Aston Martin’s debut victory in the DTM – race interruption following an accident

From pole position to victory: Nicki Thiim wins the first DTM race at the Norisring in commanding fashion. Thiim thus secures the first DTM victory for Aston Martin and Comotoyou Racing. For Thiim, this is his second DTM win, having previously triumphed on the Nuremberg street circuit in 2024. The victory sees Thiim move up to third place in the championship standings.

Second place went to Maro Engel in the WINWARD Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. At the finish, the DTM championship leader was 0.587 seconds behind the winning Aston Martin.

Arjun Maini, in the Ford Mustang GT3, completed the podium in Nuremberg.

For Marco Wittmann, the race began with yet another setback. After being involved in a collision at the start in the Grundig hairpin, the local hero was forced to pit for a wheel change after the opening lap. A few laps later, the two-time DTM champion pulled his Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 into the pits.

After 15 minutes, Tom Kalender crashed heavily at the exit of the Schöller-S. The youngster attempted to bring the Landgraf Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 back to the pits, but was forced to stop the car at the exit of the Dutzendteich hairpin. The safety car was deployed. The safety car period extended the race distance by two laps.

After around half an hour, there was a serious crash at the Grundig hairpin between Maximilian Paul in the Grasser Lamborghini and Kelvin van der Linde in the Schubert BMW. Whilst braking for the first corner, Paul lost control of his Temerario GT3, crashed violently into the crash barrier and then, without braking and at high speed, crashed into the driver’s door of the Schubert BMW. Paul finally crashed heavily into the tyre barrier at the first corner. The race was immediately neutralised with a Full Course Yellow. With 20 minutes of racing time remaining, the race was red-flagged. Race control reported that Maximilian Paul was responsive. Van der Linde got out of his BMW but was in severe pain and was subsequently taken to the medical centre; the South African was then admitted to hospital for further examination. Maximilian Paul was taken to hospital.

After more than 50 minutes of track clearance work, the race resumed at 15:05 with two laps behind the safety car. Timo Glock was no longer in the race; his McLaren had been pushed off the grid by the Dörr Motorsport mechanics following an oil leak.

After the restart, Finn Wiebelhaus and Thomas Preining collided whilst battling for fifth place, when the Haupt Racing Team driver crashed into the side of the Manthey driver. Wiebelhaus was then forced to let Preining past, whereupon the Ford driver immediately overtook the 2023 champion again.

DTM Norisring Race 1 results (Top 10):

1. Nicki Thiim – Comtoyou Racing – Aston Martin Vantage GT3

2. Maro Engel – WINWARD Racing – Mercedes-AMG GT3

3. Arjun Maini – Haupt Racing Team – Ford Mustang GT3

4. Lucas Auer – Landgraf Motorsport – Mercedes-AMG GT3

5. Thierry Vermeulen – Emil Frey Racing – Ferrari 296 GT3

6. Finn Wiebelhaus – Haupt Racing Team – Ford Mustang GT3

7. Jules Gounon – WINWARD Racing – Mercedes-AMG GT3

8. Mirko Bortolotti – Grasser Racing Team – Lamborghini Temerario GT3

9. Thomas Preining – Manthey Racing – Porsche 911 GT3 R

10. Ben Dörr – Dörr Motorsport – McLaren 720S GT3