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James Newbold

Lausitzring DTM: Van der Linde holds off Engel for double win

The Schubert BMW driver aced the start and despite carrying 25 additional kilos that allowed Maro Engel (Gruppe M Mercedes) to close, he never came under serious threat until the final sequence of corners and won by 0.347s.

Three-time DTM champion Rene Rast took the first podium of his comeback season in third in the leading Abt Audi, as a quick pitstop elevated van der Linde's teammate Philipp Eng to fourth.

As van der Linde led into the banked Turn 1, Engel, Rast and Mirko Bortolotti (Grasser Lamborghini) briefly went three wide behind him in their squabble over third.

Engel and Rast remained side-by-side on the long run to the Turn 2 left-hander, and just as Rast conceded the corner Bortolotti made an aggressive move to Engel's inside that resulted in contact and nerfed the Mercedes sideways.

Engel slithered over the grass and rejoined right in front of Bortolotti, who had to jam on the brakes and lost third to Rast as a result.

The leaders ran in that order until the pitstop cycle began on lap seven, with Ricardo Feller (Abt Audi) peeling in from fifth position. A quick stop for Eng, who had been seventh prior to the pit sequence, meant he rejoined narrowly ahead of the Swiss.

After Engel pitted on lap eight, van der Linde, Rast and Bortolotti came in together on the following tour.

That trio remained in the same position to the flag, despite Muller tapping Eng sideways on the exit of Turn 10 on lap 22 and Muller making a mistake at Turn 4 that allowed Bortolotti to get alongside on lap 12.
On new tyres, Van der Linde kept Engel at arm's length, with the Mercedes man only truly getting close enough to challenge on the final lap.
His double win puts him into the lead of the standings ahead of Bortolotti, who was a frustrated sixth.
Nick Cassidy in the Red Bull Ferrari had closed strongly on the trio ahead and was set to finish seventh when he was forced into the pits by a puncture.

It completed a disappointing weekend for the AF Corse-run squad, after a fire in qualifying meant Felipe Fraga was unable to take the start.

Feller, who had lost out to Cassidy and had a grassy moment at Turn 4, took the flag in seventh ahead of pre-event points leader Lucas Auer (Winward Mercedes).

Laurens Vanthoor (SSR Performance Porsche) and Marco Wittmann completed the points, the Belgian repassing his Walkenhorst BMW rival after the double DTM champion's lunge at Turn 2 cost both drivers positions to Auer.

Lausitzring DTM - Sunday race results:

Cla # Driver Car Gap
1 31 South Africa Sheldon Van Der Linde BMW M4 GT3  
2 88 Germany Maro Engel Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 0.347
3 33 Germany René Rast Audi R8 LMS Evo II 1.817
4 25 Austria Philipp Eng BMW M4 GT3 6.907
5 51 Switzerland Nico Müller Audi R8 LMS Evo II 7.338
6 63 Italy Mirko Bortolotti Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 7.682
7 7 Switzerland Ricardo Feller Audi R8 LMS Evo II 14.572
8 22 Austria Lucas Auer Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 14.872
9 92 Belgium Laurens Vanthoor Porsche 911 GT3 R 15.426
10 11 Germany Marco Wittmann BMW M4 GT3 16.236
11 94 Norway Dennis Olsen Porsche 911 GT3 R 16.732
12 4 Germany Luca Stolz Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 21.836
13 36 India Arjun Maini Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 23.874
14 27 Germany David Schumacher Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 27.503
15 1 Germany Maximilian Götz Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 27.748
16 19 Switzerland Rolf Ineichen Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 29.537
17 12 United States Dev Gore Audi R8 LMS Evo II 29.981
18 10 Belgium Esteban Muth BMW M4 GT3 31.285
19 26 United Kingdom Esmee Hawkey Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 1'14.562
20 3 South Africa Kelvin van der Linde Audi R8 LMS Evo II 1'18.639
21 6 Italy Alessio Deledda Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 1 Lap
22 18 Germany Maximilian Buhk Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 2 Laps
23 37 New Zealand Nick Cassidy Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 4 Laps
  66 Germany Marius Zug Audi R8 LMS Evo II 7 Laps
  85 Austria Clemens Schmid Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 13 Laps
  95 Denmark Nicki Thiim Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 29 Laps
  24 Austria Thomas Preining Porsche 911 GT3 R 33 Laps
  55 Canada Mikael Grenier Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo  
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