Guven takes second consecutive victory

Ayhancan Guven took a second victory at the Sachsenring DTM round on Sunday, as Manthey Porsche team-mate Thomas Preining and polesitter Jack Aitken collided ahead of him.

Guven took second from Preining at the start as several touches occurred in the midfield, with Tom Kalender an early retiree.

Surprisingly, leader Aitken was the first to pit for new tyres, with Guven following one lap later but suffering an 8.3s stop, which dropped him back behind Preining.

Meanwhile, as Abt Lamborghini driver Nicki Thiim retired with a puncture and team-mate Mirko Bortolotti was sent into the gravel trap by a technical fault, title contender Jordan Pepper collided with Ben Green and was out of the contest.

“I was racing against a driver who isn’t fighting for the championship and who, of course, risks everything because he wants the podium,” Pepper told ran.de, ruing a “suicidal move” by his opponent.

“Yes, I probably should have just let it go. If I had turned in, I would have spun. And then I really thought he would show some respect into Turn 1, but obviously not, so I’m a bit disappointed.”

Pepper’s disappointment may have been eased a few minutes later when title rivals Preining and Aitken collided as they fought for the lead. The Porsche driver hit the Ferrari under braking for Turn 1 and spun him around. Aitken was left stranded in the gravel, which contributed to bringing out the safety car. Preining kept the lead but was handed three penalty laps by race control.

Guven therefore inherited the lead from his team-mate, just like on Saturday, followed by Ferrari driver Green, whom stewards decided not to penalise over his collision with Pepper.

However, Green’s second pitstop was less than perfect and he dropped to fourth behind McLaren’s Ben Doerr and Jules Gounon (Winward Mercedes), who completed the podium.

Schubert BMW’s Marco Wittmann and Rene Rast came fifth and sixth, ahead of Maro Engel and Morris Schuring. Lucas Auer finished just ninth, but his championship rivals’ drama meant he regained the lead in the standings ahead of his home race in Austria.

Auer now has a two-point advantage over Aitken, with Guven and Pepper just five points off the championship leader.

The DTM will reconvene at the Red Bull Ring on September 12-14, before the traditional finale at Hockenheim on 3-5 October.