This collision may have cost him the lead in the DTM championship: Kelvin van der Linde (Abt-Audi) only finished tenth in Sunday’s race at the Norisring after a collision with Jack Aitken (Emil-Frey-Ferrari). The fact that the Abt-Audi driver was ultimately classified ninth as a result of a subsequent penalty for his brother Sheldon (Schubert-BMW) was only a minor cosmetic correction.
Bitter for van der Linde, who is ‘only’ in second place overall behind Mirko Bortolotti (SSR-Lamborghini) at the halfway point of the DTM season: A podium finish on the street circuit was within reach. The German-South African, who started from P4, was in a direct duel with the white Winward Mercedes during the pit stop phase, which Maro Engel would later drive to second place on the podium in his 100th DTM race.
Jack Aitken subsequently penalised for collision with Kelvin van der Linde
In the pit lane (lap 24) there was a tricky situation for van der Linde, who even had to brake in the fast lane after Engel left the pit lane to avoid contact with the AMG driver. More on that later. What ultimately cost van der Linde a top result was the collision with Jack Aitken’s Emil Frey Ferrari in the 27th of 69 laps. At the start of the Schöller S, the Briton hit the right rear of van der Linde’s Audi and caused it to spin, ending up in the tire stack.
Van der Linde was able to continue driving, but fell far behind and had to fight his way back into the top 10. At the same time, Engel was able to undercut Bortolotti, who had been in virtual second place, with his pit stop. The collision was not without consequences for Aitken: the race management declared him solely responsible and gave him a 15-second time penalty after the end of the race. Saturday’s pole-setter fell out of the points.
Tomczyk: “We will be chasing these points for a long time to come”
A small consolation for van der Linde, who was annoyed by Aitken’s approach: “It was extremely frustrating to be turned around by a car that had just come out of the pits with cold tires. I’m glad that we were at least able to carry on driving and score points after hitting the wall.”
Abt Motorsport Director Martin Tomczyk, who had to commute between the Norisring and his hometown of Rosenheim during the weekend due to illness, echoed the same sentiment: “Unfortunately, there was an incident with the Ferrari, which was extremely annoying. We were subsequently given a time penalty, but the impact on our side with regard to the championship was of course greater. We will be chasing these points for a long time to come.” Van der Linde is five points behind leader Bortolotti in the overall standings with 99 points.
Unsafe release of Maro Engel? Race management refers to regulations
What caused discussion in the paddock and will certainly continue to do so was the pit lane incident between van der Linde and Engel. The Audi driver had reported an ‘unsafe release’ by his opponent directly via radio, but no investigation was carried out.
A DMSB spokesman explained from the perspective of the race management that the rules state that a penalty is only given if two cars overlap in the pit lane and the driver in front (in this case Maro Engel) is sent to the fast lane. However, from the perspective of the race management, this was not the case here.
It is also interesting to note that the driver behind (here Kelvin van der Linde) must brake to avoid a collision. Article 23.9 of the Sporting Regulations states, among other things, that: “The mere fact that a vehicle in the fast lane must brake to avoid a collision with a vehicle coming from the working lane is not generally considered to be a hazard.”
Van der Linde: “The TV images were clear!”
“The TV images were clear,” said van der Linde to Motorsport-Magazin.com“We were told that if the left wheel of the car in front (in this case Maro Engel’s; ed.) crossed the white line towards the fast lane and I was not yet at the rear wheel, it would not be an unsafe release. I have little understanding for this. If I had not braked, there would have been a collision with Engel, or I would have ended up in the guardrail on the left.”
The 28-year-old continued: “Unfortunately, the rules change too often, but each incident has to be assessed differently. Without this incident, I would have come out of the pits before Maro and then the collision with Jack probably wouldn’t have happened at all.”
From Engel’s point of view, the situation sounded somewhat different, not surprisingly: “It was very close, but still OK for me. I was ahead of him, there’s not much more to say.”