DTM Lausitzring: Lucas Auer dominates to win opener from Maro Engel

Lucas Auer has taken his second win of the DTM season as he dominated the opener at the Lausitzring ahead of Maro Engel.

Rene Rast darted from fifth on the grid to complete the podium for Schubert BMW in third, ahead of Jules Gounon, Marco Wittmann and Thomas Preining.

Landgraf Mercedes driver Auer led from the start while Ricardo Feller lost second place to Engel, but in the midfield there was chaos involving several drivers, as Morris Schuring sustained heavy damage to the front of his Manthey Porsche and Luca Engstler was also forced out early for Grasser Lamborghini.

After a brief safety car period, Auer maintained the lead ahead of Engel, Rast and Feller. While numerous midfield drivers made early pitstops, the leading group stretched their first stint, with Engel pulling off an overcut on Auer to take the lead.

But it wasn’t to last as Auer, whose tyres reached the optimal temperature, quickly regained the lead, while Feller dropped out of the running with a mechanic issue with his Audi.

Ricardo Feller, Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Auer kept Engel at bay for the remainder of the race to take his second win of the season and regain the championship lead.

Further back, Jack Aitken took seventh place with his Emil Frey Ferrari, in front of Manthey Porsche driver Ayhancan Guven, who celebrated his first DTM win back at Oschersleben. Ben Dorr (Dorr McLaren) and Ben Green (Emil Frey Ferrari) complete the top 10.

The second DTM race at the Lausitzring takes place on Sunday at 1:30pm local time, with two pitstops per driver mandatory.