Nurburgring DTM: Van der Linde extends lead with commanding win

At the start of the race, van der Linde had to work hard to fend off Philip Ellis and Marco Wittmann, the trio running three-wide on the run down to Turn 1.

Abt Sportsline man van der Linde was able to hold onto the lead as Wittmann backed out of the battle and Ellis was forced wide into Turn 1, but he had to do it again after the safety car was deployed to recover the stranded Mucke Mercedes of Maximilian Buhk.

At the restart, Ellis was again the quicker of the two but the inside line played into the hands of van der Linde, who was again able to fend off the Winward Mercedes driver's advances to stay at the front.

Having dealt with the initial threat from Ellis, van der Linde had a trouble-free run until the chequered flag, taking the finish with a five-second advantage over the Toksport Mercedes of Luca Stolz and Ellis.

Stolz was the most impressive of the newcomers at the Nurburgring, qualifying a strong fifth on the grid and jumping to third early on, before finishing second ahead of Ellis.

Ellis ran second for much of the race but had to give back a place to an out-of-position Alex Albon after cutting the final chicane, also dropping behind Stolz in the process.

Mike Rockenfeller completed an impressive charge from 16th to fourth in the second Abt Audi, aided by a long first stint that allowed him to run in clear air until lap 32 of 40.

A fifth place finish for HRT Mercedes driver Maximilian Gotz moved him up to second in the drivers' standings, as Wittmann wound up sixth in a Walkenhorst BMW saddled with 25kg of success ballast.

Sheldon van der Linde crossed the line in seventh in the Rowe Racing BMW, having started 18th.

Last year’s DTM runner up Nico Muller delivered an impressive recovery drive after qualifying down in 17th place - one spot behind Rockenfeller - but two five-second penalties for separate infringements left the Team Rosberg driver eighth at the finish.

Completing the top 10 were Mercedes Daniel Juncadella (GruppeM) and Arjun Maini (GetSpeed), the latter bagging his first point in the DTM.

The Red Bull Ferrari team endured its worst outing in the DTM so far, with both Liam Lawson and Albon failing to finish in the points after being involved in separate collisions.

Liam Lawson was running inside the top 10 when he was pitched into a spin by DTM returnee Markus Winkelhock at Turn 2, dropping to the rear of the pack.

Lawson could only recover to 13th after the incident while Winkelhock was hit with a drive-through penalty for causing the collision.

Albon, meanwhile, was also forced into a spin after being tapped by Maini at the same corner earlier in the race, and was later forced into retirement with what appeared to be a technical problem.

Porsche’s DTM debut ended in retirement after Michael Ammermuller suffered terminal damage to the front splitter of his 911 GT3 R in the opening laps.

Several other DTM newcomers or returnees also had a difficult time at the Nurburgring, with Christopher Haase - replacing Dev Gore at Team Rosberg - also suffering a DNF due to accident damage.

Winkelhock was only 16th after serving his drive-through, denying the Abt team a chance of a triple points finish, while Christian Klien could only finish 15th in the JP Motorsport McLaren after having to run wide to avoid the stranded Ferrari of Albon.

Race results:

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Laps	Gap
1	3	Kelvin van der Linde	Audi R8 LMS Evo	40
2	7	Luca Stolz	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	40	4.749
3	57	Philip Ellis	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	40	13.503
4	9	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi R8 LMS Evo	40	14.050
5	4	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	40	23.676
6	11	Marco Wittmann	BMW M6 GT3	40	29.262
7	31	Sheldon Van Der Linde	BMW M6 GT3	40	33.058
8	51	Nico Müller	Audi R8 LMS Evo	40	34.495
9	8	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	40	34.723
10	36	Arjun Maini	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	40	39.935
11	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	40	44.411
12	5	Vincent Abril	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	40	45.788
13	30	Liam Lawson	Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020	40	46.588
14	10	Esteban Muth	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	40	49.722
15	15	Christian Klien	McLaren 720S GT3	40	50.162
16	99	Markus Winkelhock	Audi R8 LMS Evo	40	50.449
17	26	Esmee Hawkey	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	40	56.459
18	6	Hubert Haupt	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	40	57.599
19	16	Timo Glock	BMW M6 GT3	40	1'09.126
20	23	Alex Albon	Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020	32	8 Laps
21	92	Michael Ammermüller	Porsche 911 GT3 R	6	34 Laps
22	12	Christopher Haase	Audi R8 LMS Evo	1	39 Laps
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