In what was initially a spectacular race due to various accidents and safety car phases, the 28-year-old Auer won in his Mercedes in front of the South African. The two will fight for the title on Sunday (1.30 p.m., live ServusTV, ProSieben).
Title chances for Preining buried after accident
Auer stayed out of all collisions at the front, while Spielberg winner Thomas Preining couldn’t do that in his Porsche. The Upper Austrian had to bury his title chances. Already on the opening lap, Arjun Maini spun off the track in the HRT Mercedes-AMG and hit the barriers backwards. The Indian thus triggered the first safety car phase. After the restart, the next accident followed in the first corner, involving Rolf Ineichen (SUI, GRT Lamborghini), his teammate Clemens Schmid (AUT) and Marius Zug (GER, Attempto Audi). On the same lap, Thomas Preining (AUT, Team Bernhard Porsche) and David Schumacher (GER, WINWARD Mercedes-AMG) and a few meters behind Ricardo Feller (SUI, ABT Audi) and Dennis Olsen (NOR), from whose SSR Porsche collided Fire even the engine was ripped out. According to initial estimates, damage amounted to around one million euros. Auer’s compatriot Philipp Eng was sixth in a Porsche, Mirko Bortolotti, who lives in Vienna, was seventh in a Lamborghini and is now fourth overall (121).
Auer won from pole position, his second win of the season. The man from Kufstein had already won in Portimao at the start of the season. He now has 147 points, Van der Linde has 149. Marco Wittmann was third in the race, his German compatriot Rene Rast is in the overall standings. However, he is already 21 points behind the leaders.
“Sometimes I no longer believed that we would still win the race. I’m so proud. The DTM is my home and that we have such a finale for the fans and spectators – I’m really proud that I’m there am,” said Auer, looking forward to the final. “It’s going to be huge. Now it’s just full throttle for me.” Van der Linde sees it similarly. After a bad qualifying session, he thought he had lost the title hunt, but he still fought his way up the field.
Source: Nachrichten
