Abt-Lamborghini driver Marco Mapelli stormed to his first DTM victory at the Lausitzring on Saturday.
The 38-year-old Italian, who had started the race from 16th on the grid, benefited from completing his mandatory pitstop during a full-course yellow phase.
“Yes, at the start we took a gamble, just like others did, and I trusted the team,” Mapelli told ProSieben. Despite a rain shower before the start, Abt went into the race on slick tires. “But I wasn’t really sure, especially on the first lap. But sometimes you just have to listen to people who have already won much more.”
“That worked out well. Of course we were lucky with the full-course yellow, that was a game changer. I think it’s a nice reward for everyone working on this project. I’m happy.”
Ben Doerr (Doerr-McLaren) and Manthey-Porsche driver Ricardo Feller had the same luck, as they too came into the pits at the perfect time and completed the podium on Saturday.
Polesitter Nicki Thiim (Comtoyou-Aston Martin) was unlucky: despite a bold tyre gamble that had actually already paid off, the Dane only finished fourth.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect that,” second-placed Doerr told ProSieben. “I rather assumed we would have poor chances here. But strategy and weather played into our hands today, just like for the other two on the podium.”
“I think we did everything right today and can be very satisfied with the result. Of course we started on slicks and gambled a little with that, because we had repeatedly had problems in the rain in the past.”
Marco Wittmann (Schubert-BMW) finished fifth, followed by Maximilian Paul (Grasser-Lamborghini) and Thierry Vermeulen in the Emil Frey Ferrari. Lucas Auer (Landgraf-Mercedes) took eighth position, while Jules Gounon (Winward-Mercedes) and Matteo Cairoli (Emil Frey Ferrari) completed the top 10.
Rain shower causes tyre gamble at the start
Even before the race, the teams and drivers faced a difficult tyre decision: around 15 minutes before the start, a heavy rain shower fell, damping the track within a very short time and causing a five-minute delay.
Due to the high asphalt temperatures, the strong wind, and the fact that apparently no further rain was expected, some teams anticipated the track would dry quickly. Several drivers therefore opted for slicks, including even polesitter Thiim.
After two formation laps, the start was given in the familiar two-by-two formation. Lucas Auer immediately stormed into the lead on wet-weather tyres, followed by his two AMG brand team-mates Jules Gounon and Maro Engel. The fourth AMG driver, Tom Kalender (Landgraf-Mercedes), was spun around in the midfield.
Bastian Buus also didn’t get far: the Land-Porsche driver spun into the gravel trap in Turn 7 and got stuck there, triggering the first and only safety car phase. That especially played into the hands of the drivers on slick tyres, who thus did not lose even more ground. However, Thiim had already dropped back to 13th at that point.
Slick tyres become the decisive advantage
When the safety car came in again a few laps later, the track was significantly drier, but the drivers on slicks were still at a disadvantage. Auer defended his lead against Gounon, while Engel behind them had to give way to Cairoli and Arjun Maini (HRT-Ford).
On the second lap after the restart, the lap times of the cars on slicks became significantly faster. At that point Thiim was the best-placed of those, lapping around two seconds faster than the leaders and beginning to pass the first rivals on wet-weather tyres.
Even before the pitstop window opened, the Dane had already moved past Auer into the lead. It was accordingly hardly surprising that all the drivers on rain tyres came into the pits at the first opportunity to switch to slicks.
One lap later, however, Thiim, Vermeulen and Paul also completed their mandatory pitstop, while Timo Glock had to park his Doerr-McLaren on the track due to a technical defect. This in turn led to a full-course yellow phase, which became the race-deciding moment.
Mapelli, Doerr and Feller fortunate with their pitstops
Although completing the mandatory stop during a full-course yellow phase is not permitted, Mapelli, Doerr and Ricardo Feller had already crossed the line at pit entry when the full-course yellow was called. Therefore, their pit visit was counted as the mandatory stop.
After the pitstop window closed, a completely different picture emerged at the front: Mapelli was suddenly leading in the Abt Lamborghini, closely followed by Doerr and Feller. The trio was more than 20 seconds ahead of Thiim, who despite his charge could not turn his successful early tyre gamble into victory.
Mapelli’s debut success was no longer in danger in the closing stages. The Italian even extended his lead over Doerr further in the final laps and ultimately crossed the finish line as a commanding winner.
Maro Engel, who had previously led the overall DTM standings, on the other hand experienced a difficult race. After the full-course yellow, the Winward-Mercedes driver slid off the track and plowed through the gravel trap, which dropped him far back. In the end, Engel finished only 15th, collecting just one point.
The AMG driver engaged in a hard duel against Manthey-Porsche driver Thomas Preining in the closing stages. After several position changes, contacts and angry radio messages, Preining ultimately came out on top. Engel now surrenders his overall lead to brand team-mate Auer.
The sixth race of the 2026 DTM season will take place on Sunday, with qualifying at 9am and the race at 1:30pm local time.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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