DTM title race heads to Sunday showdown after Auer win

The battle for the DTM title will go down to the final race at the Hockenheimring after a spectacular penultimate round, ultimately won by Lucas Auer. Championship leader Thomas Preining (Manthey) fought his way back to fifth place after a poor start, but was unable to prevent his two closest rivals from eating into his lead: Marco Wittmann (Schubert Motorsport) finished the race in third place and consequently climbs into second in the table, just 20 points behind Preining. Maro Engel (Mercedes-AMG Team Ravenol) came home fourth and now trails the leader by 22 points.

Victory went to Auer (Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf), who was rewarded for a flawless display with his first victory of the season.

"That was a tough race with many intense battles," said Auer. "We have had a huge amount of bad luck recently, so I am unbelievably happy with this, even if the title is, unfortunately, no longer within reach for me. We want to back this up on Sunday and get another win."

Pole-sitter Luca Engstler (Red Bull Team Abt) held onto the lead ahead of Auer at the start. While Engel charged through from seventh to third place, championship leader Preining plummeted from third to 11th. Lap two was a hectic affair: in battling for the lead, there was contact between Auer and Engstler, whose Lamborghini Temerario GT3 then hit a wall.

After a brief break, during which Engstler's car was recovered, the race resumed. Not long after that, Engel moved to the head of the field. By the time he came in for the mandatory pit stop, he had opened a lead of over three seconds ahead of fellow Mercedes-AMG driver Auer. They were followed by Bortolotti, Wittmann and Marco Mapelli (Red Bull Team Abt). Preining had battled his way back to eighth by this point.

Once all the drivers had completed a tire change, Engel, who had held a commanding lead up to this point, was the last man to come in for a new set of Pirelli slicks. The new rear-right wheel jammed in the process, costing him a lot of time. Engel's Mercedes-AMG GT3 returned to the track behind Auer and Bortolotti in third place, and was soon overtaken by Wittmann too.

After 36 laps of racing, Auer took the checkered flag, followed by Bortolotti, Wittmann and Engel. Preining was next across the finish line in fifth place, after a perfect pit stop and some spectacular overtaking maneuvers. That puts the 28-year-old 20 points ahead of Wittmann and 22 ahead of Engel going into the final race. A maximum 28 points are up for grabs on Sunday.

Kelvin van der Linde was sixth in the second Schubert Motorsport BMW. Seventh place went to Jules Gounon (Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter), while Arjun Maini (HRT Ford Racing) ended the race in eighth place in a Ford Mustang GT3. Mapelli eventually came home ninth, with Finn Wiebelhaus (HRT Ford Racing) completing the top 10.

• The decisive final race from Hockenheim airs live Sunday on RACER Network and the RACER+ App, beginning at 9:55am ET.