Former DTM driver Alexandros Margaritis (GR) and his French team partner Dino Lunardi had to make their way home from the EuroSpeedway Lausitz without having sprayed champagne on the podium. And still, the LIQUI MOLY Team Engstler's two BMW ALPINA drivers were the secret winners of the previous competition weekend.

Stucks dropped back to second

With 24 points, they were by far the most successful pairing from the ranks of the top title candidates and took over the championship lead with 133 points. Erstwhile leaders Johannes and Ferdinand Stuck (A/A) dropped back to second with their Reiter Engineering Lamborghini after a pair of non-scores and came under pressure from third-placed Luca Ludwig/Christopher Mies (D/D). The ABT Audi duo has 107 points, the Stuck brothers have 116, with a maximum of 50 points at stake on every weekend. When Margaritis and Lunardi manage to extend their margin to over 50 points at Assen, they have already secured the title. However, the track record at Assen speaks in favour of the chasers, because so far, only mid-engined sports cars like the Lamborghini of the Stucks or the ABT-Audis, successful in the last two years, have won races at the fast TT Circuit.

Obviously, the local heroes are highly motivated, first and foremost Peter Kox. The sports car stalwart intends to help his Reiter-Lamborghini team-mate, Marc A. Hayek (CH) win the amateur title. Team HEICO Motorsport's Christiaan Frankenhout, who has won one race so far, is aiming at the unofficial crown of the best Mercedes driver of the year. Currently, he and his team-mate Andreas Wirth are ranked fourth in this brand-internal competition. Another SLS gullwing sports car is raced by the two Dutch stalwarts Michael Bleekemolen and Ronald van de Laar. As a guest entrant, the Faster Racing team is running a pair of BMW Z4s for Ricardo van der Ende/Duncan Huisman and Jeroen den Boer/Simon Knap.