During the penultimate race weekend of the DTM season at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, the BMW M4 GT3 made a triumphant return to the winner’s circle. René Rast from Germany, now a BMW M works driver, celebrated his inaugural victory in this capacity with a first-place finish in Sunday’s race. Prior to this remarkable win, Rast had already made history by securing his second pole position of the season, surpassing Bernd Schneider’s DTM record.
With an impressive total of 26 pole positions, Rast now stands as the undisputed leader in the all-time best list. Sheldon van der Linde from South Africa clinched second place on Sunday, marking a fantastic 1-2 finish for Team Schubert Motorsport. Meanwhile, Marco Wittmann from Germany equaled his best result of the season by finishing fourth on Sunday, narrowly missing his first podium with the Project 1 Team.
After a mixed Saturday race at Spielberg, where Rast narrowly missed the podium with a fourth-place finish, and Wittmann and van der Linde took eighth and 13th places respectively, the three BMW M works drivers made a remarkable comeback on Sunday. Rast secured pole position with a lead of 0.111 seconds over his teammate van der Linde, while Wittmann started from fifth. In the race, the Schubert Motorsport duo successfully defended their first two positions all the way to the finish line, while Wittmann fiercely contested for third place but ultimately settled for fourth, mirroring his performance at Zandvoort (NED). Unfortunately, Sandro Holzem from Germany finished 24th in the second Project 1 BMW M4 GT3 on Saturday and had to retire on Sunday.
As the DTM season approaches its finale in October at Hockenheim (Germany), van der Linde and Rast currently occupy the fourth and fifth positions in the driver’s standings. In the team standings, Schubert Motorsport holds fourth place, setting the stage for an exciting conclusion to the season.
