DTM Hockenheim qualifying 1 report: Kelvin van der Linde returns to top form

Kelvin van der Linde took pole position in qualifying 1 this morning for the DTM championship at the Hockenheimring, making up for his disappointed Assen weekend two weeks ago.

Heading into the penultimate round of the 2021 season, Liam Lawson heads the championship with a 10-point lead over Marco Wittmann with Kelvin van der Linde looking for a strong result having lost his grip on the championship lead at the previous round.

DTM HOCKENHEIM: WIN A SIGNED PHOTO OF PHILIP ELLIS | RACE 1 QUALIFYING | RACE 1 REPORT | QUALIFYING 2 REPORT | RACE 2 REPORT

Team Rosberg Audi R8 LMS GT3 driver Nico Müller set the early pace but was knocked off the top spot by Assen race winner Lucas Auer driving the #22 Mercedes-AMG Team Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Kelvin van der Linde and the Team Abt Sportsline crew seemed to have learnt from their experience with qualifying at Assen and having been fastest in Friday practice, made sure to put in a fast early lap which put him into the top five before following up with a lap that took P2.

At the halfway point it was Walkenhorst Motorsport’s Marco Wittmann who seemed to be struggling, languishing down in thirteenth place, while championship leader Liam Lawson sat in seventh place.

In the final minutes, Van der Linde climbed to the top of the timesheets putting in a lap neatly half a second faster than Auer and securing his fourth pole position of the year. Auer retained second on the grid despite the best efforts of Red Bull AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 pilot Liam Lawson who took third place ahead of Dani Juncadella, Arjun Maini and Max Götz.

Marco Wittman was unable to improve and finished the session in thirteenth, meaning that with the 3 points Van der Linde picks up for pole position he has already closed the points gap to Wittman to just 2 points.