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The overtime paid off: During the second qualifying session on Sunday morning, Kelvin van der Linde set the fastest lap in the field. \u201cI was a bit lucky that Nico M\u00fcller gave me a good chance to slipstream behind him in the first sector, which definitely added two tenths of a second,\u201d said van der Linde, who celebrated his 25th birthday on race day, which was duly celebrated by the team before qualifying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the race, the birthday boy then got himself the best present: With a clever manoeuvre in the first corner, he defended first place against Saturday\u2019s winner Liam Lawson in the Ferrari. \u201cThat was the decisive moment in the race,\u201d said van der Linde. \u201cI knew I had to take maximum risk, because overtaking at Monza is extremely difficult, especially with our car.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van der Linde was then able to pull further and further away from his pursuers, extending his lead to over four seconds and subsequently maintaining it to the finish. After the triumph, the South African was celebrated even more euphorically than in the morning by his team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trophy for the winning team was accepted by ABT boss Hans-J\u00fcrgen Abt, who spent both race days at Monza seated at the pit wall and dedicated the victory to Volker Nossek. Nossek had long been responsible for Team ABT Sportsline at Audi Sport and passed away in May after a short, serious illness at the age of just 59. Nossek\u2019s son Bastian is part of the ABT DTM team and had his first race event at Monza since his father\u2019s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mike Rockenfeller also scored points with tenth and eighth finishes on both days, despite difficult qualifying sessions. On Sunday, \u201cRocky\u201d fought his way up from 17th on the grid to eighth with a strong recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sophia Fl\u00f6rsch finished in 16th place twice on her DTM debut. The 20-year-old\u2019s ABT Audi R8 LMS is equipped with the revolutionary steer-by-wire Space Drive technology from Schaeffler Paravan Technologie GmbH & Co. KG, which was used for the first time in the DTM races at Monza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quotes after the DTM races at Monza<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thomas Biermaier (Team Principal Team ABT Sportsline): \u201cIt was a great start to the season for us. The last victory for ABT Sportsline as a private team in the DTM was with Laurent Aiello at the N\u00fcrburgring in 2003. Since then, we\u2019ve celebrated many victories as a factory team, but now we\u2019re back on our own in the DTM. I was hoping and also expecting that we\u2019d manage well, because we\u2019ve got a strong team. But, I wouldn\u2019t have dared to dream that we\u2019d win during the very first weekend and lead the championship. That makes us incredibly proud and happy. The whole team did a super job. The pit stops were great and the strategy was correct. We can celebrate tonight! On Tuesday, we\u2019ll get straight back to preparing for the Lausitzring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kelvin van der Linde (ABT Audi R8 LMS #3): \u201cWhat a weekend! The trip to Monza was definitely worth it. We\u2019re leading the championship and I immediately won a race during my first DTM weekend. What more could you want? The result shows that the team did a great job in the preparation. We had the best crew during the pit stops. I\u2019m very proud of the whole team and overjoyed. I started my career at ABT and now also celebrated my first victory in the DTM with ABT. That is simply great!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mike Rockenfeller (ABT Audi R8 LMS #9): \u201cAs expected, it was super fun with the ABT team. Of course, my results were not the ones that I would have liked to score. I was only in the meager points twice here, but the year is still long. It\u2019s great to have Kelvin as a teammate: He\u2019s a good benchmark. I still need to get more comfortable with the GT3 car as a driver and we need to do a few things better on our side of the garage, but we\u2019re taking the positives. The pole and Kelvin\u2019s win give all of us a lot of motivation in the team. It shows that it can be done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sophia Fl\u00f6rsch (ABT Audi R8 LMS #99): \u201cI\u2019m extremely happy for the ABT team and Kelvin: he really deserved the victory on Sunday. I myself went into my first DTM race weekend with a few more expectations, but we finished both races, collecting kilometres and laps in the process. Now we\u2019ve got to keep working, the season continues at the Lausitzring in three weeks. It\u2019s sure to be very tight, because we all tested there, but I\u2019m already looking forward to it and am in a positive mood.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Team ABT Sportsline is seamlessly continuing its success story in the DTM: At the season opener at Monza (Italy), Kelvin van der Linde scored a commanding victory with the ABT Audi R8 LMS in Sunday\u2019s race. The South African thus achieved the feat of not only celebrating a victory during his first DTM weekend, but … <\/p>\n