DTM Red Bull Ring: Van der Linde takes first win of 2023 in wet-dry contest

The Abt Audi driver recorded his first triumph since 2021, finishing almost two seconds clear of Laurin Heinrich, who led the first phase of the race from pole position.

Van der Linde's team-mate Ricardo Feller prevailed in a thrilling late scrap with Rene Rast to take the final podium spot, while championship leader Mirko Bortolotti came home in ninth.

The race started on a damp track, with most of the field opting for wet-weather tyres. Team 75 Motorsport Porsche driver Heinrich converted a maiden pole into the lead at turn one, but then was challenged on the climb to turn three by van der Linde.

Heinrich managed to prevail in that battle, with van der Linde slipping to fifth after running wide and then getting swamped on the run to turn four by Heinrich's team-mate Ayhancan Guven, Mercedes-AMG driver Maro Engel and championship contender Thomas Preining.

Heinrich pulled out a three-second advantage over Engel in the early stages, while van der Linde recovered past Preining and Guven into third. Schubert BMW driver Rene Rast also joined the action, battling his way past Preining into fifth.

Lamborghini driver Bortolotti spent most of the opening 20 minutes in ninth before picking up the pace and gaining a couple of places. He pulled off a wild overtake on Marco Wittmann on the outside of turn six, despite dipping two wheels in the gravel on the exit, and the pinched seventh from Manthey Porsche driver Dennis Olsen.

The leading runners left it late into the pit window before making their mandatory stops as the track continued to dry, eventually switching to slick tyres.

By stopping earlier than his rivals, van der Linde leapfrogged Preining and Engel to gain a five-second lead. Bortolotti came in just before the window closed, briefly emerging ahead of Preining before losing out to his title rival at turn three, and the Italian then lost further places as he struggled to get his slick tyres up to temperature.

The safety car was deployed moments later when Thierry Vermeulen spun his Ferrari into the gravel following contact with Clemens Schmid, who was handed a slow-lap penalty for the incident by officials.

The race resumed with 13 minutes left on the clock, with van der Linde pulling out more than a one-second advantage almost immediately, and from there controlled the remainder of the contest ahead of Heinrich while battles raged behind them.

Preining muscled his way into third past Engel, who ran wide and lost a further place to Feller. But one lap later Preining was instructed to let Engel back through, allowing Feller into third and Engel to fourth. Rast tried to capitalise by drawing alongside Preining, who was able to hold onto fifth.

Despite initially losing out, Rast was soon into fourth past Engel and Preining before engaging in a feisty battle for third with Feller in the final few laps.

Rast tapped the rear of Feller's Audi twice into turn four, both times drawing alongside on the exit, but Feller put up a determined resistance to remain ahead and then held off his rival once more on the final lap. Engel and Preining continued their own tussle for fifth, with Engel prevailing at the chequered flag.

HRT Mercedes driver Luca Stolz came home seventh ahead of Wittmann, who passed Bortolotti with little more than a lap to go, while Olsen lost out to the pair before the finish and slipped from eighth to tenth.

Guven edged Luca Engstler to 11th, while reigning champion Sheldon van der Linde ran 16th early on and eventually finished 13th.

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

       

Driver Info			Main Information Additional Data
Cla	Driver	#		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points
1	K. van der Linde Abt Sportsline	3		Audi R8 LMS Evo II	37	-			25
2	L. Heinrich KÜS Team Bernhard	75		Porsche 911 GT3 R	37	+1.306	1.306		20
3	R. Feller Abt Sportsline	7		Audi R8 LMS Evo II	37	+5.325	4.019		16
4	R. Rast Schubert Motorsport	33		BMW M4 GT3	37	+0.268			13
5	M. Engel Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf	48		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	37	+2.498	2.230		11
6	T. Preining Manthey EMA	91		Porsche 911 GT3 R	37	+0.466			10
7	L. Stolz Mercedes-AMG Team HRT	4		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	37	+0.614	0.148		9
8	M. Wittmann Project 1 Motorsport	11		BMW M4 GT3	37	+0.286			8
9	M. Bortolotti SSR Performance	92		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	37	+0.592	0.306		7
10	D. Olsen Manthey EMA	90		Porsche 911 GT3 R	37	+0.019			6
11	A. Güven KÜS Team Bernhard	24		Porsche 911 GT3 R	37	+0.471	0.452		5
12	L. Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler	8		Audi R8 LMS Evo II	37	+0.108			4
13	S. Van Der Linde Schubert Motorsport	1		BMW M4 GT3	37	+0.710	0.602		3
14	A. Maini Mercedes-AMG Team HRT	36		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	37	+1.035	0.325		2
15	L. Auer Mercedes-AMG Team Winward	22		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	37	+0.144			1
16	M. Drudi Tresor Orange1	40		Audi R8 LMS Evo II	37	+1.004	0.860
17	A. Caldarelli GRT Grasser Racing Team	19		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	37	+1.106	0.102
18	D. Schumacher Mercedes-AMG Team Winward	27		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	37	+0.597
19	F. Perera SSR Performance	94		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	37	+0.360
20	J. Aitken Emil Frey Racing	14		Ferrari 296 GT3	37	+0.574	0.214
21	T. Heinemann Toksport WRT	9		Porsche 911 GT3 R	37	+0.319
22	M. Dienst Toksport WRT	99		Porsche 911 GT3 R	37	+2.129	1.810
23	P. Niederhauser Tresor Orange1	83		Audi R8 LMS Evo II	37	+4.492	2.363
24	S. Holzem Project 1 Motorsport	56		BMW M4 GT3	37	+2.508
25	C. Schmid GRT Grasser Racing Team	63		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	36	1 lap
26	A. Deledda SSR Performance	6		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2	36	+1 Lap	1'12.983
27	J. Owega Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf	84		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	23	13 laps
28	T. Vermeulen Emil Frey Racing	69		Ferrari 296 GT3	21	3 laps
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