Emil Frey Ferrari driver Jack Aitken has taken a commanding victory in the DTM’s first Nurburgring race to become the 2025 championship’s new leader.
Aitken converted pole into the lead at the start of the race, as an incident between Rene Rast and Mirko Bortolotti caused the latter’s retirement, while the former had to change his front tyres. Chaos ensued in the following corners with Maro Engel and Thierry Vermeulen colliding; the Dutchman was spun around and dropped to the back of the field, and Engel got three penalty laps.
Another incident involved Morris Schuring and his team-mate Ayhancan Guven on lap 2, with Guven spinning out of the race – which was red-flagged due to debris, as well as coolant from Bortolotti’s car.
Aitken kept the lead from Luca Engstler, Ben Green and Lucas Auer as the race restarted behind the safety car. A small mistake from Engstler allowed Green through, with the two Emil Frey Ferrari drivers creating a two-second gap at the front.
They also waited the longest for pitstops, and Green was overcut by Ricardo Feller, who was 11th on the grid, and Marco Wittmann. Feller even attacked Aitken; he overtook the Briton around the outside, made a mistake, then passed him again. Meanwhile, Green forcefully took third place away from Wittmann, which earned him a warning.
Ricardo Feller, Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
Feller struggled with oversteer endured late-race pressure from both Aitken and Green, who easily passed him, as well as Wittmann and Jordan Pepper, whose battle saved the Swiss driver’s podium finish; Pepper prevailed for fourth.
“It was a very enjoyable battle, one I honestly didn’t expect,” Aitken told ran.de when asked about his duel with Feller. “We came out of the pits, had a stop that was okay – not the best – and then I saw Ricci in my mirrors. At that moment I thought: ‘Oh man, this is going to be really tough’. We had a great fight.”
Auer came sixth ahead of Rast, Engstler, Ben Doerr and Thomas Preining.
Aitken now leads the DTM standings with a 10-point advantage over Auer, with Pepper in third.
The second race of the Nurburgring weekend will start at 1:30pm local time on Sunday.
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