The DTM championship held their penultimate race weekend of the 2026 season, with rounds 13 and 14 at the Sachsenring circuit in Germany. BMW M Motorsport has traditionally not had good luck at the Sachsenring, but they came away with one win and a chance to still win the championship in the season finale races at Hockenheim.
In the practice sessions at the Sachsenring, BMW drivers were quick but it varied by the session. Kelvin van der Linde was second quickest in the first session and Marco Wittmann was only 12th fastest, but in the second session Wittmann was third fastest and van der Linde was down in 14th. Wittmann (shown in top photo) kept that speed going for qualifying for race one, putting his M4 GT3 EVO on the pole, with van der Linde qualifying in fourth.
Marco Wittmann gets a face full of champagne from championship leader Thomas Preining.
Both Wittmann and van der Linde held the positions they started in for race one, with Wittmann taking the win and van der Linde in fourth. Wittmann controlled the race, losing the lead only once after pit stops, but retaking the top spot shortly after. It was the second win in a row for Wittmann and the 21st of his DTM career. It was also the first time BMW M Motorsport had won at the Sachsenring. “This result means big points in the title race!,” said Wittmann. “The DTM win at the Sachsenring is very special for me. It was missing from my bucket list. Jules Gounon (Mercedes-AMG driver) was gaining on me all the time in the closing stages of the race. However, I knew that I would get the win if I just avoided making any mistakes.”
Qualifying for race two was very challenging in wet conditions, and Wittmann ended up down in 19th, with Kelvin van der Linde starting a bit further up in seventh. Both BMW drivers performed better in the race than in qualifying, with van der Linde moving into the top five at one point and Wittmann moving up into the top ten early in the race. Unfortunately, van der Linde was hit by another car on a restart after a caution period and had to retire, his seventh retirement in 14 races. Wittmann moved up to finish sixth, with the win going to McLaren driver Ben Dörr.
Kelvin van der Linde finished fourth in race one but had a DNF in race two.
Wittmann’s win and sixth place at the Sachsenring still give him a chance at winning the championship in the final two rounds, but it’s going to be a challenge. He is now 24 points behind championship leader Thomas Preining, who drives for Porsche. “In terms of points, we are now in quite a good position ahead of the season finale,” said Schubert Motorsport Team Principal Torsten Schubert, who runs both of the M4 GT3 EVO entries in DTM. “Mathematically, everything is still possible. Hockenheim is next, and we want to have a strong finale there and hopefully win the title.”
Michael Schrey won race one of the M2 Cup.
The BMW M2 Cup also held their penultimate races of the season at the Sachsenring. Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport driver Michael Schrey won the first race at the Sachsenring, but his perfect season came to an end in the second race, when he finished behind winning driver Christopher Holst, who driver for the H & R Junior Team by ME Motorsport. Schrey still has a strong lead in the championship going into the final two rounds, leading Host by 40 points.
Christopher Holst won race two in the M2 Cup.
Both the DTM and M2 Cup series will hold their final races of the season at Hockenheim on the weekend of October 8th-11th.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy Gruppe C Photography]
