OSCHERSLEBEN, Germany Lucas Auer started the 2025 season with an impressive victory.

The Austrian from Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf started the first championship race on Saturday afternoon from pole position and controlled the race from the front for the entire distance.

After 40 laps, he crossed the finish line first in the Mercedes-AMG GT3, thus completing his 10th DTM victory.

A fantastic start to the new season, Auer said. The start of the race went brilliantly, but later I lost my entire lead while lapping other cars. Im all the more pleased that the guys in the pits delivered a really strong performance during the tire change, explained Auer.

Behind him, Jordan Pepper (ZA) from TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT took second place, impressing with a strong performance on the Börde circuit.

Maro Engel (Monaco) from Mercedes-AMG Team Winward Racing drove another car with the three-pointed star to third place after a clever pit stop strategy

Polesitter Auer got off to a perfect start on Saturday afternoon in front of a packed crowd at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.

The 30-year-old immediately pulled away from the field and extended his lead to over four seconds. Following behind were South African Pepper and Mercedes-AMG driver Jules Gounon (F), who overtook Porsche works driver Thomas Preining (A), who had started ahead of him. Veteran Engel maintained fifth place.
After the first mandatory pit stops, Auer lost a lot of time behind drivers who were slower on new and cold tires. Then came the showdown on lap 18, when Auer, Pepper, and Preining pitted for a tire change at the same time.

Despite a somewhat longer pit stop, Auer rejoined the track just ahead of the South African and his compatriot Preining and was able to build a lead of almost two seconds.

The Tyrolean held on to the lead until the finish and celebrated his first DTM victory in around two and a half years ahead of Pepper.

Auers fellow driver Engel once again proved to be a tactical genius, changing his Pirelli slicks late and moving ahead of Preining into third place. Gounon, on the other hand, lost two positions after an earlier pit stop and finished fifth.
Ferrari driver Jack Aitken (GB) of Emil Frey Racing secured sixth place, while Ayhancan Güven (TR) drove the second 911 of Manthey EMA to seventh place.

Marco Wittmann (Fürth, Germany) secured eighth place as the best BMW driver for the home team Schubert Motorsport.

Reigning DTM champion Mirko Bortolotti (I) improved by three positions and finished Saturdays race in ninth place in the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 of Abt Sportsline. Luca Engstler (Kempten, Germany) of TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT secured the final top-10 spot.