BMW’s Sheldon van der Linde took a shock maiden victory in challenging conditions at Assen. The race was interrupted by a red flag caused by a crash of Fabio Scherer. Abt Sportsline’ Robin Frijns and Nico Mueller finished second and third.
It was a difficult race from the word go this afternoon at Assen with the start being delayed by ten minutes due to heavy rain. The track conditions were tricky, with a lot of standing water on the track and the race eventually started behind the safety car. However, after just three laps, it was decided to still do a standing start. Polesitter Rene Rast was slow off the line, with Loic Duval taking the lead, followed by Frijns. Rast dropped down to third, staying ahead of title rival Mueller who dropped to fifth. WRT’s Ferdinand Habsburg moved up to fourth place after starting from seventh.
In the first few laps of the race, Duval was able to create a little gap to Frijns. However, on lap nine, Frijns was catching and the gap between the pair was only half a second. Two laps later, yesterday’s race winner Frijns managed to pass the Frenchman for the lead on the pit straight. A little way behind, Mueller, Mike Rockenfeller and Timo Glock passed Ferdinand Habsburg, who dropped to seventh place.
Rast was catching up with Duval, as the Frenchman was losing a bit of pace. Then, on lap 14, the reigning champion passed Duval into Turn 1. The Audi Team Phoenix driver also lost position to Mueller and Timo Glock, while defending and going wide. Glock was taking the fight to his Audi rivals after having started from ninth, proving his strength in difficult conditions. The German was flying through the field, setting the fastest lap times too. Both he and Mueller had already passed Rast. Then, it was Mueller who had to look behind as Glock was putting more pressure on the championship leader. Finally, Glock went through on lap 20, taking second place.
Robert Kubica, who started the race from tenth place, was the first driver to pit on lap 6. The Polish driver got a new set of wet tyres, despite the rain had stopped. The next pair to visit the pits were Van der Linde and Wittmann on lap 10 and 11. Then, on lap 16, Duval came to the pits and changed to new wet tyres. However, the Frenchman was complaining over the radio, stating it was the wrong decision as the track was drying. It appeared he was wrong when his teammate Rockenfeller did change to slicks on lap 17. The 2013 champion lost a lot of time and was forced to pit a second time five laps later, changing to wets again.
The calmer weather wasn’t to last, however, and it started to rain harder again. On lap 21 and 22, the remaining seven drivers pitted, all receiving new wets. They all rejoined the track behind Van der Linde who inherited the lead, proving that perhaps the leading Audis had chosen the wrong strategy.
WRT driver and rookie Fabio Scherer gambled on slick tyres, even though it was still slippery. His bet didn’t pay off and he hit the barriers hard on lap 23, bringing out the safety car. After one lap behind the safety car, the race was red-flagged and cars returned to the starting grid. After a 15-minute delay, the race resumed with seven laps left.
Van der Linde maintained the lead, being able to fend off the Audi Abt Sportsline drivers. He made no mistakes in the final, crucial phase of the race, crossing the line over two seconds clear of Robin Frijns. This marks the 21-year old South African’s maiden victory in DTM in only his second season.
‘It’s incredible’, Van der Linde said. He continued: ‘We started from 14th on the grid and moved up to P1. To be honest, a dream came true today. We never would have expected it at the start. This shows that anything really can happen. The weather was really strange the whole weekend. The car was amazing in the wet. I’m just really happy to have got my first DTM win. I think everyone at BMW more than deserves this. My team worked so hard for this. Thanks to everyone for this.’
Image Credit: Audi Media Center
Yesterday’s race winner Frijns finished in second. Ahead of the race, a surprise awaited the Dutchman. His girlfriend stood in front of his car on the starting grid as a grid girl. ‘Last year, she made the promise to do this for me when I take my first victory in the DTM. Respect that she not only remembered it but also pulled it off in these weather conditions.’
About today’s race he said: ‘After the red flag, the conditions were very dangerous. There was an extreme amount of water on the track. It would have been stupid to risk too much and throw away second place. With my victory yesterday and second today, I managed to have a great weekend in front of my home crowd.’
Championship leader Mueller finished third, completing the podium. Duval was fourth, crossing the line just four-tenths ahead of Rast. The Audi pair managed to get past Glock on the final lap. Therefore, the German BMW driver finished sixth, ahead of WRT’s Habsburg. Completing the top ten are Wittmann, Philipp Eng and Lucas Auer. Rockenfeller just missed out on points in 11th, after his mistake of changing to slicks.
DTM will be back at the Nurburgring next week, so not long to wait before the action resumes once more. Mueller is still leading the championship with 164 points. Frijns is close behind in second with 138 and Rast third with 120. In the teams’ championship, Audi Team Abt Sportsline is leading with 302 points. Team Rosberg is second with 167, Team Phoenix third with 123. Best BMW team is RMG in fourth with 106 points.
