Title thriller in Hockenheim: Kelvin van der Linde wins his way back to the top

Right from the start of the 15th DTM race of the season on Saturday afternoon, there was palpable tension among the teams, drivers and spectators. Earlier in the day, Kelvin van der Linde had reduced Bortolotti’s lead at the top of the table to twelve points with his third pole of the season, and he hung onto the lead at the start of the race, ahead of Auer and Güven. SSR Performance driver Bortolotti made a good start to the race in his Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2, climbing from seventh to fourth place. Behind him, Maro Engel (Monaco), who lies third in the championship, slotted into fifth place in a Mercedes-AMG GT3. As the race progressed, the top five were able to pull clear from the rest of the field, with Auer a permanent fixture in Kelvin van der Linde’s rear-view mirror.

Engel was the first to come in for his mandatory pit stop and was then able to overtake Bortolotti, who had made his stop one lap later and was still on cold tyres. While Güven remained third, Auer took the lead after a late tyre change. However, it was not long before van der Linde successfully countered, and the top five found itself back in its original order – with the exception of Engel and Bortolotti, who had swapped places. Auer then switched to attack mode. He repeatedly attempted to overtake Kelvin van der Linde, and actually managed to pull alongside the Audi in his Mercedes-AMG GT3 at times. However, the South African drove flawlessly and successfully fended off all of the Austrian’s attacks before eventually taking the chequered flag. The two drivers were within 0.8 seconds of each other for the whole of the second half of the race, serving up a feast of spectacular motorsport for the crowds in the busy grandstands at the Hockenheimring. Güven came home third, four seconds back, followed by Engel and Bortolotti.