DTM’s summer break has come to an end, with the second half of the season getting underway this weekend at a rather wet and treacherous Nürburgring GP Circuit. Honours in Race 1 were claimed by Team ABT Sportsline’s Kelvin van der Linde.
The South African topped Qualifying on Saturday morning ahead of championship leader Mirko Bortolotti, with Stefan Auer and Maro Engel rounding out the second row on the grid.
An early move from Engel put his Mercedes up into 3rd on lap 2, whilst drama unfolded further back in the field when Franck Perrera spun heading into Turn 3 under worsening tricky conditions.
Thomas Preining ran into some trouble, making contact with Thierry Vermeulen into Turn 1, and was later ordered to give the position back.
A brief off for van der Linde under braking didn’t harm his lead, having built up a nine second gap to Bortolotti by the mid-point in the race. ABT Sportsline pulled off a perfect pitstop, allowing them to be released back into net first place for the second stint of the race. The same efficiency was on display from SSR and Winward to keep the top three in their respective positions coming out of the mandatory pit-window.
Contact between Ayhuancan Güven’s Manthey Porsche and Nicki Thiim in the SSR Lamborghini shook up the battle in the top 10, leaving Güven with three penalty laps on top of a further penalty awarded for crossing the white line on pit-exit. Jack Aitken wasted no time in taking advantage and moving up into P5.
Kelvin van der Linde continued to be unstoppable in the closing stages of the race, with Bortolotti and Engel hanging onto 2nd and 3rd respectively – a result that would see Engel move up to third in the championship standings, overtaking René Rast.
Thomas Preining provided the action in the final laps of the race, finally managing to overtake Nicki Thiim up the inside in Turn 5 on a now drying circuit, putting the Austrian up into P7.
The chequered flag fell to a commanding victory from Kelvin van der Linde, awarding him 25 championship points and a spot at the top of the drivers’ standings. The rest of the top 10 was as follows;
2. Mirko Bortolotti
3. Maro Engel
4. Lucas Auer
5. Jack Aitken
6. Marco Wittmann
7. Thomas Preining
8. Nicki Thiim
9. Ricardo Feller
10. Arjun Maini
Just one point separates the top two spots in the championship standings, so it’s all to play for in tomorrow’s Race 2 to determine who will leave the Eifel region with the advantage ahead of the rest of the season.
Photos by Sascha Schiwietz.
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