Bortolotti secures podium in race one as Engstler hangs on to take maiden win
Sant’Agata Bolognese/Oschersleben, 28 April 2024 – Lamborghini claimed victory on the opening weekend of the new DTM season at Oschersleben, as Lamborghini Team Liqui Moly by GRT’s Luca Engstler came out on top in a tightly fought second race.
The #19 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 started fourth on the grid and made the most of a timely full course yellow period in the middle of the one-hour race to vault into the lead. From there, Engstler had to fend off the attention of Maro Engel’s Mercedes for the duration of the second stint, eventually coming home just three-tenths of a second ahead at the finish.
Engstler’s success marks the sixth race win for Lamborghini in the DTM and comes a year after the Sant’Agata Bolognese firm’s maiden triumph in the championship at the same venue last season.
Until Sunday’s second race of the weekend, attention had focused on the SSR Performance team which, through Mirko Bortolotti, had finished second in the opening race on Saturday. Having started on the outside of the front row, Lamborghini Factory Driver Bortolotti held station behind the eventual race winner Jack Aitken in the early stages.
The #92 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 then enjoyed a straightforward mandatory pit-stop but dropped one position to third behind the BMW of Marco Wittmann. Fortunately for the SSR driver, the BMW encountered late trouble, handing Bortolotti second place back by the end, just 1.159s off the win.
Having bagged useful points for the championship in race one, Bortolotti then scored a further three points on Sunday morning by taking pole position for race two. But, unlike the opener, Bortolotti’s race unravelled in the pit-stops after leading the early stages, as a problem with the left-rear wheel nut dropped the 2023 championship runner-up to 15th at the end of the race. A similar problem also ended the race for the second SSR Performance Huracán of Nicki Thiim.
Engstler, who finished 11th in race one, held onto fourth position early on, staying out of trouble on the opening lap and moving up to third before the pit-stops. A full course yellow period following an incident between a Ferrari and BMW then effectively gave the GRT crew a free pit-stop, which allowed Engstler to inherit the lead ahead of the Mercedes.
With 30 minutes left to run, Engstler had to defend heavily from Engel from the restart, carefully choosing the right line into the corners to stay ahead. Despite the Mercedes appearing to be the faster car, strong tactical driving from Engstler meant he successfully held onto his lead and came home to claim his and Grasser’s first victory in the DTM. The second GRT Huracán of Christian Engelhart finished eighth.
Luca Engstler (Lamborghini Team Liqui Moly by GRT) said: “I have no words really; we obviously had a lot of luck with the full course yellow because on pure pace I don’t think we would have been in the fight for the win. I am so proud, and thankful for the support from the people involved in my journey. When I saw Engel in the Mercedes behind me, I knew it was going to be a long afternoon, even during the FCY because I knew he and the car had pace, so I was basically watching my mirrors for half an hour and not giving him space. He was quicker than us, so it was a case of closing off the apex of the corners and not giving him a chance to pass.
The second round of the DTM season is scheduled to take place on the weekend of 25-26th May at the Lausitzring.
