Team ABT Sportsline started the second half of the DTM season at the Nürburgring with a double podium. In the first race after the summer break, Kelvin van der Linde and Ricardo Feller made it two ABT drivers together on the podium for the first time this season. On Sunday, Kelvin van der Linde finished fourth as the best Audi driver after a strong qualifying. The South African thus scored more points at the Nürburgring than any other driver on the grid.
Saturday was initially marked by thick fog and long waiting for better visibility. Qualifying had to be cancelled, the race started with a delay of almost four hours and a starting grid according to the championship standings – actually an advantage for René Rast, who started the race from third as the third-placed driver in the standings. The three-time DTM champion had his sights set on second place in difficult conditions on a damp track before he was spun around by a competitor. Two points for ninth place were a meagre haul.
On Sunday, things got even worse for Rast: In the hectic opening phase he was again spun around by a competitor – this time with the gravel bed as the final destination. Rast’s deficit in the overall standings grew to a total of 29 points at the Nürburgring.
Kelvin van der Linde, on the other hand, improved from 13th to seventh place in the championship. The South African scored a total of 33 points at the Nürburgring. On Saturday, van der Linde moved up from 20th to second place on the slippery track. On Sunday, he managed an (almost) perfect qualifying lap, which secured him second place on the grid. In the race, he successfully fended off all attacks from Mirko Bortolotti in the Lamborghini, who was breathing down his neck almost the entire time.
Ricardo Feller managed the second podium of his still young DTM career on Saturday with third place – much to the delight of several hundred customers and employees of ABT partner Scherer, who followed the race at the Nürburgring on site. On Sunday, Feller had to park his ABT Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II early due to a brake problem.
Despite Feller’s retirement in the second race, Team ABT Sportsline reduced the gap to Schubert Motorsport in the team standings to 21 points. In the drivers’ standings, the three ABT drivers René Rast, Kelvin van der Linde and Ricardo Feller are in positions four, seven and eight.
The DTM season continues in 14 days at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.