Robert Seiwert
Head of Motorsport
Robert was already writing for sports media before his time at MSM. He has been reporting on DTM, Daytona, Le Mans and other events directly from the racetrack since 2011.MORE
Six thousandths of a second! Kelvin van der Linde (Abt-Audi) has secured pole position at the Lausitzring by a blink of an eye. The South African narrowly beat reigning DTM champion Thomas Preining (Manthey-Porsche) in qualifying for Saturday’s race (live on ProSieben today at 5 p.m.).
A sigh of relief for the Abts and van der Linde, who had been completely destroyed at the season opener in Oschersleben: The team subsequently discovered a hairline crack in the chassis of his Audi R8 LMS GT3 and was able to repair the damage. The work has now paid off: Van der Linde achieved his first pole since the 2022 Norisring race and his seventh in the DTM. “The car was a rocket,” rejoiced the 27-year-old, who is also happy about three extra points in the championship.
Kelvin van der Linde: Pole with a lead of six thousandths
Van der Linde completed a lap of the Lausitzring in dry conditions in 1:20.706 minutes. Second-placed Preining was only 0.006 seconds slower with his personal best time of 1:20.712 minutes. Abt Sportsline can expect a lot from today’s race: Ricardo Feller in the second Audi R8 took third place on the grid in the third race of the season on the 3.478-kilometer circuit between Dresden and Cottbus. The Swiss driver was only 0.025 seconds behind the leader.
Abt-Audi and Manthey-Porsche were the dominant teams on Saturday afternoon: Preining’s teammate Ayhancan Güven took fourth place with a gap of 0.115 seconds on the track, which in the past has allowed very few overtaking maneuvers. “I would have found the six thousandths somewhere,” said Preining. “But Kelvin’s lap was very strong.” Preining also had a hard time at the start of the season in Oschersleben and can now fight back.
Champions trio from Schubert-BMW not in the top 10
The best-placed of the four Mercedes drivers in the DTM starting field was the Indian Arjun Maini (HRT-Mercedes) in fifth place. In the internal SSR-Lamborghini team duel, Nicki Thiim narrowly beat his fast teammate Mirko Bortolotti (seventh place on the grid) in sixth place. Lucas Auer (Winward-Mercedes), who had a bad cold, the Dresden local hero Maximilian Paul (Paul-Lamborghini) and Luca Stolz in the second HRT-Mercedes completed the top 10 on the starting grid. The first ten places were separated by just 0.424 seconds.
Once again, the champion duo of Schubert-BMW: “Sheldon van der Linde, Marco Wittmann and Rene Rast had to settle for 12th, 14th and 17th place. The red lantern went to DTM newcomer Dörr-McLaren with Clemens Schmid and rookie Ben Dörr in the last positions.
DTM race start today only at 5:00 p.m.
Because of the changed schedule, qualifying did not begin until 1:30 p.m. Today’s race starts at 5:00 p.m. (live on free TV on ProSieben) and will be embedded in the broadcast of the Ice Hockey World Championship semifinals on ProSieben. On Sunday, the DTM returns to the usual schedule with qualifying at 9:40 a.m. and the subsequent start of the race at 1:30 p.m.
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