2:07 Mirko Bortolotti (ITA) (SSR Performance – Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2) 08.09.2023, DTM Round 6, Sachsenring, Germany, Friday, – www.xpbimages.com, EMail: [email protected] – copy of publication required for printed pictures. Every used picture is fee-liable. © Copyright: Thomas Pakusch/XPB Images
Mirko Bortolotti, in the #92 SSR Performance Lamborghini, charged to Race 2 victory at Sachsenring, after a commanding drive from pole position to the chequered flag despite an incident-filled race start.
Earlier in the day, Lamborghini SSR Performance driver Mirko Bortolotti emerged on pole position to begin his turnaround from a challenging Race 1.
He remained second in the championship standings on 148 points, including the three awarded for claiming pole position.
Meanwhile the championship leader, Manthey EMA’s Thomas Preining, struggled in qualifying and started 11th on the grid.
Different objectives separated the two, with Bortolotti tasked to take the championship lead with as best margin as possible, as he needed to take opportunity of his strong qualifying contrasted with Preining’s qualifying performance.
If they finished where they started, Bortolotti would have taken the lead on 173 points, and Preining would be on 157.
Bortolotti started ahead of Jack Aitken, who proved himself strong at the previous round, and claimed his maiden pole and win. In third started Luca Stolz, who yesterday did the same in his #4 Team HRT Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.
At lights out, these front runners kept close, as Bortolotti immediately knew the pressure those two cars behind him could bring for the win.
It was a chaotic start further back, as Maro Engel, who qualified seventh, was carried into the gravel, like the day before, and could not get away, thus retiring early.
He wasn’t the only one stuck. A safety car followed by a red flag was deployed due to the high number of vehicles required to retrieve those stranded, including the likes of Dennis Olsen’s and Laurin Heinrich’s Porsche 911 GT3.R, and Sheldon van der Linde’s BMW M4 GT3.
S. van der Linde incurred a minor tap from behind, but this triggered a ‘domino effect’ of contact with Marvin Dienst and Laurin Heinrich unable to escape, and Olsen taking on race-ending damage in his Porsche 911 GT3.R.
Luca Stolz did manage to grab second off Aitken, and Preining jumped up one position, before the safety car and red flag conditions were brought on by race control.
The race was restarted behind the safety car in single-file formation, and 58:07 remained on the clock with 22 out of the 27 original qualifiers still in the mix.
Kelvin van der Linde lost his top-10 position after being awarded three penalty laps for causing a collision with Engel.
Meanwhile at the front, Bortolotti commanded the lead at the restart with Stolz behind to keep him pressured, and Aitken lurking in third.
Toksport WRT driver Tim Heinemann was punished with a penalty lap after pushing Lucas Auer at the restart.
Franck Perera, Bortolotti’s teammate, hung around in fourth place and was looking for a potential double-team podium finish, but not without being chased closely behind by ABT Sportsline’s Ricardo Feller, who was looking to get passed on the fast, narrow circuit.
The BMWs struggled in qualifying, and so Schubert Motorsport’s Rene Rast charged his way past Jusuf Owega’s Team BWT Mercedes-AMG and into 10th position.
With 35 minutes to go, the pit stops began as Stolz dived into the pitlane, followed by Bortolotti a lap later, and soon enough the majority of the field made their stops.
Fighting continued at the front, with Stolz and Aitken battling with one another, though the Emil Frey Racing driver slightly hit the dirt and Feller made his way through.
Aitken was forced to make a second successive pit stop due to the damage he sustained from Feller’s tough overtake, ending his race there and then.
Only three drivers remained to pit, the third of which was K. van der Linde, who was seeking redemption after the tricky race start.
Stolz put in faster lap times than his net-lead rival Bortolotti, who was reporting low oil pressure in his Lamborghini.
Soon enough, with 24 minutes remaining, Stolz continued his chase for Bortolotti’s lead.
Championship rival Preining resided further back in net-fifth position, having started in 11th, and was pressured by the sole running Ferrari, Thierry Vermeulen.
With under 20 minutes to go, everybody had made their mandated pitstop within the 20-minute window.
Preining had over a two-and-a-half second gap to Perera in front, and was tasked on fending off Vermeulen’s Ferrari on his tail, edging slowly closer as the race entered its final 10 minutes of running.
Meanwhile Auer was awarded three penalty laps for his manoeuvre against Luca Engstler who was one of the drivers whose race was ended early by contact at the start.
After a commanding drive, Bortolotti claimed his third race win this season as Stolz finished in second, and Feller completed the podium spots with 46 laps completed.
Perera finished fourth in his #94 SSR Performance Lamborghini, as Preining finished fifth.
This meant Bortolotti took over the championship lead on 173 points, as Preining fell to second place albeit just 10 points behind on 163.
In sixth position was Vermeulen, followed by Arjun Maini’s #36 Team HRT Mercedes-AMG.
Eighth place was claimed by Rast as the highest finishing BMW M4 GT3, as in ninth was Owega in his #84 Mercedes-AMG.
Rounding out the top-10 was Patric Niederhauser’s Audi.
Keyword: Bortolotti wins incident-triggered DTM Race 2 at Sachsenring