Nicki Thiim enjoyed a perfect weekend at the Norisring in Nuremberg: After the Dane claimed Aston Martin's first-ever DTM victory on Saturday, he followed it up on Sunday. Starting from pole position, the Comtoyou driver controlled the second race as well and secured another triumph.

"I'm incredibly proud," Thiim says happily on ProSieben, as he also leads the overall standings. "That was always the dream, to have the name back at the top. I think the last time was in 1992 or something. That was the dream as a child." Father Kurt Thiim was runner-up in the DTM back then, after even winning the title in the 1986 season.

"Incredible that I never thought I would someday be the overall DTM leader," adds the Aston Martin driver. "So I'm just speechless right now. I'm still living in this dream of the whole weekend. It's simply unbelievable."

Although winner Thiim had to defend himself several times during the race against HRT Ford youngster Finn Wiebelhaus, the 20-year-old found no way past despite several attacks and attempts. Lucas Auer (Landgraf-Mercedes) completes the podium in third.

Maro Engel annoyed with AMG sister team

Arjun Maini (HRT-Ford) finishes fourth, followed by Jules Gounon (Winward-Mercedes) and Thierry Vermeulen in the Emil-Frey-Ferrari. Previous overall DTM leader Maro Engel (Winward-Mercedes) has a difficult race, but still finishes seventh after starting twelfth and has to hand the championship lead to Thiim.

"That was a tough race, I gave it everything," Engel sums up on ProSieben. "The opening phase didn't go quite so well. On the rain tires I was then able to make up places and slowly work my way forward. Then unfortunately there was the mishap at the pit stop." There, the AMG driver had to wait briefly and let brand colleague Tom Kalender through.

"It had actually been agreed that it wouldn't happen," the Winward driver complains, referring to the Landgraf squad. "We will certainly take another look at it afterwards. I don't know how much difference it made, maybe two places." Seventh place was ultimately "the maximum," says Engel, who has dropped to third overall. "So from that point of view, we'll take the points."

Bastian Buus (Land-Porsche), Thomas Preining (Manthey-Porsche) and Marco Wittmann (Schubert-BMW) apparently benefit from the subsequent BoP adjustment and complete the top 10 on Sunday. Mirko Bortolotti (Grasser-Lamborghini) finishes eleventh.

Rain shower causes another race stoppage

As on the previous day, Nicki Thiim converted his pole position into the race lead immediately at the start, followed by the two HRT Ford drivers Finn Wiebelhaus and Arjun Maini. However, after several rear-end collisions in the midfield left debris scattered across the track, the safety car was deployed.

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Among the biggest sufferers of the chaos were Maro Engel, who damaged the front section of his Winward-Mercedes, and Matteo Cairoli. The Emil-Frey-Ferrari driver also had to serve a penalty lap shortly afterwards because he had jumped the start, dropping him to the back of the field.

Shortly after the start of the race, which had already been delayed by 15 minutes due to an accident in the support program, light rain began to fall over the Norisring. The safety car restart therefore turned into the first slide, although all drivers initially remained unharmed.

In the following laps, the rain became increasingly heavy. Nevertheless, no driver took the risk of switching to rain tires before the pit stop window opened and thus unnecessarily losing time. A collision between Cairoli and Marco Mapelli in the Abt-Lamborghini required another safety car period.

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Once again, the first corner became the scene of an accident: Mapelli apparently lost control of his Abt-Lamborghini under braking and subsequently took out the Ferrari driver. Race control reacted immediately and decided to suspend the race.

During the roughly ten-minute break, all teams were able to switch to rain tires without losing time. In addition, the Winward team used the opportunity to at least provisionally repair the damage to Maro Engel's Mercedes. The restart then took place after two flying laps behind the safety car.

Wiebelhaus and Thiim fight for the lead

After the interruption, everything initially remained unchanged at the front: Thiim defended his lead ahead of Wiebelhaus, while Maini and Auer, just as on the previous day, battled for third place. This time, however, the Austrian prevailed.

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Shortly after the restart, the first pit stop window opened. Initially, however, no driver headed for the pits because the rain tires were still the better choice despite the rain now easing. At the same time, the racing line was increasingly drying out.

At the front, Wiebelhaus sensed his chance for a time and put Thiim under pressure, but his attack was unsuccessful. Further back, Timo Glock once again had to park his Dörr-McLaren after touching the "Wall of Champions" and damaging the rear suspension in the process.

Wiebelhaus was subsequently among the first drivers to switch to slicks when they once again became the better choice. Nicki Thiim followed three laps later and returned to the track directly in front of the HRT-Ford driver.

The 20-year-old, who had celebrated his first DTM podium finish at the Lausitzring, managed to bring his tyres up to temperature more quickly and closed the gap. As a result, Wiebelhaus stayed closely tucked in behind his rival and repeatedly pulled alongside Thiim’s Aston Martin on the straight towards the Grundigkehre, although Thiim defended cleverly.

