring, the 21-year-old had inherited the victory after a penalty for Mapelli.
Thomas Preining extends DTM points lead
With his second place, Thomas Preining has significantly extended his lead in the overall standings. The Austrian is now 23 points ahead of Engel. Wittmann is in third place, 24 points behind. Auer is already 45 points adrift in fourth place and is therefore regarded as an outsider.
With regard to the overall standings, however, it should not be overlooked that Engel currently has the points for the victory on his account after Mirko Bortolotti’s disqualification in the second race at Oschersleben. Should Grasser’s appeal, which will be heard on 25 September, be successful, the AMG driver would lose a further seven points.
The title fight in the DTM 2026 will nevertheless only be decided at the season finale in Hockenheim (9 to 11 October): on the final weekend of the year, 56 points are still available, with 25 points each for the two race wins plus three points each for pole position.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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