Guven Takes Maiden Win in Oschersleben Race 2

Photo: Porsche

Ayhancan Guven took his maiden DTM victory by using an overcut strategy to his advantage to come out on top in Race 2 at Oschersleben.

The Turkish racer, piloting the No. 90 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R, beat polesitter Jules Gounon and his No. 48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo by 2.695 seconds.

Thomas Preining completed the podium in the second Manthey EMA Porsche, charging past both Jordan Pepper and Rene Rast following the second pitstop of the race.

The second race of the weekend of Oschersleben marked the first time that the newly tweaked Sunday format was used, whereby each driver was required to make two mandatory pitstops.

After Gounon led from pole and controlled the early stages aboard the Mamba-liveried No. 48 Mercedes-AMG, the opening of the initial pit window led to a shakeup at the order at the front.

Guven and Rast, having both delayed their first stops until they were the last to pit, leapfrogged Gounon, with the No. 90 Porsche taking the lead as a result.

The Turkish racer subsequently led ahead of the No. 33 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO into the newly introduced, six-minute second pitstop window.

During that window, Guven’s Manthey stablemate Preining was at the group of a front runners to pit earlier and used the advantage of having hotter tires to go on the offensive in the closing minutes.

He quickly stormed past both Rast and the No. 63 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Jordan Pepper to climb into third place.

However, he was able to gain no further positions, even though the race had been lengthened by two additional laps to compensate for an earlier safety car triggered by Nicolas Baert finding the Turn 3 gravel in the No. 8 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

As a result, Guven was able to maintain his advantage to claim the first DTM victory of his career, ahead of Gounon, Preining, Pepper and Rast.

Marco Wittmann followed his Schubert teammate home in sixth place, ahead of Luca Engstler, Ben Doerr and Mirko Bortolotti.

Lucas Auer completed the top ten, despite a moment earlier in the race in which he had to drop ground to the cars in front after he was ordered to swap place with Maro Engel.

That order was given after the two Mercedes-AMG drivers came to blows on the opening lap, with stewards determining that Auer had forced Engel off the circuit.

Engel eventually finished twelfth behind Ricardo Feller, with the three Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3s of Thierry Vermeulen, Jack Aitken and Ben Green occupying the final points-paying positions.