Sheldon van der Linde claimed a shock victory within the second one-hour race on the Nurburgring for his first win of the 2024 DTM season.
The 2022 collection champion began ninth however an excellent begin put him battling on the entrance earlier than profitable by 3.2s with Maro Engel, as Marco Wittmann accomplished the rostrum in dry circumstances.
Polesitter Engel led Ricardo Feller right into a congested Flip 1, the place Sheldon van der Linde claimed third across the exterior dropping Wittmann to fourth. Luca Stolz spun from that place after his rear-right tyre was tagged by Saturday’s winner Kelvin van der Linde.
Youthful brother Sheldon, who got here thirteenth on Saturday, continued his nice begin as he overtook Feller for second down the within of Flip 9 after 4 minutes.
A security automotive was known as only a minute later when Nicki Thiim’s Lamborghini suffered a mechanical drawback and inexperienced circumstances returned 10 minutes into the race.
Engel managed the restart properly however Sheldon van der Linde attacked 5 minutes later across the exterior of Flip 1 however the Winward Mercedes driver thwarted it.
Maro Engel, Mercedes-AMG Group WINWARD Mercedes-AMG GT3
Photograph by: Alexander Trienitz
The Schubert BMW driver continued his assault within the subsequent corners but Engel continued to defend properly, with the wheel-to-wheel battle permitting Feller and Wittmann to shut in.
However no change of positions occurred earlier than the second security automotive interval 20 minutes in, as Arjun Maini spun from ninth at Flip 2 ensuing within the pit window being postponed.
Security automotive circumstances lasted for 5 minutes and drivers started pitting simply earlier than half distance, with Sheldon Van der Linde doing so on the earliest alternative.
However he dropped behind Feller when he and Engel boxed the next lap, although that tour Sheldon van der Linde overtook the Abt Audi driver for web second at Flip 9.
It quickly grew to become the web lead as Engel spun at Flip 1 when his rear-right tyre was hit by Rene Rast, who was leaving the pitlane having made the overcut initially work.
The South African driver was quickly main on-track when others lastly pitted and he led Engel by three seconds with quarter-hour left.
Kelvin van der Linde, Group ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3
Photograph by: Alexander Trienitz
Engel step by step reduce the hole however not by sufficient as Sheldon van der Linde finally claimed his first victory for the reason that Pink Bull Ring in September 2023.
Wittmann completed 2.6s behind Engel, with Kelvin van der Linde and Ayhancan Guven finishing the highest 5, whereas Feller finally completed eighth after a poor second stint.
It means Kelvin van der Linde leads the championship by seven factors forward of Mirko Bortolotti, who completed ninth, with three rounds remaining.
