Red Bull Ring – Race 2: Maro Engel ends two-year drought, Jules Gounon just misses the podium

It was a long time coming, but it finally arrived. If Maro Engel had finished 3rd in the last two championships of DTM — his best results in the category — the forty-year-old hadn't tasted victory since 2023 and a win at Zandvoort. A model of consistency, Engel had since accumulated podium finishes without ever managing to reach the top step. This anomaly has now been rectified: having secured pole position for Race 1, it was ultimately Race 2 that Maro Engel won with masterful control.

Starting from fifth place, the German Mercedes BenzAMG Team Winward didn't have an easy task, however. Kelvin van der Linde (BMW – Schubert Motorsport) had secured pole position and made a clean start, while chaos reigned behind him. Engel, Auer, and Wiebelhaus were involved in a three-way collision in the opening meters, with slight contact between Auer and the Ford driver, before Engel slipped through to take the lead. Van der Linde capitalized on this to build a comfortable advantage while his pursuers neutralized each other.

It was during the pit stop window that everything changed. Engel came in slightly before van der Linde for the first pit stop, allowing him to warm up his tires while the South African extended his stint to the maximum. Upon exiting the pits, the two drivers found themselves wheel-to-wheel – but with cold tires on the BMW. Engel attacked on the outside, van der Linde couldn't resist, and the Mercedes took the lead. The second pit stop only confirmed the order: despite a 0,8-second faster stop for the BMW, the German driver maintained his lead and never relinquished it. Engel's victory is historic for several reasons: it's his first in the DTM since Zandvoort two years ago, his first with Winward Racing, and above all, the first for a Mercedes driver in the Austrian DTM since Marcel Fässler in 2003.

Jules Gounon resists Nicki Thiim

Behind them, an intense duel unfolded between Jules Gounon and Nicki Thiim for fifth place.Aston Martin Comtoyou Racing harassed the Frenchman's Mercedes for several laps, picking up speed on the climb to Turn 3 before engaging in a fierce side-by-side battle in Turn 4, with both cars sliding and neither driver yielding. Thiim eventually got past and even set the fastest lap of the race – a 1:28.497 on lap 20 – before Gounon turned the tables in the final two minutes, also overtaking van der Linde to take fourth place, the BMW having clearly succumbed to worn tires towards the end of the race.

Engel therefore takes the win with a lead of nearly 5 seconds over Marco Wittmann (BMW – Schubert Motorsport), who made a strong recovery from ninth on the grid. Lucas Auer (Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf) completes the podium. Ben Dörr (7th, McLaren – Dörr Motorsport), Finn Wiebelhaus (8th, Ford – HRT Ford Racing), Thierry Vermeulen (9th, Classic Ferrari for sale – Emil Frey Racing) and Bastian Buus (10th, Porsche – Land Motorsport) complete the top 10.

For the Lamborghini Temerarios, it was once again a race within a race. The GRT and teams Red Bull Team ABT fought their own battle at the back of the grid, with Bortolotti finishing best of his team in 16th position. The new car, the replacement for the Huracán GT3 Evo2, is still finding its feet. Tom Kalender (Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf) did not finish the race, penalized for an unsafe exit from the pits before being forced to retire on lap 31.

In the championship standings, Maro Engel takes the lead with 44 points, ahead of Lucas Auer (37 points). The next round will take place in Zandvoort on May 23rd and 24th.

DTM – Red Bull Ring
The classification of Race 2