Engel storms through the pack to claim victory in Race Two
- Ayla Krachai
- Apr 26
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 27
Maro Engel took victory in DTM Red Bull Ring Race Two for Mercedes-AMG, after qualifying fifth. He managed to move up into second place in the opening lap and drove a clean race to the chequered flag. "This win feels all the better, after it unfortunately did not work out on Saturday. The key was a super start, when I raced straight through to second place," said the German.
In other successful news, Kelvin van der Linde secured pole position in the BMW, his first pole since the Hockenheim finale in 2024. "I am unbelievably proud to be on pole position at my first DTM race weekend with BMW. After I failed to finish Saturday's race, the team did a super job on what was a long evening. The car was like a rocket in qualifying. The pressure in the DTM is huge, but I am really looking forward to the race," said the Race two pole sitter.
Rookie Finn Wiebelhaus also made an impression with an impressive second place in the Ford Mustang GT3. After his first pitstop, van der Linde lost positions to Engel and also to his teammate Marco Wittmann, dropping to third. Engel then took over the race lead.
As for home hero Lucas Auer, he managed to hold onto P3 throughout the race and be on the last step of the podium, being the only Austrian to do so in this race. Yesterdays winner and fellow Styrian, Thomas Preining, qualified at a disappointing 14th place due to carrying an extra 20 kilograms of success ballast as the race winner (overnight balance of performance - BoP - regulations) causing him to gain only one position.
The race remained clean from the start: intense battles brewed in the midfield along with multiple penalties being issued for track limits which shook-up the pack. In the closing stages, Gounon passed van der Linde for fourth place, while Thiim also overtook him, dropping van der Linde further down the order.
Auer summarises the weekend: "On the podium twice at my home event - it doesn't get much better than that. The two pit stops make it even more important to get the right strategy, and the team did a super job in that regard. The atmosphere was awesome all weekend. I really enjoyed the DTM opener."
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