Van der Linde Ends Lengthy Win Drought in Race 1

Kelvin van der Linde brought an end to a DTM win drought of nearly two years by taking victory in Race 1 at the Red Bull Ring.

The South African, piloting the No. 3 ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, crossed the line 1.306 seconds ahead of the No. 75 KÜS Team Bernhard Porsche 911 GT3 R of Laurin Heinrich.

It marked Van der Linde’s first DTM victory since Race 1 at Hockenheim in October 2021, ending a period of 721 days without a race win.

Van der Linde started the race from wet tires, along with the majority of the field. A poor start saw the No. 3 Audi drop from second to fifth as Ayhancan Guven, Maro Engel and Thomas Preining all made their way through.

He then recovered, first overtaking Preining for fourth before recapturing third place from a struggling Guven three minutes later.

Van der Linde then perfectly timed a switch from wets to slick Pirelli tires on a drying track to leapfrog both pole sitter Heinrich and Engel to capture the race lead.

He remained out front through a late-race safety car, triggered when Clemens Schmid collided with Thierry Vermeulen at Turn 9, leaving the Dutchman stranded in the gravel.

While Heinrich came home in second, a lively battle for remaining podium spot was decided in favor of Ricardo Feller, who came up from 26th on the grid to finish third.

Feller, Luca Stolz, Rene Rast and Dennis Olsen all made their way past the No. 92 SSR Performance Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Mirko Bortolotti as the Italian pitted late and struggled on cold tires before the safety car.

With Feller fifth at the restart, the Swiss driver came under pressure from Rast, who charged his way past Stolz and set his sights on his former teammate.

Rast initially appeared successful in his attempt to pass Feller at Turn 3, but ran wide at the same moment Preining botched a move on Maro Engel’s No. 48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo at the same turn and ran the German off the track.

As a result, Feller positioned himself between Preining and Engel, which saw him promoted to third a lap later when race control ordered the No. 91 Manthey EMA Porsche to fall back behind Engel and reverse positions.

An opportunistic Rast then slipped by both Preining and Engel to capture fourth, with the three-time champion challenging Feller for third in the final laps. The No. 33 BMW M4 GT3 even briefly overtook Feller in a contact-heavy move at Turn 4, only for him to give the place back.

Feller went on to finish 0.268 seconds ahead of Rast, with Engel completing the top five ahead of Engel and Stolz.

Marco Wittmann picked up eighth aboard the No. 11 Team Project 1 BMW ahead of Mirko Bortolotti, who beat Dennis Olsen in a sprint to line to take ninth by just 0.019 seconds.

RESULTS: Race 1