Matteo Cairoli wins amidst the smoke from the forest fires at the Nürburgring

Matteo Cairoli wins the first DTM race at the Nürburgring. The Italian dominated the race at will in his Emil Frey Racing Ferrari, leaving the competition trailing in his wake. This is Cairoli’s third win of the season.

Second place went to Thomas Preining in the Manthey Porsche. The 2023 champion finished 9.973 seconds behind the winning Ferrari.

Marco Wittmann completes the podium in the Schubert Motorsport BMW.

Mirko Bortolotti pulled his Lamborghini Temerario GT3 into the pits after three laps. On the opening lap, Bortolotti was hit by Marco Mapelli and was forced to drive through the gravel trap.

On the fourth lap, Mapelli was hit from behind by Timo Glock in the AMG Arena and spun round. Mapelli dropped to the back of the field. The former Formula 1 driver received three penalty laps for the incident. Glock ended the race shortly afterwards in the pits, having already retired two laps earlier.

Nicki Thiim and Tom Kalender collided in the NGK chicane after around eight minutes. Kalender had to park the car in the pits shortly afterwards as the Mercedes-AMG GT3 had sustained too much damage. Aston Martin works driver Thiim received a penalty lap.

Following his mandatory pit stop, Ricardo Feller in the Manthey Porsche was hit by Jules Gounon at the first corner and spun round, causing him to crash into the tyre barrier. The Swiss driver was initially able to continue, but lost a lot of time.

On the final lap, Christian Engelhart and Thierry Vermeulen collided violently during the braking zone before the Veedol chicane. Engelhart struck the rear of the Ferrari before both cars spun off the track and crashed heavily into the crash barrier.

DTM Nürburgring Race 1 results (Top 10):

1. Matteo Cairoli – Emil Frey Racing – Ferrari 296 GT3

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

3. Marco Wittmann – Schubert Motorsport – BMW M4 GT3

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

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

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

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

8. Luca Engstler – Abt Sportsline – Porsche 911 GT3 R

9. Ricardo Feller – Manthey Racing – Porsche 911 GT3 R

10. Bastian Buus – Land-Motorsport – Porsche 911 GT3 R