DTM Nurburgring: Van der Linde dominates race one from pole

Kelvin van der Linde claimed the DTM championship lead after dominating the opening one-hour race at the Nurburgring from pole.

The Abt Audi driver never lost position to win by 15.2s ahead of Mirko Bortolotti with Maro Engel completing the podium.

It means Van der Linde leads Bortolotti by one point in the championship ahead of the weekend’s second race on Sunday.

The race started with two laps behind the safety car because of wet conditions, so drivers approached Turn 1 cautiously when the green flag was first waved.

Van der Linde therefore kept his lead ahead of Bortolotti, but Engel claimed third from Lucas Auer down the inside of Turn 4 on the first racing lap.

Other drivers struggled during the opening tours, as much further back Thomas Preining collided into Thierry Vermeulen at Turn 1, while Luca Engstler received a penalty lap for exceeding track limits.

Kelvin van der Linde, Team ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

At the front, Van der Linde was in control as he led Bortolotti by 7.2s when the pit window arrived after 20 minutes. The front-runners were late to pit though, as Auer, Nicki Thiim, Ayhancan Guven and Jack Aitken were closely battling for fourth halfway through.

Guven dropped back after visiting the Turn 6 gravel, while Aitken was the first of the top seven to pit after 35 minutes of racing.

Just a minute later Van der Linde pitted, while Auer and Thiim boxed the next tour with both staying ahead of Aitken. Bortolotti and Engel pitted the following lap, but failed to gain on Van der Linde who led by 11.5s at the end of the pit window.

Guven made the overcut work though, as despite his Turn 6 incident he left the pitlane in fifth having been the final driver to pit.

But Thiim and Aitken were just behind and the SSR Performance Lamborghini driver was hit by Guven at Turn 2, which sent the Porsche spinning to the back while receiving three penalty laps.

Thiim dropped back to seventh, while Van der Linde continued to gain on Bortolotti who had Engel a second behind heading into the final 10 minutes.

But Engel failed to attempt an overtake, as Van der Linde eventually crossed the line for his second victory of the season.

Auer and Aitken completed the top five behind Bortolotti and Engel, while Marco Wittmann, Preining, Thiim, Ricardo Feller and Arjun Maini rounded up the top 10.