Van der Linde Leads Hockenheim FP1 in Abt Audi

Kelvin van der Linde set the pace in Free Practice 1 for the DTM season finale at Hockenheim, beating Thomas Preining and Mirko Bortolotti to the top spot.

Van der Linde led the dry and trouble-free 45-minute session with a time of 1:37.652 behind the wheel of his Team Abt Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.

The South African moved two-tenths clear of early pacesetter Bortolotti, who ended up third after Preining improved with five minutes remaining to slot his No. 24 Porsche 911 GT3 R between the Audi and the No. 63 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo.

Preining was the highest-placed of this weekend’s title contenders, while championship leader Sheldon van der Linde ranked 18th in the 27-driver field.

Van der Linde’s time of 1:38.229 in the Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 was just over half a second slower than the benchmark number set by his brother.

Preining, who is fourth in the points, took second overall with a 1:37.668 effort that put the winner of the last race at the Red Bull Ring just 0.016 seconds shy of the top spot.

Behind Preining and Bortolotti, Marco Wittmann came through in fourth as the best of the BMW drivers, while Luca Stolz and Arjun Maini took fifth and sixth in their Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos.

Sheldon van der Linde’s nearest title rival Lucas Auer was eighth in the classification, one place behind DTM debutant Christian Engelhart who is standing in for Laurens Vanthoor at Porshe squad SSR Performance.

RESULTS: Free Practice 1