Van der Linde Tops Second Red Bull Ring Practice

Championship leader Sheldon van der Linde set the fastest time in the second and final DTM practice session at the Red Bull Ring.

Van der Linde reeled off a best lap of 1:28.574 in the No. 31 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 to beat out Thomas Preining by 0.020 seconds.

The South African’s best effort lacked slightly behind the 1:28.565 laptime that allowed Clemens Schmid to lead the first practice session earlier on Friday.

Preining, meanwhile, ensured No. 24 KÜS Team Bernhard Porsche 911 GT3 R took second for the consecutive session after he also slotted into second place behind Schmid.

Schmid, for his part, was unable to repeat his morning pace in the afternoon session and ended the session outside of the top ten.

Dennis Olsen took third place ahead of Nico Mueller, with both drivers topping the session before Van der Linde ultimately ended up on top.

Laurens Vanthoor rounded out the top five ahead of championship contenders Mirko Bortolotti and Lucas Auer.

Newcomer Leon Koehler, replacing Esteban Muth aboard the No. 10 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW, had an impressive outing by running inside the top five before ultimately ending the session eighth ahead of teammate Marco Wittmann.

Reigning champion Maximilian Goetz rounded out the top ten ahead of Luca Stolz, Nick Cassidy and Rene Rast.

Qualifying for the first race of the weekend takes place at 10:00 a.m. CEST (4:00 a.m. ET).

RESULTS: Practice 2