Championship leader Nico Mueller claimed his third consecutive victory – making it a three out of three. BMW scored their first podium with Sheldon van der Linde.
It may have been Robin Frijns on pole position, but it was his teammate Nico Mueller who had the better start, taking the lead into Turn 1. Behind the pair, BMW’s Sheldon van der Linde moved up to third, passing Loic Duval. For a moment, it seems like Frijns was trying to get back the lead. He stayed in second but got pressure from van der Linde behind. The trio in the front managed to create a little gap to Duval in fourth.
On lap 14, van der Linde felt like he was unable to pass Frijns. So, he was the first of the leading group to change tyres – trying the undercut. Frijns and Duval pitted the lap after to cover the South African BMW driver. The strategy worked out well for van der Linde, as the Audi duo were unable to stay ahead of him on cold tyres after their stops. It wasn’t until lap 19 that leader Mueller came into the pits for his mandatory pitstop. With a problem-free pitstop, he rejoined the track in front of van der Linde with a comfortable gap of over four seconds.
Though the gap between the pair kept dropping. On lap 28, it dropped to 2.7 seconds after a slow zone, caused by Duval who parked his car in the gravel due to a technical issue. As a result of this, Mueller got some real pressure from behind. It seemed like van der Linde was planning a move towards the end of the race, but he didn’t have the tyres for the job. So, when the chequered flag was waved, Mueller claimed his third consecutive victory.
‘It feels very good. It’s just an incredible start to this whole weekend’, Mueller said. ‘We’ve seen today how quickly things can change. BMW was fully in the game. They really put us under pressure. I had to give it all until the end. You never know, especially with these new DRS rules. You know, they can catch up anytime. So I had to push all the way. It feels like a big relieve to cross the line and score those twenty-five important points.
Image Credit: Sheldon van der Linde social media
Van der Linde crossed the line 2.8 seconds behind Mueller, claiming his first-ever DTM podium. It was also BMW’s first podium this year after their struggle in Spa-Francorchamps. An impressive result for the South African who only debuted in the series last year.
‘I am so so happy. You can not even imagine’, he commented after the race. ‘We worked hard for this last year. But unfortunately, the moment never came. Our car was never really competitive enough. But today we took the chance and we had it. The car was absolutely phenomenal. Those last laps felt so long. Lausitzring is an awesome track. It’s probably one of my favourites now that I had my first podium here. Obviously it’s not the same without the fans. I would have loved to celebrate with them of course. But P2, I’m super happy.’
Polesitter Frijns finished the race in third after managing to stay ahead of Marco Wittmann. The pair battled throughout the final stages, with the gap dropping to 0.6 seconds at some point. In the end, Frijns crossed the line 0.3 seconds ahead of the BMW driver who suffered a difficult weekend at Spa. Timo Glock finished fifth, after battling with Rast in the early stages of the race.
A sixth-place finish for Ferdinand Habsburg, an impressive result after starting from 12th. He battled through the field and held off two-time champion Rene Rast in the final laps of the race. Rast put immense pressure on the Austrian WRT driver but did not manage to pass him in the end and therefore finished seventh. Habsburg suffered a lot of bad luck last year with R-Motorsport, so this sixth place is his best result in DTM.
Rast’s teammate at Team Rosberg – Jamie Green – finished four seconds behind in eighth. The pair traded positions multiple times during the race. Completing the top ten are Philipp Eng and Mike Rockenfeller, who crossed the line side-by-side.
Harrison Newey was best of the rookies today, finishing just outside the points in 11th. The other two rookies – Robert Kubica and Fabio Scherer – finished 13th and 15th. In the early stages of the race, Kubica got spun around by Scherer, who received a drive-through penalty for it. The only driver who did not finish the race is the Audi Team Phoenix driver Duval.
Tomorrow’s qualifying starts at 10.45 local time (09.45 UK time) and the race at 13.30 local time (12.30 UK time).
