Van der Linde Victorious in Drama-Filled Nürburgring Race 2

Sheldon van der Linde ended a DTM win drought of more than a year by coming out on top in a drama-filled race that saw his teammate Rene Rast collide with race leader Maro Engel.

The No. 31 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 finished 3.256 seconds ahead of Engel’s No. 130 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, with Marco Wittmann completing the podium.

Van der Linde, starting eighth, stormed up to third on the opening lap and then overtook Ricardo Feller for second before setting off in pursuit of Engel.

The two drivers fought for the lead of the race after a safety car, triggered by a stoppage for SSR Performance’s Nicki Thiim, condensed the field.

Engel initially held on to the lead before a second safety car, caused when Arjun Maini spun at Turn 2 with a technical issue, delayed the pitstop window.

Once pitstops began, Van der Linde attempted to undercut Engel but failed as the No. 130 Mercedes-AMG emerged out front.

In a dramatic twist, Engel then lost the lead of the race when he was hit at Turn 1 by the No. 33 Schubert Motorsport BMW driven by Rast, who ran wide on cold tires coming out of the pits.

Engel spun but continued as Van der Linde moved into the lead, while Rast was ordered to serve a triple penalty lap for the incident.

Van der Linde subsequently maintained a consistent advantage of over two seconds over Engel, crossing the line to win his first race since Norisring last year.

Kelvin van der Linde finished fourth ahead of Ayhancan Guven, Thomas Preining and Thierry Vermeulen.

Vermeulen ran as high as fifth aboard the No. 69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 entering the final lap, but was passed by both Manthey EMA drivers dropping to seventh.

Preining, meanwhile, recovered from earlier contact with Jack Aitken at Turn 2 that saw the Austrian run wide and for which Aitken was given a penalty lap.

Feller finished eighth, with Mirko Bortolotti, Franck Perera and Luca Stolz completing the top ten.

Stolz was spun round on the opening lap after contact from Van der Linde, but crossed the line ahead of Lucas Auer, Aitken, Maximilian Paul and Ben Doerr.

RESULTS: Race 2