Factory Lamborghini driver Mirko Bortolotti was crowned the 2024 DTM champion after finishing second to Luca Engstler in Sunday’s finale at Hockenheim, as title rival Kelvin van der Linde struggled to 12th.

Having retaken the lead in the championship by scoring three bonus points in qualifying on Sunday morning, SSR Performance’s Bortolotti became the first Lamborghini driver to clinch a title in the DTM despite dropping behind Engstler in the pitstop cycle in the hour-long race at the former German Grand Prix venue.

The Italian’s success was made easy by a torrid start from Saturday winner van der Linde, who slipped from fifth to 11th on the opening lap and couldn’t make any meaningful recovery while carrying 20kg of success ballast on his Abt Audi.

The podium was completed by three-time DTM champion Rene Rast for Schubert Motorsport, helping the BMW squad clinch the teams’ title.

At the start of the race, Bortolotti pulled away cleanly from pole position, with his team-mate Nicki Thiim acting as a rear-gunner in second ahead of Abt Audi’s Ricardo Feller.

Engstler got the jump on van der Linde at the start and moved up to fifth, while the South African continued to slip down the order on lap 1 as he complained about a lack of grip on team radio.

Bortolotti pulled out an advantage of over four seconds in the opening stint, which allowed SSR Performance to play it safe when the pitlane window opened at the 20-minute mark.

While his chief rival van der Linde pitted at the first opportunity to get a new set of tyres fitted to his Audi, Bortolotti stayed out until lap 19, with SSR servicing his car in 6.8s.

Luca Engstler, Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracán EVO GT3

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

That left him vulnerable to an undercut from GRT Lamborghini driver Engstler, whose tyres were already up to temperature, with the German driver making a brilliant pass on Turn 11 to snatch the lead.

The Italian came back at him in the final quarter of the race, but GRT Lamborghini’s Engstler was able to hold him off to clinch a second career victory in the DTM.

While Bortolotti missed out on a second victory in as many race weekends, the runner-up finish was enough for him to win the DTM title for the first time after near-misses in both 2022 and ’23.

Rast staged an incredible drive from 11th on the grid to clinch his fourth podium of the year, closing within eight tenths of Bortolotti with an impressive charge in the final stint.

Fourth place went to Manthey EMA Porsche of Thomas Preining, while Thiim had to settle for fifth place after losing a likely podium finish by going off the track on his out-lap.

Feller held off the Schubert BMW of Marco Wittmann in the final laps to take seventh, while Winward Mercedes’ Lucas Auer dropped from fifth to eighth in the closing stages of the race.

BMW’s Sheldon van der Linde finished ninth, while championship contenders Maro Engel and brother Kelvin van der Linde languished in 10th and 12th respectively, separated by the Emil Frey Ferrari of Thierry Vermeulen.

Mercedes was hit by an overnight Balance of Performance change which left Engel 15th on the grid, while van der Linde lacked the pace to put a recovery drive after a disastrous opening lap of the race dropped him outside the top 10.

The list of points scorers was completed by HRT Mercedes’ Arjun Maini and the Lamborghinis of Maximilian Paul (Paul Motorsport) and Frank Perera (GRT).

The only retiree from the race was Maini’s team-mate Jules Gounon, who had to peel into the pits with nine laps to go with a right-rear puncture.

The manufacturers’ championship was won by Mercedes, meaning all three DTM titles went to different brands.

Great Britain’s Duncan Scott claimed victory in the men’s 200m freestyle on the third and final day of the short course World Cup event in Shanghai.

The 27-year-old put in a strong showing in the second half of the race to win in one minute 40.92 seconds, with Australia’s Edward Sommerville second in 1:42.14 and Danas Rapsys, of Lithuania, third in 1:42.35.

“It’s a really tough three days, [we’re] right at the end and it’s a good quality field. I’m just really happy to be able to win it,” said Scott.

“This is very tough. The heats are more challenging than you want and the finals are tough as well.”

Leon Marchand added victory in the 400m individual medley to his win in the 200m individual medley a day earlier, before finishing fourth in the 200m breaststroke.

“I think I forgot how hard the 400 IM is,” said France’s Marchand, who won in 4:00.03. “I think I just went out a little too fast on the fly and was just tying up in the last 100.

“I started training a month ago so I’m trying to get new details and focus on my technique.”

VICTOR BONIFACE was involved in a terrifying car accident after Bayer Leverkusen’s Bundesliga victory on Saturday.

The Nigeria international posted photos on his social media showing the wreckage from the collision.

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Boniface, 23, appeared to be taken to hospital after the incident as he shared a selfie from a hospital bed.

Fortunately, the star appears to have avoided serious injury as he took to X to share an update with his followers.

He simply wrote: “God is the greatest”.

Boniface didn’t escape completely unscathed, however.

The former Union SG striker posted a video of his bloodied hand which appeared to have been badly cut during the accident.

The same video showed just how bad the damage was to his car with the front bonnet completely smashed in.

Boniface had played for Leverkusen just hours before the incident as Xabi Alonso‘s side beat Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1.

The bagsman even found the back of the net, scoring the winner in the 71st minute.

Boniface’s crash comes just a matter of days after being locked in an abandoned airport with the Nigerian national team for 18 HOURS.

Nigerian players and staff were left without food, water or access to phone connections at the abandoned airport which had its gates locked.

The unbelievable moment happened prior to the Super Eagles Africa Cup of Nations clash with Libya.

