Schubert Motorsport Dominance: Schubert Motorsport pulled off something amazing in the car race. They had their two best drivers at the very front when they decided who started where. One of those drivers, Rast, did something extraordinary. He got to start the race in the first spot for the 26th time! Imagine being the fastest before the race even begins – that’s what he did! Another really good driver, van der Linde, the champion last year, lined up right next to him.
As soon as the race started, Rast was like a superhero. He didn’t let anyone pass him, especially van der Linde, who tried hard at a tricky turn. Meanwhile, Thomas Preining, who drives a cool Manthey Porsche car, zoomed up to third place, making it look easy. But poor Jack Aitken, who drives for Emil Frey Ferrari, had some trouble and slipped back to seventh place from a better starting spot.
But that’s not where the excitement ended. Bortolotti, who was also competing with Preining, had some bad luck. His car got a flat tire on one side, and he had to make an unexpected pit stop during the first lap. Imagine having your dreams of winning a championship crushed that quickly!
With his super steady driving, Rast slowly moved ahead of van der Linde in the early part of the race. He was like a superhero with a 2-second lead, showing everyone how good he is on this race track. The weather added to the excitement, with a light drizzle falling on the track. But it didn’t rain hard enough for the drivers to switch to special rainy tires.
Then came a clever move. Preining was the first of the top drivers to make a pit stop. It’s like taking a quick break to change tires and refuel. He did it with about 25 minutes left in the race. After that, van der Linde and Rast also took turns to make their pit stops. Rast was really quick when he left the pits, making sure he stayed in the lead.
Rast kept his cool and stayed in front until the checkered flag waved at the end of the race. He won the race, his first win in 2023, with a 1.2-second lead over van der Linde, who tried really hard but couldn’t catch him.
Preining did a great job and finished in third place, but Bortolotti had a tough day and ended up way back in 22nd place. This meant that Preining now had a 10-point lead over Bortolotti in the championship, and there was only one more race left at Hockenheim next month to decide who would win.
In another part of the race, a driver named Marco Wittmann, driving a Project 1 BMW car, made a cool move early and grabbed the fourth spot. He held onto that position until the end of the race.
Clemens Schmid, who drives for Grasser Racing, had a good fight and finished in sixth place behind a driver named Dennis Olsen from Manthey, who started 10th and ended up in fifth place.
Ayhancan Guven, who races for Team75 Motorsport, finished in seventh place, while Jack Aitken managed to get eighth place, leading his team ahead of his teammate, Thierry Vermeulen.
The best driver in a Mercedes-AMG car was Arjun Maini, who fought hard to get to 10th place. In an exciting battle, Lucas Auer managed to beat Maro Engel to finish in 11th place.
But it wasn’t a great day for Ricardo Feller from Abt Audi. He only got one point by finishing in 15th place. His teammate, Kelvin van der Linde, who won on Saturday, needed some help. He spun around and went way back after the race started, and he eventually had to stop racing.
Another driver, Luca Stolz, who drives a Mercedes, still needs to finish the race. He had to stop and couldn’t keep going, and that meant he had no chance to win the championship.