DTM - Rene Rast released from hospital: DTM star gives green light for 24 Hours of Le Mans

Rene Rast (Schubert-BMW) was able to leave the hospital in Haarlem, Netherlands, late Sunday evening after an examination. The doctors treating him have given the three-time DTM champion the green light to travel to Le Mans . The famous 24-hour race in France takes place next weekend (June 14-15), with the first free practice sessions beginning on Wednesday afternoon.

Nothing stands in the way of Rast's sixth participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and his second with the BMW M Hybrid V8. The 38-year-old gave the all-clear on Monday night. "I was released from the hospital this evening," Rast announced on his Instagram page . "No injuries were found, which means I'm ready to travel to Le Mans tomorrow."

The BMW factory driver continued: "Shortly before the DTM start, I hit my head quite hard, which caused some pain and dizziness. The medical staff took precautions and sent me to the hospital for further examination. Better to be safe than sorry."

The incident casts Rast's DTM victory on Sunday afternoon at Zandvoort in a completely different light. Despite the pain, the Schubert-BMW driver won the second race of the weekend and celebrated his 29th victory in the iconic German series. Earlier in early qualifying on Friday evening, he had surpassed Bernd Schneider as the all-time record holder with his 26th pole position.

Rast won Sunday's race from pole position, narrowly ahead of his Schubert-BMW teammate Marco Wittmann . The two-time DTM champion subsequently received a five-second penalty, but still held on to second place by a razor-thin margin of five thousandths of a second. Read this article to find out exactly what was going on with Wittmann, who was contesting his 200th DTM race:

"The team did a fantastic job and deserved this victory," Rast was quoted as saying in a BMW press release on Saturday evening. "It wasn't an easy race for me. After hitting my head before the start, I was in pain throughout the race."

The effort paid off: With his first win of the season, Rast moved into second place in the DTM standings behind leader Lucas Auer (Landgraf-Mercedes). Rast is eyeing his fourth title win after 2017, 2019, and 2020: "I'm pleased that I was able to move further up the drivers' standings after Saturday's retirement thanks to the win. I'm now second and still have every chance of fulfilling my 'Mission 4'."

That Rast wasn't feeling well during the grueling race only became clear shortly after crossing the finish line, when he spoke in an interview about his headaches and even numbness in his fingers. Rast felt so weak that he skipped the winner's press conference after the podium ceremony and instead went to the trackside medical center for a checkup.

Rast was subsequently taken to a hospital in Haarlem, about 13 kilometers away, for further examination. Motorsport-Magazin.com knows what happened to him: Shortly before the start of the race, Rast wanted to use the restroom again—as is customary for racing drivers. On the way there, he took a shortcut and unfortunately hit his head so hard on a pole that he complained of headaches and nausea shortly afterward.

"We are taking this seriously because Rene is due to travel to Le Mans for the 24-hour race next week," said Schubert-BMW team boss Torsten Schubert in an initial reaction to Motorsport-Magazin.com .

After the record pole position, the victory, and the scary moment, Rast now heads to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. His BMW teammates Sheldon van der Linde and Robin Frijns were already in action at the official test at the Circuit de la Sarthe on Sunday. Unlike DTM drivers Jules Gounon and Jack Aitken, Rast skipped the test to concentrate fully on his DTM duties.

The #20 BMW, driven by Rast's teammates van der Linde and Frijns, and reserve driver Philipp Eng, finished eighth in the Le Mans test. An oil leak during the afternoon session cost them considerable track time. In addition to the Austrian Eng, Wittmann is also said to be on call as a potential reserve. Both are very familiar with the BMW prototype from the US IMSA Championship, and Wittmann also competed in the WEC last year. The equally strong sister BMW (Kevin Magnussen/Raffaele Marciello/Dries Vanthoor) finished 12th in the test.