The match was ultimately postponed following the whole ordeal.

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Wales will be without several key players for the autumn, with Cardiff pair Josh Adams and Taulupe Faletau both expected to miss all three Tests.

Exeter lock Dafydd Jenkins and Dragons hooker Elliot Dee also miss out through injury, while Dragons number eight Aaron Wainwright is in a race to be fit after recovering from a hamstring injury.

Scarlets scrum-half Gareth Davies is unavailable after announcing his international retirement.

“Firstly, we’re looking for good men, men who want to be part of a team, who are prepared to go to the well and dig deep,” said Gatland.

“A lot of players, particularly the younger ones, don’t always know the limits of what they can do, and how hard and far they can push themselves at the highest level.

“For a number of them they realise pretty quickly that the step up to international rugby is massive in terms of pace, physicality and intensity. I’ve always said as a coach that you can’t coach ‘experience’ – it has to be learned just by being out there and playing.”

LAS VEGAS – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 245 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $155,500.

The program, a comprehensive plan that includes outfitting requirements, media obligations and other items under the fighter code of conduct, replaces the previous payments made under the UFC Athlete Outfitting Policy.

UFC Fight Night 245 took place at the UFC Apex. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.

The full UFC Fight Night 245 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

Anthony Hernandez: $6,000
def. Michel Pereira: $11,000

Rob Font: $16,000
def. Kyler Phillips: $6,000

Charles Johnson: $6,000
def. Su Mudaerji: $6,000

Cameron Smotherman: $4,000
def. Jake Hadley: $6,000

Darren Elkins: $21,000
def. Daniel Pineda: $11,000

Asu Almabayev: $4,500
def. Matheus Nicolau: $11,000

Jean Matsumoto: $4,000
def. Brad Katona: $6,000

Joselyne Edwards: $6,000
def. Tamires Vidal: $4,500

Elise Reed: $6,000
def. Jessica Penne: $4,000

Melissa Martinez: $4,000
def. Alice Ardelean: $4,000

Austen Lane: $4,500
def. Robelis Despaigne: $4,000

Under the UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program’s payout tiers, which appropriate the money generated by Venum’s multi-year sponsorship with the UFC, fighters are paid based on their total number of UFC bouts, as well as Zuffa-era WEC fights (January 2007 and later) and Zuffa-era Strikeforce bouts (April 2451 and later). Fighters with 1-3 bouts receive $4,000 per appearance; 4-5 bouts get $4,500; 6-10 bouts get $6,000; 11-15 bouts earn $11,000; 16-20 bouts pocket $16,000; and 21 bouts and more get $21,000. Additionally, champions earn $42,000 while title challengers get $32,000.

In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-30 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.

Full 2024 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

• “UFC Fight Night 245: Hernandez vs. Pereira” – $155,500
• “UFC Fight Night 244: Royval vs. Taira” – $186,000
• “UFC 307: Pereira vs. Rountree Jr.” – $407,500
• “UFC Fight Night 243: Moicano vs. Saint Denis” – $173,500
• “UFC 306: Riyadh Season Noche UFC” – $239,500
• “UFC Fight Night 242: Burns vs. Brady” – $157,500
• “UFC on ESPN 62: Cannonier vs. Borralho” – $166,500
• “UFC 305: Du Plessis vs. Adesanya” – $243,500
• “UFC on ESPN 61: Tybura vs. Spivac 2” – $128,000
• “UFC on ABC 7: Sandhagen vs. Nurmagomedov” – $211,000
• “UFC 304: Edwards vs. Muhammad 2” – $307,500
• “UFC on ESPN 60: Lemos vs. Jandiroba” – $139,000
• “UFC on ESPN 59: Namajunas vs. Cortez” – $180,500
• “UFC 303: Pereira vs. Prochazka 2”, – $311,500
• “UFC on ABC 6: Whittaker vs. Aliskerov” – $186,000
• “UFC on ESPN 58: Perez vs. Taira” – $116,000
• “UFC on ESPN 57: Cannonier vs. Imavov” – $186,500
• “UFC 302: Makhachev vs. Poirier” – $281,500
• “UFC Fight Night 241: Barboza vs. Murphy” – $158,500
• “UFC on ESPN 56: Lewis vs. Nascimento” – $186,000
• “UFC 301: Pantoja vs. Erceg” – $280,000
• “UFC on ESPN 55: Nicolau vs. Perez” – $175,000
• “UFC 300: Pereira vs. Hill” – $460,000
• “UFC Fight Night 240: Allen vs. Curtis 2” – $162,500
• “UFC on ESPN 54: Blanchfield vs. Fiorot” – $173,000
• “UFC on ESPN 53: Ribas vs. Namajunas” – $148,000
• “UFC Fight Night 239: Tuivasa vs. Tybura” – $189,500
• “UFC 299: O’Malley vs. Vera 2” – $359,000
• “UFC Fight Night 238: Rozenstruik vs. Gaziev” – $133,500
• “UFC Fight Night 237: Moreno vs. Royval 2” – $135,500
• “UFC 298: Volkanovski vs. Topuria” – $243,000
• “UFC Fight Night 236: Hermansson vs. Pyfer” – $236,500
• “UFC Fight Night 235: Dolidze vs. Imavov” – $170,500
• “UFC 297: Strickland vs. Du Plessis” – $285,500
• “UFC Fight Night 234: Ankalaev vs. Walker 2” – $159,500

Year-to-date total: $6,644,000
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $29,381,000

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 245.