NÜRBURG — It was a rain gala for Kelvin van der Linde on Saturday at the Nürburgring.
The Audi driver from Abt Sportsline was in a different league to the rest of the field at the ninth DTM race of the season. With a lead of over 15 seconds, the South African crossed the finish line first and regained the top spot in the standings with his second win of the season.
The event was broadcast LIVE by SPEED SPORT 1.
“To win the race and thus take the overall lead is simply fantastic,” van der Linde said. “Sometimes it rained more, sometimes less. Always hitting the right braking points in these changing conditions was a big challenge. But despite the rain, I felt really comfortable in the car from the first lap.
Second place went to the then overall leader Mirko Bortolotti in the Lamborghini from SSR Performance, who is second in the championship just one point behind. Maro Engel from the Mercedes-AMG Team Winward secured third place on the podium.
As It Happened
The ninth DTM race of the season started in the rain behind the safety car. Polesitter van der Linde immediately broke away from the field in the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2 and continually increased his lead. Behind him, Lamborghini works driver Bortolotti was able to defend his second place against the strong Engel in the Mercedes-AMG GT3.
His brand colleague Lucas Auer followed in fourth place ahead of Nicki Thiim from SSR Performane.
After the mandatory pit stops, during which all drivers had Pirelli rain tires fitted again due to the persistent rainfall, the first four vehicles held their positions.
Van der Linde drove confidently in front, set the fastest lap shortly before the end and was the first to be waved off after 37 laps ahead of Bortolotti, Engel and Auer. Jack Aitken in the Ferrari 296 GT3 from the Emil Frey Racing team finished the rain race on the Eifel circuit in fifth place.
In the field behind them, the DTM drivers thrilled spectators and fans with tough wheel-to-wheel duels and many battles for position. Marco Wittmann from Schubert Motorsport once again showed great fighting spirit and, in the BMW M4 GT3, made up five places compared to the start, finishing sixth.
The same applied to Porsche works driver Thomas Preining from Manthey EMA. The defending champion improved by eight positions at his team’s home race, impressing particularly in the second half of the race with spectacular overtaking maneuvers and finishing seventh.
Thiim was unlucky, losing a lot of ground after contact with Ayhancan Güven and crossing the finish line in eighth place. Ricardo Feller in the second Audi from Abt Sportsline could not get beyond ninth place after a strong start, while Arjun Maini from the Mercedes-AMG Team HRT completed the top 10.