Ben Dörr claimed his second career DTM victory in a dramatic and changeable second race at the Sachsenring, mastering the tricky conditions to lead Thomas Preining and Ricardo Feller across the line.
The #25 Dörr Motorsport McLaren driver converted a strong performance into his second DTM win, while Preining’s runner-up finish in the #91 Manthey Porsche proved valuable in the championship battle.
Maro Engel could only finish fifth after starting from pole, but a post race penalty saw the Germans title challenge severely damaged allowing Preining to extend his championship advantage to 23 points. Marco Wittmann, winner of Saturday’s opening race, finished sixth and now sits 24 points behind the championship leader.
The race began in damp conditions, with the field split between slick and wet-weather tyres. Pole-sitter Engel started on slicks in the #80 Mercedes-AMG Team Ravenol and immediately discovered the difficulty of finding grip, running wide with understeer during the formation lap.
The wet-weather runners initially enjoyed a significant advantage when the race got underway.
Bastian Buus, starting from 17th in the #29 Land-Motorsport Porsche, made the most of his wet tyres to charge into the lead at the first hairpin as the slick-shod cars struggled for grip. Buus quickly established a three-second advantage, while Thierry Vermeulen produced an impressive opening lap to climb from 17th to third in the #69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari.
However, the conditions changed rapidly.
As the Sachsenring dried, the advantage swung towards the slick-shod cars and the early pace of the wet-tyre runners began to disappear.
At the front, Dörr took control of the race and began to build a substantial advantage, eventually establishing a lead of almost 10 seconds as the first pit window approached.
Engel, meanwhile, was unable to exploit his pole position. Kelvin van der Linde moved ahead of the Mercedes-AMG driver before championship rival Preining also found a way past, with both appearing to have their cars better suited to the rapidly evolving track conditions.
Dörr remained in control through the first round of pitstops and continued to lead as the race progressed towards its second pit window.
With just 10 minutes remaining, the Safety Car is deployed.
Jules Gounon’s #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER was hit by Nicki Thiim’s #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin as the two cars exited the pit lane. The contact sent both cars into the gravel, forcing the race to be neutralised while the stricken cars were recovered.
The Safety Car came in with three laps remaining, leaving Dörr at the front ahead of Preining and Matteo Cairoli in the #14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari.
Dörr made an excellent restart and immediately put some distance between himself and the chasing pack. Behind him, however, the fight for position quickly descended into chaos.
Engel and van der Linde came together at the first corner, with the #3 Schubert Motorsport BMW ending up in the gravel. The incident forced another Safety Car period and ended van der Linde’s race.
Cairoli also came under pressure for third. The Ferrari driver attempted to attack Ricardo Feller but carried too much speed into the corner and ran wide, allowing Feller to move into the final podium position in the #90 Manthey Porsche.
The second Safety Car period was brief, leaving just a single racing lap when the field was released.
Cairoli immediately went after Feller, desperately trying to reclaim third place. The Italian’s attack almost cost him further, however, as Engel spotted an opportunity and looked up the inside.
The order at the front ultimately remained unchanged
Dörr crossed the line to secure his second DTM victory, with Preining finishing 1.219 seconds behind to take second and further strengthen his championship position. Feller held on for third, completing a double Manthey Porsche podium.
Cairoli finished fourth ahead of Engel, who recovered to fifth after his difficult opening phase. Unfortunately for Engel a post race penalty of 15 seconds for his collission with van der Linde at the second restart would put him to the bottom of the results table.
Lucas Auer finished sixth, while Wittmann came home seventh in the second Schubert Motorsport BMW.
Thierry Vermeulen recovered to eighth, followed by Luca Engstler and Buus, who completed the top ten after his eventful start.
The result sees Preining extend his championship lead over Engel to 23 points, with Wittmann now 24 points adrift following his sixth-place finish.
With the Sachsenring producing two very different winners across the weekend, the championship battle remains finely poised — but Preining leaves the circuit with the advantage and another strong result in the fight for the DTM crown.
