DTM - Round 3 - Rast reigns in the rain with his record pole and victory

In a wet and wild Zandvoort weekend, René Rast made history with a record-breaking twenty-sixth pole position in modern DTM, before converting it into a commanding race two win, with BMW stablemate in second. Jordan Pepper secured his first career pole for race one, while Ayhancan Güven triumphed in a chaotic opener, with Lucas Auer still leading the standings.

QUALIFYING 2

Qualifying two was brought forward to Friday afternoon to allow multiple drivers to travel to Le Mans for the test session on Sunday. The session unfolded in wet conditions, with varying tyre strategies shaping the leaderboard, with Ricardo Feller and Maximilian Paul taking turns at the top of the leaderboard in their Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II and Paul Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2. The track conditions improved as the session continued, and in the closing minutes, Marco Wittman and Thomas Preining vaulted to the top and second place in their Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 Evo and Manthey EMA Porsche 992 GT3 R, but Jack Aitken soon beat them in his Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 with a 1:33.025. 

With just two minutes to go, René Rast delivered a stunning 1:32.750 to secure pole position in his BMW M4 GT3 Evo, and achieved his twenty-sixth pole position in DTM, becoming the record pole-sitter in the modern DTM era since 2000. Fortunately, for Rast, the session came to a premature end when reigning champion Mirko Bortolotti stopped on track at the exit of turn one, in a measly sixteenth position on the grid for race two. The top ten featured Rast, Aitken, Wittmann, Jules Gounon, Preining, Ben Dörr, Ayhancan Güven, Jordan Pepper, Tom Kalender and Thierry Vermeulen. Current points leader Lucas Auer was all the way down in eleventh, while Mercedes-AMG stablemate Maro Engel qualified twelfth.

QUALIFYING 1

With qualifying one taking place on the usual Saturday morning slot, the session saw increasingly wetter conditions which would challenge the field throughout the entire session. Jules Gounon opened the timesheets with a 1:43.995 in his Team Mann-Filter Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, but Jordan Pepper in his Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 quickly moved ahead with a 1:43.616. As the track gradually improved, Maro Engel took over with a 1:42.687, with Gounon close behind and Thierry Vermeulen jumping to third position thanks to a strong middle sector.

The lead changed hands multiple times in the final minutes, with Engel improving by a thousandth before Ayhancan Güven edged ahead with a 1:42.628. Pepper returned to the top soon after and asserted control, but Güven’s session ended with an off-track excursion while he was fastest in the first sector. In the final stages, Ricardo Feller and Luca Engstler moved into second place successively, before Engel returned to second position, just 0.008 seconds shy of pole. Pepper ultimately secured his maiden DTM pole position, leading a top ten of Engel, Engstler, Feller, Güven, Auer, Morris Schuring, Preining, Gounon and Kalender. Once again, the defending champion Mirko Bortolotti could only manage eleventh on the grid for race one.

RACE 1

Race one at Zandvoort began in damp conditions, with pole-sitter Jordan Pepper making a strong start, while his stablemate Luca Engstler challenged for second place early on, and created a Lamborghini 1-2 by the end of the opening lap. Ricardo Feller and Ayhancan Güven also gained ground off the line, and just minutes into the race, a three-wide moment between the two BMW’s of René Rast and Marco Wittmann and Jack Aitken in his Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 caught the attention, while Tom Kalender pitted early, and more importantly, outside of the mandatory pit window to switch to wet tyres.

Timo Glock’s race unravelled just fifteen minutes into the race after he made contact with the Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Gilles Magnus, which led to Glock’s McLaren 720s GT3 Evo losing a tyre in the esses. Thomas Preining began a rapid charge through the field, overtaking his teammate Morris Schuring, Lucas Auer, and Ricardo Feller in quick succession to climb to fifth position. Maro Engel mistakenly entered the pit lane before the mandatory pit window had opened, costing him time as he rejoined the race in twenty-first. A flurry of pit stops followed as the rain returned, with multiple cars diving in, including Preining, Feller and Mirko Bortolotti. Chaos ensued when Schuring his Vermeulen while rejoining in the pitlane, then moments later Vermeulen spun at turn one, reversing out of the wall to continue.

As the conditions seemed to worsen, several drivers gambled on the slick tyres, including Pepper and Paul, but the rain intensified. Gounon received three penalty laps, while Rast had multiple incidents, including a crash at turn one, and later another at turn eight, possibly due to brake failure. Vermeulen eventually retired his Ferrari 296 GT3 at turn five to six, and Arjun Maini also dropped out without a clear reason in his HRT Ford Performance Ford Mustang GT3. Preining’s promising run ended with a right-rear puncture, and a retirement.

A safety car was deployed after Rast’s second crash, neutralising the race with just fourteen minutes remaining. At the restart, Güven led from Nicki Thiim and Paul, while Feller ran wide at turn five in the final laps, and fell to the back of the field.

Güven held on to take his second DTM career victory in 2025, followed by Thiim in second, and Paul completing the podium. Luca Engstler, Auer, Schuring, Wittmann, Pepper, Bortolotti and Engel rounded out the top ten in a chaotic, weather-affected race.

RACE 2

Race two began with drama before the lights had even gone out, as Fabio Scherer in his Ford Mustang GT3 failed to get going for the formation lap, and had to be pushed back by the marshalls. At turn one, BMW locked out the top two positions with René Rast and Marco Wittmann, while Jack Aitken and Thomas Preining slotted into third and fourth, just ahead of Jules Gounon. Early trouble hit Jordan Pepper, who slowed with a front-left puncture and could not recover.

A wave of pit stops began with just over fifteen minutes in, with Vermeulen, Bortolotti, Kalender, Paul, Feller and Nicolas Baert among the first to dive in. Soon after, Gounon, Dorr, Engstler, Maini and Thiim followed suit, as the race strategy evolved. Engel and Schuring pitted next, while Preining and Auer came in a few laps later. A key battle emerged between Engel and Gounon for net third position, only for Gounon to pick up a speeding penalty in the pit lane.

Aitken and Güven made their stops just before Wittmann and Glock came in from the front, while the midfield tightened with battles between Aitken, Preining, Güven and Engstler. Vermeulen pulled off a brave move around the outside of turn one to overtake Güven, with Gounon and Bortolotti also joining the fight. Race leader René Rast pitted just after the halfway point, followed by Ben Green and Gilles Magnus. A second cycle of stops reshuffled the order further, with Preining, Aitken, and several others making trips to the pitlane for their second mandatory pitstop. Rast pitted again from the lead with eleven minutes to go, and rejoined cleanly.

In the final laps, contact between Güven and Vermeulen caused a moment of chaos, collecting both Preining and Maini. Despite that, Preining recovered up to third, while up front, Rast controlled the pace and crossed the line to take victory ahead of Wittmann and Preining. Aitken finished fourth, followed by Engel, Engstler, Auer, Gounon and Bortolotti. Pepper failed to finish the race, while the rest of the field completed a tightly packed and strategy-driven race.

CHAMPIONSHIP IMPLICATIONS

After three Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters weekend completed, Lucas Auer continues to lead the championship with 91 points, followed by René Rast in second with 75 points. A tight battle for second position onwards between Rast, Ayhancan Güven, Jules Gounon, Maro Engel, Marco Wittmann, Jack Aitken and Jordan Pepper see second to eighth separated by just eight points.

NORISRING AWAITS

The fourth round of the 2025 season heads to Norisring on the 5th - 6th July, where we’ll see the championship fight intensify.

Images © DTM