Van der Linde crowned champion, Wittmann triumphs in the finale

BMW’s van der Linde went into the final race with just two points ahead of Mercedes. Lucas Auer He is 19 points ahead of Audi driver Rene Rast.

With Rust unable to secure a win, he needed a chance to claim his fourth championship, with Auer finishing behind him. Van der Linde’s third-place result was enough to win him his maiden title in the DTM.

At the start of the race, Rast was unable to capitalize on his pole position advantage, dropping to second behind Wittmann, who had jumped from fourth to first on the downrun into Turn 1.

Van der Linde fell back to sixth in Schubert’s BMW on the opening lap, but took advantage of the Audi duo Marius Zug When Dev Gore Fight each other to pass both in one move to Turn 1.

Further down the pack, Auer quickly pushed Winward Mercedes inside the top ten after qualifying was truncated and dropped to 11th on the grid, but it still required van der Linde to overhaul him in the championship. was far behind.

Van der Linde and Auer pitted together on lap six, and the two drivers returned to their previous positions.

Auer was unable to break into van der Linde’s lead in the second stint and was overtaken by Nico Muller’s Rosberg Audi, dropping to seventh.

Van der Linde, meanwhile, finished on the podium as a Glasser Lamborghini driver. Clemens Schmidt A puncture dropped him down the order and further removed him from Auer in the championship standings.

Despite coming under pressure from the attempting Audis in Zug in the final stages of the race, he held on to third place to claim his first title in the DTM.

The Munich-based brand last won the championship with Wittmann in 2016.

Coincidentally, it was Wittmann, who was seen hitting his wheel multiple times after his pit stops after taking the lead in a close race with Rast, who claimed victory at the Hockenheim finale.

Stopping for a fresh tire one lap away from the Walkenhorst driver, Rast was able to close in on him quickly and send his car into Turn 6 on the inside.

Rast and Wittmann then collided at Turn 8, sending the Audi driver wide over the run-off area, but Rast kept the throttle on and eventually completed his move into Turn 12.

However, unusually for a three-time champion, he made the slight mistake of entering the turn five kink on the next lap, going wide on the grass and hoarding sponsorships before returning to the track.

Rene Rast, Team ABT Sportline Audi R8 LMS GT3

Photo credit: Alexander Trienitz

This motivated Wittmann to retake the lead, moving properly around the outside towards the hairpin en route to victory.

Rast therefore had to settle for second place in his final race as an Audi driver, with van der Linde winning the title ten seconds behind the leading duo.

Attempt Audi’s Zug secured its first top ten finish of the season in fourth place. Kelvin van der Linde I charged from near the back of the pack to finish 5th at Abt Audi.

Müller was ranked 6th, while Auer finished a disappointing 7th after failing to advance in the second stint carrying 25kg of success ballast in his Winward Mercedes.

The top ten was completed by Leon Kohler (Walkenhorst BMW). Luca Stolz (HRT Mercedes) and Ricardo Ferrer (Abt Audi) scored the final championship points despite having to have an additional puncture to replace the damaged tire.

DTM Hockenheim – Race 2 results: