Klaus Weber · DTM-Korrespondent
From pole position straight through to the checkered flag, and with the fastest lap to boot: Matteo Cairoli left nothing to chance in the first race at the Nürburgring, while a third of the grid behind him failed to see the finish.
Fifty-seven minutes and 5.857 seconds after the start, it was clear that Matteo Cairoli had managed his Nürburgring weekend flawlessly: pole position, fastest lap, and victory in Race 1, with a 9.973-second margin over Thomas Preining. The results revealed a race where a third of the field ended prematurely. Seven of 21 cars failed to finish, among them Kelvin van der Linde and Mirko Bortolotti, two drivers looking to play a role in the championship before the weekend.
Cairoli Controls from the Front, Wittmann and Dörr Each Gain a Position
Cairoli had set the stage himself in Free Practice 2 and qualifying: a 1:25.345 minute lap in Q1 secured pole position, 0.036 seconds clear of Preining. In the race, that was enough for the classic controlled drive from the front. His advantage over Preining grew to nearly ten seconds by the checkered flag, a margin that, over a race distance of more than 57 minutes, speaks to consistently clean lap times and solid tire management without mistakes.
Marco Wittmann and Ben Dörr were the only drivers in the top five of qualifying who gained a position during the race. Wittmann started fourth and finished third, 13.756 seconds behind Cairoli and 3.783 seconds back from Preining. Ben Dörr improved from fifth on the grid to fourth place. Lucas Auer, third-fastest in Q1, lost ground instead, dropping two spots to finish fifth behind Dörr.
Buus and Baert as Midfield Winners
While little changed at the front, the midfield delivered the real position story of the race. Bastian Buus started 17th and finished tenth, a jump of seven positions and rewarded with a championship point. Nicolas Baert advanced seven spots from 19th on the grid to finish twelfth. Both drivers benefited from the high number of retirements ahead of them that opened up grid positions as the race progressed, without either needing to take unnecessary risks to advance.
Luca Engstler made up four positions from twelfth on the grid and was rewarded with eighth place and four points. Ricardo Feller, by contrast, who qualified eighth, fell back to ninth during the race, finishing 37.133 seconds down on Cairoli.
Seven Retirements: A Quota That Stands Out
Kelvin van der Linde received a penalty lap early in the race for a jump start, which pushed him back in the field. After 22 laps completed, he had to park his car, a retirement that weighs heavily on the Schubert driver's championship campaign. Tom Kalender in the second Landgraf Mercedes exited even earlier, his race lasting just seven laps. Marco Mapelli, Finn Wiebelhaus, Arjun Maini, Mirko Bortolotti, and Timo Glock also failed to finish.
Seven retirements out of 21 starters represents a third of the field, a figure that raises questions about reliability under race conditions beyond this single distance, especially when both established frontrunners like van der Linde and backmarkers were affected. For the championship, this race meant one thing above all: Cairoli extended his lead to 25 points with the bonus from pole position, while van der Linde and Bortolotti dropped back in the overall standings with zero points from Race 1. How the field sorts itself in Race 2 after this retirement rate, and whether the pit-window strategy plays out differently, will become clear at the next race day.
