It was a rain gala from Kelvin van der Linde (ZA). The Audi driver from Abt Sportsline was in a different league to the rest of the field at the ninth round of the DTM season at the Nürburgring on Saturday. The South African crossed the finish line in first place with a lead of over 15 seconds and regained the top spot in the standings with his second win of the season. “Winning the race and taking the overall lead is just great. Sometimes it rained more, sometimes less. It was a big challenge to always hit the right braking points in these changing conditions. But despite the rain, I felt really comfortable in the car from the very first lap,” said the 28-year-old van der Linde. Second place went to Mirko Bortolotti (I), who had been the overall leader up to that point, in the SSR Performance Lamborghini, who is second in the championship, just one point behind. Maro Engel (Monaco) from Mercedes-AMG Team Winward secured third place on the podium.
Key facts, Nürburgring, Nürburg, Race 9 of 16
- Track length: 3,629 meters
- Weather: 19 degrees, rain
- Pole position: Kelvin van der Linde (Abt Sportsline, Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2 #3), 1:25.350 minutes
- Winner: Kelvin van der Linde (Abt Sportsline, Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2 #3)
- Fastest race lap: Kelvin van der Linde (Abt Sportsline, Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2 #3), 1:38.011 minutes
The ninth DTM race of the season was started behind the safety car in the rain. Pole-setter Kelvin van der Linde immediately pulled away from the field in the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2 and continuously increased his lead. Behind him, Lamborghini works driver Bortolotti was able to defend his second place against Engel in the Mercedes-AMG GT3, who was coming on strongly. His brand colleague Lucas Auer (A) followed in fourth place ahead of Nicki Thiim (DK) from SSR Performance.
After the mandatory pit stops, during which all the drivers had Pirelli rain tires fitted again due to the persistent rain, the first four cars held their positions. At the front, van der Linde drove a commanding lead, set the fastest lap shortly before the end and was waved off first after 37 laps ahead of Bortolotti, Engel and Auer. Jack Aitken (GB) in the Ferrari 296 GT3 of the Emil Frey Racing team finished the wet race on the Eifel circuit in fifth place.
In the field behind them, the DTM drivers thrilled spectators and fans with fierce wheel-to-wheel duels and many battles for position. Marco Wittmann (GER) from Schubert Motorsport once again showed great fighting spirit and in sixth place in the BMW M4 GT3 made up five places compared to the start. The same applied to Porsche works driver Thomas Preining (A) from Manthey EMA. The defending champion improved by eight positions at his team's home race, impressing with spectacular overtaking maneuvers, especially in the second half of the race, to finish seventh. Thiim was unlucky to lose a lot of ground after contact with Ayhancan Güven (TR) and crossed the finish line in eighth place. Ricardo Feller (CH) in the second Abt Sportsline Audi was unable to finish higher than ninth after a strong start, while Arjun Maini (IND) from Mercedes-AMG Team HRT completed the top ten.
Mirko Bortolotti: “Difficult race, great result. That sums up Saturday from my point of view. Kelvin van der Linde was on a completely different level and I couldn't keep up with his pace. Before the start, I would have taken second place immediately in these difficult weather conditions, so I'm very satisfied.”
Maro Engel: “It always feels great to be on the podium in the DTM. I tried everything to put pressure on Mirko Bortolotti. Hopefully we can take another step forward on Sunday. You can see from Kelvin van der Linde's times that we still have potential.”
Result, 9th championship race, Nürburgring
1st Kelvin van der Linde (ZA/Abt Sportsline)
2nd Mirko Bortolotti (I/SSR Performance), +15.232 seconds
3rd Maro Engel (D/Mercedes-AMG Team Winward), +16.377 seconds
4th Lucas Auer (A/Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter), +28.491 seconds
5th Jack Aitken (GB/Emil Frey Racing), +30.474 seconds