Nicki Thiim celebrates his third DTM career victory

By the time the second pit stop window opened, Wiebelhaus had to drop back again. Both the Ford driver and race leader Thiim waited significantly longer than the competition for their second stop, with the pursuer again making the first move.

Wiebelhaus' possible undercut also did not pay off because the HRT team's pit stops were not perfect this weekend. The Belgian Comtoyou squad was faster, meaning the Dane remained in the lead even after the second pit stop.

Thiim therefore only had to defend his lead in the closing stages. Although Wiebelhaus fought his way back to within less than two seconds of the leader in the final laps, the Comtoyou driver safely brought his third career victory in the DTM across the finish line.

Thiim now also leads the overall standings: The Dane took the maximum haul of 56 points at the Norisring and leads the standings with a total of 117 points. Lucas Auer (108 points) is second, while Maro Engel (105 points) has dropped to third place.

After the heavy crash in the first race on Saturday, only 19 drivers took the start on Sunday: Maximilian Paul (Grasser Lamborghini) and Kelvin van der Linde (Schubert BMW) were unable to contest the Sunday race due to their injuries and the severe damage to their cars, respectively.

The DTM is taking a three-week break: The next two races will take place at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben (July 24 to 26). While a start for Paul is virtually ruled out due to the leg injuries, van der Linde could return to the cockpit of his BMW M4 GT3 Evo at Schubert's home race.

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Even a change to the Balance of Performance (BoP) to the disadvantage of Aston Martin cannot stop Nicki Thiim on his favorite track: The Danish Comtoyou pilot secured pole position for Sunday's race at the Norisring after also topping the charts on Saturday. He achieved this despite running in Qualifying Group B, which was out earlier this time and faced less grip on the track.

"What a beautiful, holy Sunday to be standing here again," a delighted Thiim told German TV partner ran.de. He is the first driver since Thomas Preining at the 2023 season finale in Hockenheim to take two poles in one weekend. "I am still speechless."

The fact that his car has 15 kilograms more ballast on board than on Saturday due to the BoP change - and that he will carry an additional 20 kilograms of success ballast in the race - has not escaped him. "Now I will be the fat kid at school, of course," he said with a grin. "I hope the guys out there don't drive too fast."

Ford Mustang pilots in pursuit

Thiim clocked a 48.583 and was 0.111 seconds faster than HRT Ford rookie Finn Wiebelhaus, who was fastest in Group A with a 48.694 and starts from second place due to the slower group time. An investigation regarding the obstruction of Winward Mercedes pilot Jules Gounon resulted in no consequences for him.

Wiebelhaus' performance is remarkable, as he is competing for the first time in his career on the Norisring, which is extremely challenging due to its bumps. "I touched a few walls, slightly scratched the rear right - but that is how it has to be," the Ford youngster told ran.de, showing his satisfaction.

Starting on the outside line will be "difficult" at the Norisring, and Thiim's car has a weight disadvantage. "He has the 20 kilos in the car, but probably not in his head," the Frankfurt native warned against underestimating the Dane.

Auer complains about gap: "The two in front are so far away"

Behind the top two, the qualifying groups are lined up alternately: Third place went to Wiebelhaus' HRT Ford teammate Arjun Maini, while McLaren youngster Ben Dorr finished fourth.

Fifth and sixth places were taken by the two Mercedes-AMG pilots Lucas Auer and Gounon. The Austrian, whose car is ten kilograms heavier than the previous day due to the BoP change, made it clear to ran.de that no more was possible.

"I set my time on the last lap when the track was at its peak and I am super happy. But there are two guys in front of me who are so far away - that is far too much for a 49-second lap," he complained after finishing third in Group B, 0.337 seconds behind pole-setter Thiim.

DTM leader Engel only twelfth: "Slowed down overnight"

Seventh place went to Mirko Bortolotti, the only remaining Grasser Lamborghini pilot following the misfortune of Maximilian Paul. It was a setback for Maro Engel, who had reclaimed the championship lead with a second-place finish the day before. The Winward Mercedes driver, who went out in the later group, had to settle for twelfth place.

"That was not what we hoped for or wanted," he told ran.de. "Not ideal, and not perfectly executed on my part - but also, as expected, slowed down again overnight." According to Engel, a perfect lap would have matched Gounon's time, which was 0.099 seconds faster.

Next disappointments fur Porsche and BMW

Qualifying did not go as planned for Porsche and BMW despite the BoP changes: Thomas Preining, a three-time winner at the Norisring who favors the track, was the best Porsche pilot in the "Grello" but could not manage more than eleventh. The only remaining BMW pilot, local hero Marco Wittmann, finished back in 18th.

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