Feller claims first DTM win of 2025, Auer leads nine-way title race ahead of finale

Ricardo Feller and his Land-Motorsport team had plenty of cause for celebration on Sunday: the Audi driver claimed his first win of this year's DTM season at the Red Bull Ring. In doing so, he also earned a maiden victory in the series for Land-Motorsport.

"I am incredibly proud to have presented Land-Motorsport with its first win in the DTM. I was driving for my life in the battle with Thierry Vermeulen. I was absolutely determined not to let anyone take first place from me," said an overjoyed Feller.

Second place went to Vermeulen (Emil Frey Racing) in a Ferrari 296 GT3. Lucas Auer (Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf) came home third to claim his first home podium in the DTM. There was more good news for the 31-year-old, who returned to the top of the table, having previously lost top spot to René Rast (Schubert Motorsport) on Saturday.

The 14th race of the DTM season had only just got underway in Spielberg when it started throwing up incident after incident. While pole-sitter Vermeulen led the field ahead of Feller, Porsche driver Thomas Preining (Manthey EMA) had to come into the pits with a puncture. The same fate befell Jack Aitken (Emil Frey Racing) on lap two. With that, the race was over before it ever really got started for the two drivers who were running fourth and fifth at the time. Behind the leading duo, Auer, Rast and Arjun Maini (HRT Ford Performance) occupied positions three to five.

On lap 13, the increasingly fast Swiss driver overtook Vermeulen, before pulling clear of the field. Feller continued to lead the race after the two mandatory pit stops. Auer, who had lost third place to Maini, managed to leapfrog back ahead of the Indian after the second tire change. Engel also overtook Maini with a well-timed second pit stop. Rast, who was fifth up to this point, was handed two penalty laps for two infringements before and in the pit lane, and consequently dropped well down the field. After 37 laps of racing, Feller took the checkered flag ahead of Vermeulen, Auer, Engel and Maini.

Jordan Pepper (TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT) made up eight places to finish sixth. That saw the South African climb into second place in the drivers' championship, seven points behind Auer. Ayhancan Güven guided the second Porsche 911 GT3 R of Manthey EMA to seventh place, ahead of Jules Gounon (Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter) in eighth. Reigning champion Mirko Bortolotti (Abt Sportsline) came home ninth in the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 to claim his first top-10 result for a long time. Fellow Lamborghini racer Luca Engstler (TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT) crossed the finish line 10th in Sunday's race in Styria.

Ahead of the season finale at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg (Oct. 3-5), Auer leads the DTM with 171 points. HIs closest rivals are Pepper (164) and Rast (160). Nine drivers still have a mathematical chance of winning the title, right down to Gounon, who trails Auer by 29 points.