Mercedes-AMG Motorsport and Maro Engel celebrate historic victory at DTM season opener in Spielberg

Spielberg, April 26, 2026

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Maro Engel (GER/Mercedes-AMG Team RAVENOL) won Sunday’s race at the Red Bull Ring, securing his third DTM victory with a flawless performance. After a strong start, he made up several places, set off in pursuit of the leader in second place. Thanks to a successful undercut strategy following the first pit stop (6.9 seconds), he was able to pull off the decisive overtaking manoeuvre.
There were three further podium finishes for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport: Lucas Auer (AUT/Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf) finished third on Sunday in his home race. Auer and Maro Engel had already secured a strong double podium finish with second and third place on Saturday.
In Sunday’s qualifying session, all Mercedes-AMG drivers secured a top-10 starting position: Lucas Auer started third, Jules Gounon fourth, Maro Engel fifth and Tom Kalender tenth in the second race of the weekend.
Following the opening weekend, Mercedes-AMG Motorsport leads all three championship standings: Maro Engel (44 points) tops the drivers’ standings ahead of Lucas Auer (37). In the team championship, Landgraf Motorsport (49) and Winward Racing (41) occupy the first two places. For the manufacturers’ championship, Mercedes-AMG was able to accumulate a total of 61 points.
This marks the first DTM race win for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport at the Red Bull Ring in 23 years and the Mercedes-AMG GT3’s maiden DTM victory at this circuit. The last win at Spielberg was secured in 2003 by Marcel Fässler (SUI) in the then AMG-Mercedes CLK DTM.
Jules Gounon (FRA/Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER) also contributed to the strong points haul, securing fourth place in Sunday’s race shortly before the finish. Tom Kalender (GER/Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf) was forced to retire his #84 car shortly before the end of the race for safety reasons after smoke was seen coming from it.
The day before, Jules Gounon, who was running in second place, retired shortly before the end due to a faulty suspension; Tom Kalender secured a strong fourth place – the best race result to date in the DTM career of the 18-year-old Mercedes-AMG Junior Driver.
In the first qualifying on Saturday, Maro Engel secured pole position; he led the field in his #80 Mercedes-AMG GT3 until halfway through the race but lost the lead due to problems during a pit stop.
This race weekend saw the debut of Pirelli’s new, exclusive DTM tyre, which was developed in collaboration with the teams and manufacturers. The difference was particularly noticeable in qualifying. No fewer than six drivers managed to beat the 2023 lap record during the first qualifying session on Saturday morning.
A total of 51,000 spectators watched the opening weekend from the Spielberg stands in perfect weather conditions.

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“Congratulations to our Mercedes-AMG Teams Landgraf and Winward Racing on this outstanding performance. We are delighted to have made such a successful start to the season. One of the key factors behind this was our consistency, having retained the same line-up as last season. Our Mercedes-AMG GT3 is very well developed and handles the new Pirelli tyres well. We also made the right strategic decisions. We’re going to savour this success for now and will try to carry this momentum into the next races.”
Thomas Jäger, Sporting Manager DTM, Mercedes-AMG Motorsport

“The joy following the weekend is immense. Both the team and I have been working towards this success for a long time. Especially given that victory was within our grasp yesterday, this race was the perfect response. I am very proud of the team and that we secured this victory for ourselves and for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport. We can build on this.”
Maro Engel, Mercedes-AMG Team RAVENOL #80

“It feels brilliant to kick off the DTM season with a home race for the first time – in perfect weather and in front of a huge crowd. A big thank you to my team, who did a fantastic job. Hopefully, starting the season with such a good result is a good omen once again. Next up is Zandvoort. That’s a completely different track with warmer temperatures. It’ll be interesting with the new tyres. But we’ve shown this weekend that we’re well equipped.”
Lucas Auer, Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf #22

“After what I felt was a disappointing Saturday, we made an impressive comeback today. I had a few really good battles on the track. I lost a bit of time overtaking Kelvin van der Linde for fourth place just before the end, so a podium finish was no longer on the cards. But the season is still young and we managed to score some important points today. Congratulations to my team-mate Maro Engel on his well-deserved victory.”
Jules Gounon, Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER #48

“It was a very positive weekend despite today’s retirement. We made huge progress in qualifying and started from the top 10 on both occasions. Fourth place yesterday was brilliant. But our pace was very good throughout the weekend. That’s why we can leave the Red Bull Ring with our heads held high.”
Tom Kalender, Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf #84