Van der Linde: Second Felt “Like a Win” After Penalty Rebound

Sheldon van der Linde said that his second-place finish in the penultimate race of the DTM season at Hockenheim “felt like a win” as the BMW driver fought back from a penalty that left him 16th on the grid to remain in the points lead.

Despite seeing his advantage at the top of the table reduced to two points by race winner Lucas Auer, van der Linde came from behind to keep the Austrian just below him in the standings.

The South African ranked sixth-quickest in qualifying but dropped 10 places on the grid for Saturday’s contest after the stewards found that tires were attached to his Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 during a closed period before qualifying.

Van der Linde managed to evade the series of early accidents in the pack that caused 10 cars to retire and was eighth when the field returned to running after a red flag.

Emerging from the pit stops in net sixth, the BMW driver then overtook Rene Rast and Luca Stolz to reach fourth before making late passes on Dev Gore and Marco Wittmann.

He went on to finish 0.6 seconds behind Auer, whose deficit in the standings would have been a single point had van der Linde not set the fastest lap of the race.

“Today was really like a win,” reflected van der Linde.

“I knew it would be so important. In the morning, it was like a rollercoaster.

“We experienced a penalty after doing a really solid qualifying, [in] which I felt I put together my lap quite nicely. I thought we were in the mix.

“To find out that we had a grid penalty was not what I wanted to hear.

“I was really disappointed and put my head in my arms. I didn’t know what to do. I really thought we were in serious shit. But somehow, we managed to bounce back in the race.”

Van der Linde’s lower starting position appeared to keep him out of the worst of the early drama, with pole-sitter Auer able to run away from the collisions taking place behind.

However, van der Linde also had a nervous moment on the opening lap when part of a tire from Kelvin van der Linde’s Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II flew off and struck his BMW.

“My brother [Kelvin] came to me on the grid and said, keep your head up – anything can still happen,” van der Linde recalled.

“That’s what I needed because after hearing about the penalty, the mood was not sky high. He really helped me with that. It went exactly how he said it would happen.

“The tire [coming up at the] exit of Turn 6 was a little scary moment. It’s unfortunate for him but it worked out well for me in the end. I’m just really happy with the performance today.”

A victorious Auer said that it was hard to keep focused in the early stages as several big crashes caused the race to be put under safety car conditions and then a red flag.

“First of all, I’m glad that everyone is quite OK after the crashes,” said the Mercedes-AMG Team Winward driver.

“Marco put me under immense pressure. It’s difficult with the top speeds and the different philosophies that both cars have, but I’m really happy.

“At the end, passing Dev with two laps to go was just amazing. A really good job by the team.”

After the race, main title contenders van der Linde and Auer stated their mutual respect, in light of the added pressure brought on by the tightening championship situation.

“At the end of the day, when we put the helmets on, it’s a tough fight, as it was today with Marco,” Auer said.

“Normally we are always respectful, and this will also happen tomorrow.”

Van der Linde added: “We get along well and know each other from the Class 1 days.

“We have that first connection. We get along well and it’s gloves off in the race, as it always is.”