DTM Nurburgring: Stolz scores maiden win, more drama for Bortolotti

The Haupt Racing team driver started seventh and ran fifth in the early stages before a safety car was called when David Schumacher tipped three-time champion Rene Rast into the gravel at the final corner.

This coincided with the pit window opening on lap seven, and a quick turnaround from his team when the pack poured into the pits meant Stolz rejoined in the net lead over poleman Sheldon van der Linde.

He then made no mistake at the restart to cleanly negotiate the only driver who didn’t pit under safety car – 17-year-old debutante Theo Oeverhaus in the Walkenhorst BMW – around the outside at Turn 1 before bolting into a lead he’d never lose over Dennis Olsen’s SSR Porsche.

Lucas Auer (Winward Mercedes) completed the podium in third, as Kelvin van der Linde finished fourth after contact with his brother’s main title rival Mirko Bortolotti.

At the race start, Sheldon van der Linde’s Schubert BMW held the lead from fast-starting team-mate Philipp Eng, with Olsen third ahead of front-row starter Kelvin van der Linde, Thomas Preining (Bernhard Porsche) and Stolz.

Preining and Stolz passed Kelvin van der Linde in quick succession on lap two in the arena section, and had joined the rear of a queue of cars behind leader Sheldon van der Linde who was carrying 25kg in success ballast and running fractionally less boost pressure than in qualifying after a late Balance of Performance tweak.

Eng appeared the faster of the two BMWs, but the Austrian’s race was ruined by the arrival of the safety car, with DTM rules prohibiting double-stacking in the pits.

He had to continue at slow speed for a further lap and rejoined deep in the field, before being eliminated at the restart when Felipe Fraga punted Clemens Schmid into his path.

Luca Stolz, Mercedes-AMG Team HRT Mercedes-AMG GT3

Photo by: DTM

Behind Oeverhaus and Stolz, Sheldon van der Linde took the restart third, but was swamped by the pack on the run to Turn 1. Auer, Kelvin van der Linde, Preining, Marco Wittmann (Walkenhorst BMW), Maxi Gotz (Winward Mercedes), Bortolotti and Nico Muller (Rosberg Audi) all moved ahead, Mikael Grenier (Gruppe M Mercedes) also shuffling the South African back a spot.

Wittmann was then edged off the track by Preining, dropping a hatful of positions and falling out of the top 10 at that stage, as Preining’s loss of momentum allowed Bortolotti and Gotz through. Muller also passed Preining at the final corner shortly afterwards.

As the top three checked out, Kelvin van der Linde steadfastly defended his fourth place from Bortolotti, who had been given a five-place grid penalty for contact with Fraga in race one and started back in ninth.

The Grasser Lamborghini driver pressured his Abt Audi rival for several laps before making his move at Turn 4. The pair made contact, puncturing Bortolotti’s right-rear wheel and forcing him to retire, scoring no points for the second consecutive race.

Defending champion Gotz was therefore promoted to fifth ahead of Muller, Preining and Grenier.

Sheldon van der Linde and the recovering Wittmann completed the points after Fraga, who had finished 10th on the road, was penalised five seconds for his earlier clash with Schmid.

DTM Nurburgring Race 2 Results - 40 laps

Cla	Driver	Car	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Luca Stolz	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	40	1:00'43.674
2	Dennis Olsen	Porsche 911 GT3 R	40	1:00'48.181	4.507
3	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	40	1:00'55.028	11.354
4	Kelvin van der Linde	Audi R8 LMS Evo II	40	1:00'58.698	15.024
5	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	40	1:00'59.385	15.711
6	Nico Müller	Audi R8 LMS Evo II	40	1:01'00.131	16.457
7	Thomas Preining	Porsche 911 GT3 R	40	1:01'03.197	19.523
8	Mikael Grenier	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	40	1:01'04.192	20.518
9	Sheldon Van Der Linde	BMW M4 GT3	40	1:01'07.485	23.811
10	Marco Wittmann	BMW M4 GT3	40	1:01'12.067	28.393
11	Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche 911 GT3 R	40	1:01'12.586	28.912
12	Felipe Fraga	Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020	40	1:01'14.274	30.600
13	Marius Zug	Audi R8 LMS Evo II	40	1:01'21.249	37.575
14	Maximilian Buhk	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	40	1:01'27.898	44.224
15	Arjun Maini	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	40	1:01'28.545	44.871
16	Esteban Muth	BMW M4 GT3	40	1:01'29.902	46.228
17	Alessio Deledda	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	40	1:01'32.580	48.906
18	Rolf Ineichen	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	40	1:01'36.239	52.565
19	Theo Oeverhaus	BMW M4 GT3	40	1:01'54.394	1'10.720
20	Mirko Bortolotti	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	37	56'30.251	3 Laps
	Nick Cassidy	Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020	25	39'26.611	15 Laps
	Dev Gore	Audi R8 LMS Evo II	24	39'43.221	16 Laps
	Ricardo Feller	Audi R8 LMS Evo II	20	31'52.645	20 Laps
	Philipp Eng	BMW M4 GT3	11	18'48.552	29 Laps
	Clemens Schmid	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	9	15'20.966	31 Laps
	David Schumacher	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	4	6'30.327	36 Laps
	Maro Engel	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	4	6'39.280	36 Laps
	René Rast	Audi R8 LMS Evo II	3	4'39.053	37 Laps
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