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Autosport
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Sport
James Newbold

DTM Nurburgring: Van der Linde brothers lockout front row

After qualifying for Saturday’s first race was cancelled due to fog, which caused the race to be delayed by several hours, conditions on Sunday morning were much improved and dipped under the pace-setting practice times set on Friday by SSR Porsche driver Dennis Olsen

The Norwegian would end up third behind the on-form South African brothers, while Lucas Auer tumbled to 10th in the final classification after heading the times into the closing minutes. 

Confirming that his pace on Friday had been no fluke, Olsen set the early running and led team-mate Laurens Vanthoor at the halfway point in the quick-fire 20-minute session.  

Auer, who had elected to stay in his garage during the early exchanges, then emerged to make the most of the free track and pumped in two laps good enough to usurp Olsen before the remainder of the field re-entered the fray. 

But the Winward Mercedes’ spell atop the leaderboard was short-lived as Sheldon van der Linde whisked his Schubert BMW to the top of the times on a 1m25.945s. 

Thomas Preining’s Bernhard Porsche also ducked under Auer’s 1m26.126s to go second, before Olsen deposed both of them on a 1m25.973s.  

That time was then matched by Mirko Bortolotti, despite the addition of 20kg to his Grasser Lamborghini in the latest Balance of Performance tweak, although the Italian will take a five-place grid penalty for his contact in race one with Felipe Fraga and start ninth as a result. 

But both Olsen and Bortolotti demoted by a last-gasp effort from Kelvin van der Linde, who had been 18th prior to setting a time just 0.010s slower than his younger brother.  

Top 3 after Qualifying, Pole sitter Sheldon van der Linde, Schubert Motorsport, Dennis Olsen, SSR Performance, Kelvin van der Linde, Team ABT Sportsline (Photo by: DTM)

The Abt Audi man’s effort was all the more impressive as team-mates Rene Rast and Ricardo Feller both struggled to 17th and 23rd fastest respectively.  

Preining is elevated to fourth by Bortolotti’s penalty, ahead of Philipp Eng (Schubert BMW), and defending champion Max Gotz, Auer’s team-mate the leading Mercedes in sixth. 

Luca Stolz, who was turned around on the opening lap of Saturday’s race, will start seventh in the Haupt Racing Team Mercedes ahead of Vanthoor, Bortolotti and Auer. 

After his race one disappointment, Fraga could only qualify 16th with 15kg added to his Red Bull Ferrari in BoP weight. 

DTM Nurburgring -  Sunday Qualifying Results

Cla Driver Car Time Gap
1 South Africa Sheldon Van Der Linde BMW M4 GT3 1'25.945  
2 South Africa Kelvin van der Linde Audi R8 LMS Evo II 1'25.955 0.010
3 Norway Dennis Olsen Porsche 911 GT3 R 1'25.973 0.028
4 Italy Mirko Bortolotti Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 1'25.973 0.028
5 Austria Thomas Preining Porsche 911 GT3 R 1'26.009 0.064
6 Austria Philipp Eng BMW M4 GT3 1'26.032 0.087
7 Germany Maximilian Götz Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'26.053 0.108
8 Germany Luca Stolz Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'26.097 0.152
9 Belgium Laurens Vanthoor Porsche 911 GT3 R 1'26.123 0.178
10 Austria Lucas Auer Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'26.126 0.181
11 Switzerland Nico Müller Audi R8 LMS Evo II 1'26.127 0.182
12 Germany Marco Wittmann BMW M4 GT3 1'26.137 0.192
13 Canada Mikael Grenier Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'26.143 0.198
14 India Arjun Maini Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'26.200 0.255
15 Germany Maro Engel Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'26.216 0.271
16 Brazil Felipe Fraga Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 1'26.220 0.275
17 Germany René Rast Audi R8 LMS Evo II 1'26.226 0.281
18 Germany Maximilian Buhk Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'26.230 0.285
19 New Zealand Nick Cassidy Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 1'26.256 0.311
20 Switzerland Rolf Ineichen Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 1'26.271 0.326
21 Austria Clemens Schmid Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 1'26.459 0.514
22 Germany David Schumacher Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'26.470 0.525
23 Switzerland Ricardo Feller Audi R8 LMS Evo II 1'26.587 0.642
24 United States Dev Gore Audi R8 LMS Evo II 1'26.609 0.664
25 Belgium Esteban Muth BMW M4 GT3 1'26.638 0.693
26 Germany Marius Zug Audi R8 LMS Evo II 1'26.786 0.841
27 Italy Alessio Deledda Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 1'27.239 1.294
28 Theo Oeverhaus BMW M4 GT3 1'27.370 1.425
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