Three-time DTM champion Rene Rast held off Porsche rival Thomas Preining to say victory within the second race on the Crimson Bull Ring, as Mirko Bortolotti prolonged his championship lead.
Boosted by an in a single day Steadiness of Efficiency change, manufacturing unit BMW driver Rast certified third on the grid in Austria and moved as much as second by the top of the opening stint.
A mixture of a speedy pitstop from the Schubert crew and an overcut propelled him to the lead on the halfway level of the race, which he transformed right into a second win of 2024 after keeping off a late cost from Preining.
Firstly, Saturday winner Bortolotti pulled away cleanly from pole place in his SSR Efficiency Lamborghini, whereas a failed try at passing Luca Engstler for second dropped Rast behind the Porsche of Preining.
The order on the entrance remained unchanged till Preining tried to overhaul Engstler on lap 11, solely to permit Rast to settle the rating and repass him into Flip 8.
Rast then cleared Engstler two laps later when the Grasser Lamborghini driver ran broad at Flip 3, with Preining additionally dispatching the 24-year-old shortly afterwards.
When the pit window opened after 20 minutes of racing, Preining was the primary of the frontrunners to finish his necessary pitstop, with Bortolotti and Rast following him on successive laps.
Schubert was capable of service Rast’s automobile in below seven seconds, which mixed with the power of the overcut on the Crimson Bull Ring, allowed the German driver to grab the web lead.
Mirko Bortolotti, SSR Efficiency Lamborghini Huracán EVO GT3
Picture by: Alexander Trienitz
Shortly afterwards, Preining overtook Bortolotti on monitor for second with a textbook move on Flip 3, laying the muse to a tense duel between him and Rast.
What was a cushty three-second benefit for Rast shortly started to vanish, as Preining began searching down the German for his first victory for the reason that second spherical on the Lausitzring in Could.
With 1 / 4 of the race to go, Rast appeared to have achieved sufficient to stave off the reigning champion, however Preining once more got here again at him within the closing levels.
In the end, the BMW driver was capable of hold Preining at bay with a profitable margin of simply 0.6s.
Third place went to the HRT Mercedes of Arjun Maini, who celebrated a double podium on the Crimson Bull Ring after rising on prime in an epic three-way battle with Schubert’s Sheldon van der Linde and Preining’s team-mate Aynchan Guven on the straight between Flip 3 and 4.
Maini was certainly one of a handful of drivers to delay his necessary cease till the top of the pit window, permitting him to demote polesitter Bortolotti to fourth.
The Italian, nevertheless, nonetheless returned from the race with a much bigger lead within the championship, along with his nearest rival and Abt driver Kelvin van der Linde ending simply behind him in fifth.
As was the case on Saturday, the South African was held again by a poor qualifying and will solely get well a top-five end after beginning the race from eleventh.
Kelvin van der Linde, Staff ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3
Picture by: Alexander Trienitz
His brother Sheldon van der Linde was labeled sixth forward of Manthey EMA’s Guven, who reported injury on his Porsche after going midway over the grass in his battle with Maini and the youthful van der Linde.
Maro Engel was the one finisher for the Winward Mercedes staff in eighth after his team-mate Lucas Auer stopped initially/end straight with seven minutes to go along with a mechanical drawback.
The highest 10 was rounded off by Grasser Lamborghini’s Frank Perera and Emil Frey Ferrari driver Jack Aitken.
Engstler, who battled for second with Rast and Preining early on, finally retired from the race with a gear subject.
