Cairoli, van der Linde share Zandvoort Victories

Photo: Gruppe C Photography

Ferrari driver Matteo Cairoli and BMW racer Kelvin van der Linde shared the DTM victories in the second event of the season at Zandvoort last weekend, but it was Mercedes-AMG pilot Maro Engel who maintained his points lead.

Cairoli was dominant in the opener converting pole into a comfortable victory, his first in the DTM after joining the series for this year and also the first win in the category for the revised Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo.

The Emil Frey racer crossed the line nearly four seconds ahead of the Landgraf Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Lucas Auer, who briefly assumed the championship lead, after jumping the second Ferrari of Thierry Vermeulen at the start, with the latter completing the podium.

Bastian Buus had seemingly produced a perfect rearguard action in the Land Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo to keep Jules Gounon’s Mercedes-AMG at bay for fourth, but Buus was later disqualified after his car was found to be underweight.

Further back, Engel finished sixth after opting for a late pitstop, behind Ben Doerr’s McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.

In contrast, the second race was a tactical thriller as multiple different strategies played out.

It began in familiar fashion with van der Linde grabbing his second Race 2 pole of the season but, having retired from the Zandvoort opener and tumbling down the field from pole at the Red Bull Ring, this time he was able to convert to score his first DTM win with a BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

The South African controlled the early portion of the race after BMW was given an overnight Balance of Performance boost, but was struggling for grip from his tires after the first round of stops and fell behind Vermeulen.

However, van der Linde opted to make his second stop earlier than his rival and that meant his tires were up to temperature to instantly demote Vermeulen when the Dutchman subsequently rejoined from his later pit visit during which he was delayed by the left-front wheel not being fitted when he was initially released.

In contrast, Doerr and van der Linde’s Schubert Motorsport teammate Marco Wittmann were the last to stop and they used this strategy to great effect, flying up the order to take second and third respectively in the closing stages.

Doerr’s second place represented McLaren’s best result in the DTM’s GT3 era, and was achieved despite a sticking wheel nut during his first stop, while Wittmann had rocketed up from 13th on the grid.

Winward driver Engel was another late stopper and claimed fourth, with Vermeulen falling to fifth.

Behind them were the pair of ABT Lamborghini Temerario GT3s of Luca Engstler and Marco Mapelli, who scored the car’s best DTM finishes to date in sixth and seventh.

Auer could only come home 13th after a slow first stop and Engel therefore leads the standings by six points, while Wittmann climbed to third.

The next round of the series is scheduled to take place at the Lausitzring on June 20-21.

Source: Sports Car 365