Auto
Lamborghini back to the top of the DTM standings - with third win of the year at Red Bull Ring
| 2024-09-29 |   |
Lamborghini moved back into the lead of the DTM drivers’ standings heading into the final round of the season courtesy of SSR Performance’s Mirko Bortolotti, who claimed a vital maiden win of the year in race one at the Red Bull Ring.
Having qualified fourth on the grid, Bortolotti and his SSR Performance team made the correct tactical call to start on wet tyres, with the Lamborghini Factory Driver vaulting to the lead inside the opening 15 minutes of the one-hour race.
From there, it was a case of building a sufficient buffer at the front of the field before the mandatory pit-stop, which Bortolotti duly did before the switch to slick tyres as the track dried up. The #92 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 fended off a late charge from the Mercedes of Maro Engel to take the win by just over a second.
Coming into the weekend, all five Lamborghini crews had been hopeful of a strong result, with the Balance of Performance (BOP) update meaning they were marginally lighter than this time last year. Having performed admirably at the previous round at the Sachsenring, Bortolotti demonstrated the prowess of the #92 machine by setting the fourth-quickest time in qualifying, starting two places behind the best of the Lamborghinis, Paul Motorsport’s Maximilian Paul.
Off the rolling start, Bortolotti got a strong getaway and was immediately on the attack from the first corner. Front-row starter Paul got a slower start and fell behind both the Engel Mercedes and Bortolotti as the trio duked it out side by side on the run to the uphill braking zone of turn three. Bortolotti, then made it up to second place as he got the better of Maini – who had dropped to second – on the approach towards turn four before setting off in pursuit of Engel.
Bortolotti wasted little time once he caught the Mercedes and, a mistake from the leader, allowed the #92 car to slide past on the exit of turn three and quickly establish a margin of nearly eight seconds. That gap then stabilised as the track began to dry out. Good tyre management and strategy from the pit-wall enabled the team to pit and change onto slick tyres while maintaining the lead. Despite losing time to the Mercedes over the second stint, Bortolotti put in consistent lap-times and kept the gap at just over a second until the finish, as he came home to collect his first win of the season and move back into the lead of the drivers’ standings ahead of race two.
On Sunday morning, Bortolotti then extended his championship lead by another three points by taking pole position for race two but knew his task would be far more difficult due to a BOP change and added success ballast. A good launch meant the #92 maintained position at the start, with the #6 Lamborghini Team Liqui Moly by Grasser Racing Huracán of Luca Engstler maintaining his second place behind. Bortolotti held onto the lead until the mandatory pit-stop but a slower than planned stay in the pits meant the #92 dropped to fourth place, just one spot ahead of main title rival Kelvin van der Linde.
Having fallen under pressure from the Audi behind, Bortolotti rallied in the second half of the race to cling on to his fourth place, securing more points for the championship. By outscoring van der Linde in both races, Bortolotti now holds a 15-point margin over the South African heading into the final round of the year at Hockenheim next month.
Mirko Bortolotti - SSR Performance and Lamborghini Factory Driver
“All in all, it has been an incredible weekend for us here at the Red Bull Ring, with the first win of the season for me in race one on Saturday, getting back in the championship lead and then the pole position on Sunday. For sure, we would have liked to fight for [the win] in race two, but given the circumstances it was not possible, and we extracted the maximum from both races. The weather conditions on Saturday were the key to the success as we were struggling a bit in the dry conditions. I must say that I am happy with how the weekend worked out, I am really thankful to Lamborghini Squadra Corse and to SSR Performance. We did everything we could and put ourselves in a good position for the finale at Hockenheim.”
