Maximilian Paul (Paul-Lamborghini) has surprisingly secured pole position for the – attention – Sunday race of the DTM in Zandvoort. You read that right: for once, qualifying took place on Friday evening and is decisive for the second race of the weekend in the Netherlands.
The reason for the unusual schedule at the third event of the 2024 season: Six of the 20 DTM drivers have to make an interim trip to Le Mans from Saturday to Sunday in order to take part in the official test for the 24-hour race (June 15-16) on Sunday morning. They will then return to Zandvoort by private plane.
To ensure that the drivers in double duty – BMW works drivers Marco Wittmann, Rene Rast and Sheldon van der Linde, Lamborghini works driver Mirko Bortolotti, Kelvin van der Linde because of his Lexus program in the WEC and Cadillac driver Jack Aitken – do not miss the qualifying on Sunday morning, the timed practice for the Sunday race (start at 4:30 p.m.) has been brought forward to Friday evening. On Saturday, everything will run as usual with qualifying in the morning and the race at 1:30 p.m.
Van der Lindes and Rast rely on unusual qualifying strategy
The two van der Linde brothers and Rast were already in a hurry on Friday: They were the only drivers to do their fast laps right at the start of the 20-minute qualifying session, while the 17 other drivers waited in the pits for around ten minutes as usual to bring their Pirelli tires into the working window by checking the brake temperature.
The plan only worked to a limited extent for the early trio: Kelvin van der Linde was relegated to seventh place and at least started from the top 8. Brother Sheldon, on the other hand, had to make do with 17th place on the grid and Rast even had the red lantern in 20th place! After the end of the session, Kelvin was investigated for “unsportsmanlike conduct” because he had left the track after his fast lap and thus sent gravel onto the racing line. The investigation had no consequences.
First DTM pole for Maximilian Paul – Italo power at the top
Maximilian Paul, on the other hand, was very happy after his first pole position in the DTM. The only driver from DTM newcomer Paul Motorsport needed 1:32.780 minutes for the best lap on the Dutch Formula 1 circuit. Paul’s best qualifying results before that were two eighth places. The 24-year-old wrote himself into the history books in 2023 with a win in his guest start at the rainy Nürburgring.
Lamborghini power in Zandvoort: Behind Paul, Mirko Bortolotti (SSR-Lamborghini) took second place on the grid. The Italian, who lives in Vienna, was 0.109 seconds behind the best time. “Overtaking is not so easy here, but I will try,” said Bortolotti.
The Italian style continued on the second row of the grid: local hero Thierry Vermeulen and his Emil Frey Ferrari team-mate Jack Aitken finished third and fourth. The Swiss racing team had complained loudly about the balance of performance after the last race weekend at the Lausitzring. For Zandvoort, there were numerous BoP changes across the brands: the Ferrari 296 GT3 received an additional 5 kilograms, while the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 was allowed to unload 5 kilograms.
Emil Frey youngster Vermeulen had to worry about his third place after the end of qualifying: The Dutchman was investigated because he allegedly turned onto the fast lane in the pit lane too early at the start of qualifying.
Zandvoort: The starting grid for Sunday’s race
Arjun Maini (HRT-Mercedes) was the best-placed of the four Mercedes-AMG drivers in fifth place. The Indian was followed by the reigning DTM champion Thomas Preining (Manthey-Porsche), Kelvin van der Linde and Lucas Auer (Winward-Mercedes) in sixth, seventh and eighth positions. Luca Stolz in the second HRT-Mercedes and Ricardo Feller (Abt-Audi) completed the top 10 on the starting grid.
There was nothing to be gained for the former champion team Schubert-BMW: Marco Wittmann could not get beyond P14 in his green BMW M4 GT3, while van der Linde and Rast were completely ruined by their unusual strategy. Nicki Thiim (SSR-Lamborghini), the fastest driver in the first practice session, had to settle for 15th place ahead of the two Dörr-McLarens of Clemens Schmid and rookie Ben Dörr.