Even though Mirko Bortolotti did not say it openly, the Grasser Lamborghini driver feared disqualification after his strong second place in the DTM Saturday race: the Italian ran out of fuel in the final metres of the race - and parked his Temerario GT3 at the end of the start-finish straight. The problem: after the race, there must still be fuel in the tank for the fuel sample.
It would have been a bitter end to what had already been a tough DTM season: while his former title rivals Thomas Preining and Maro Engel were fighting for the title, Bortolotti struggled in 2026 with the new Temerario GT3 - and was disqualified after his only DTM season win at Oschersleben.
On top of that came the disqualification of the Abt Lamborghini after second place in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring - another exclusion would have been the last thing he needed. But how did the Italian, who lives in Vienna, get away with it after all?
0.7 kilograms of fuel saved Bortolotti
In the end, there were still 1.4 kilograms of fuel in the tank - the minimum required is 0.7 kilograms. "We were all trembling, but what we did was absolutely the right thing," team boss Gottfried Grasser tells Motorsport-Total.com. "The regulations clearly state that you have to cross the start-finish line under your own power."
Grasser had already informed race control by radio that Bortolotti was running out of fuel - and asked where he could quickly and safely park the car. Race director Sven Stoppe asked him, for safety reasons, not to brake hard on the start-finish straight and to park the car at the end of the start-finish straight by the pit exit, to the right of the wall.
"You need 2.2 kilograms for one lap," Grasser calculates. "If we had let him do the lap, we would have been out."
Land Porsche driver Buus did not escape disqualification
The Hockenheimring is generally regarded as a circuit with high fuel consumption. The Lamborghini Huracan GT3, alongside the McLaren, was already always one of the cars with the highest consumption. That is likely to be the case with its successor as well.
Bastian Buus had less luck: the Land Porsche youngster, who took pole position on Sunday and finished a strong fourth, had been disqualified on Saturday after finishing 11th because his car was too light.
According to the technical delegate's report, the Dane had only 0.049 kilograms of fuel in the tank instead of the required 0.7 kilograms. Unlike in Bortolotti's case, the stewards therefore had no choice but to remove the Porsche from the classification after the fact.
Will Bortolotti still become the top Lamborghini driver?
Bortolotti, who still finished 10th on Sunday from 17th on the grid, ended up 13th in the overall DTM standings - two little points behind Abt driver Luca Engstler, who was the top Lamborghini driver in 12th.
Without the conciliatory end to the season with second place, three fifth places at the Lausitzring, Oschersleben and the Nürburgring would have been his best results, which does not match the expectations of the former champion.
However, it has not yet been finally decided whether the 25 points for the Oschersleben win will be credited to him retrospectively in a possible FIA appeal hearing. Bortolotti would then move up to ninth in the overall standings.
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