Thomas Preining and Ayhancan Guven took wins in last round of 2025 season in Hockenheim, as Guven crowned DTM champion.
Race 1 –
Heavy rain made for difficult conditions at the start of the penultimate race of the season at the Hockenheimring. Lap one saw pole-sitter Ben Green (GB/Emil Frey Racing) concede the lead to his team-mate Jack Aitken (GB) after a mistake under braking. Shortly after, he was also powerless to prevent Preining from passing him. The Austrian then took full advantage of his strength and that of the 911 on a wet track. He pulled off a skilful manoeuvre on lap eight to take the lead, and then set fast lap times as he pulled clear of the opposition. Feller and Schuring also passed Green, who found himself in freefall. Jordan Pepper (ZA/TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT) also endured a disappointing race: the Lamborghini racer was forced out of the race on lap four after a collision with another car. However, despite dropping to sixth place in the table, he is still among the drivers in with a shout of winning the title.
Preining was the last driver to come in for his mandatory pit stop, and he returned to the track with a lead of roughly ten seconds over Aitken. The 27-year-old continued to dominate from the front in the closing stages and, after 32 laps of racing, took the chequered flag and the race win. Aitken, on the other hand, was unable to match the pace of the front-runners after the tyre change, and was passed by several rivals. The final order behind Preining was as follows: Feller, Schuring, Maro Engel (Monaco/Mercedes-AMG Team Winward Racing), Ayhancan Güven (TR/Manthey EMA) and Aitken. The battle between Schuring and Feller was particularly spectacular: the Porsche youngster attacked the Swiss driver on the final lap, but Feller was ultimately able to hold onto second place by a mere 0.11 seconds.
Behind sixth-placed Aitken was René Rast (Bregenz/Schubert Motorsport) in seventh place in a BMW M4 GT3 Evo. The three-time DTM champion is third in the overall standings, still well-placed ahead of tomorrow’s final race. Nicki Thiim (DK/Abt Sportsline) produced an impressive display in the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 to finish eighth, ahead of fellow Lamborghini driver Luca Engstler (Kempten/TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT) in ninth place. Green completed the top ten.
Result: https://www.dtm.com/en/results?season=2025
Race 2 –
Sunshine greeted the DTM field for the deciding race of the season on Sunday afternoon at the Hockenheimring. The title showdown began in furious fashion: René Rast (Bregenz/Schubert Motorsport), who was third in the table, made a good start and slotted his BMW M4 GT3 into third place behind pole-sitter Gilles Magnus (B/Comtoyou Racing) and Güven. Rast then went on the attack against the Turkish driver. Whilst making his move, the German was hit from behind and forced to retire with a damaged car. With that, the dream of winning the title came to a premature end for Rast, who was not to blame for the unfortunate DNF in his what looks like being his last DTM race for a while.
Out in front, newcomer Magnus was flawlessly ticking off the laps, while Güven remained in striking distance in his Porsche 911 GT3 R. Behind them in third to fifth place were Jack Aitken (GB/Emil Frey Racing), Jordan Pepper (ZA/ TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT) and Auer. Güven was one of the last drivers to come in for a tyre change, after which he replaced Magnus at the head of the field. Wittmann, on the other hand, was one of the first drivers to fit a fresh set of Pirelli slicks and took advantage of this strategy to work his way into third place with some impressive overtaking manoeuvres. By this point, Engel had slotted in behind Aitken, having made up ten places since the start of the race. Magnus’ strong display came to an end on lap 22: the Belgian was forced to retire with a technical issue on his Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
Güven held onto the lead after the second tyre change, ahead of Wittmann and Engel. At this point, Güven was right on course to win the championship. However, it all got a bit dramatic on the final lap: Wittmann attacked and took the lead, which would have made Auer champion. However, Güven soon responded with a moment that will go down in the DTM history books: in front of packed grandstands, he launched a counter-attack in the Sachskurve corner. Despite being partly on the grass, he managed to make the overtaking manoeuvre sit and went on to take the chequered flag with a lead of 0.169 seconds. The new champion was followed over the finish line by Wittmann and Engel. Auer was classified as fourth, as Aitken and Pepper failed to observe a penalty imposed by race control and were disqualified after the race. 17-year-old Tom Kalender (Hamm/Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf) enjoyed a great end to the season with his first top-five finish.
Thomas Preining (A/Manthey EMA) finished sixth in a Porsche 911 GT3 R Rang. Lamborghini driver Mirko Bortolotti (I/Abt Sportline) crossed the finish line in seventh place after 33 laps of racing. Fellow Lamborghini racer Luca Engstler (Kempten/TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT) followed in eighth. Ricardo Feller (CH/Land-Motorsport) was ninth with the only Audi in the field. Maximilian Paul (Dresden/Paul Motorsport) fought back strongly from 21st on the grid to finish tenth.
Result: https://www.dtm.com/en/results?season=2025
Final standings: https://www.dtm.com/en/standings?season=2025
Other news –
All from Marc Marquez and Marco Bezzecchi post Indonesian GP: https://www.motogp.com/en/news/2025/10/05/bezzecchi-marquez-clash-at-mandalika-what-happened-on-lap-1/760669
[The story is as per press release]