Zolder DTM: Audi's van der Linde wins, podium for Albon

Having been cruelly robbed of a victory with a technical problem in the previous round at the Lausitzring, van der Linde enjoyed a trouble-free run in Belgium to extend his lead at the top of the championship.

At the start of the race, the South African resisted the advances of a fast-starting Marco Wittmann - who had dispatched the Mercedes of Maximilian Gotz for second - to hold the lead into the opening set of corners.

His closest points rival Liam Lawson, however, wasn’t as lucky, with a slow start from 10th on the grid firmly dropping him to the lower regions of the midfield. That meant when the Red Bull-backed driver tried to avoid the melee that ensued at the chicane, he was unlucky to be rear-ended by the Mercedes of Arjun Maini, bringing his race to an abrupt end.

A prolonged safety car followed, before the action resumed with a rolling start on lap six.

Van der Linde again came under serious pressure from the Walkenhorst BMW of Wittmann, the two-time champion nearly drawing alongside the South African as they navigated the first corner. But van der Linde had the inside line going into Turn 2, allowing him to retain the lead of the race.

The two dived into the pitlane at the same time on lap seven, rejoining the field nose-to-nail. However, Wittmann was passed on cold tyres by the HRT Mercedes of Vincent Abril - who had stopped a lap earlier - bringing his battle with van der Linde to an early end.

Wittmann went on to lose more places when Rockenfeller and AF Corse Ferrari driver Albon got the jump on him with an overcut, the duo also leapfrogging Abril in the process.

This paved the way for a three-way fight for victory, with van der Linde leading Rockenfeller and Albon as they pulled away from the rest of the field.

Albon had the freshest tyres of the trio but was unable to find his way past Rockenfeller to attack the other Abt Audi of van der Linde, despite the race being extended to make up for the lost time under safety car.

Alex Albon, AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo

Photo by: DTM

That meant the South African was able to claim his second victory in the DTM in five starts, with 2013 champion Rockenfeller completing a 1-2 for the factory-supported Abt team.

Third place marked Albon’s second podium in the DTM, having been retrospectively awarded third place at Monza following Abril’s disqualification from the season-opener.

Behind the leading trio, Abril finished fourth after successfully holding off Wittmann, while team-mate Maximilian Gotz was unable to take advantage of a front-row start, slipping to sixth at the flag.

T3 Lamborghini driver Esteban Muth, running a special art livery designed by Princess Delphine of Belgium, finished seventh ahead of Winward Mercedes duo Philip Ellis and Lucas Auer, while Team Rosberg’s Nico Muller completed the top 10.

Ex-Formula 1 driver Christian Klien (JP Motorsport) finished 12th on his and McLaren’s debut in the DTM.

Zolder DTM - Race 1 results:

Cla	Driver	Car	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Kelvin van der Linde	Audi R8 LMS Evo	39	1:00'45.078
2	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi R8 LMS Evo	39	1:00'45.774	0.696
3	Alex Albon	Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020	39	1:00'46.864	1.786
4	Vincent Abril	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	39	1:01'07.056	21.978
5	Marco Wittmann	BMW M6 GT3	39	1:01'09.632	24.554
6	Esteban Muth	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	39	1:01'10.218	25.140
7	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	39	1:01'11.544	26.466
8	Philip Ellis	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	39	1:01'12.411	27.333
9	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	39	1:01'12.924	27.846
10	Nico Müller	Audi R8 LMS Evo	39	1:01'13.248	28.170
11	Timo Glock	BMW M6 GT3	39	1:01'26.355	41.277
12	Christian Klien	McLaren 720S GT3	39	1:01'27.189	42.111
13	Esmee Hawkey	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	39	1:01'28.756	43.678
14	Sheldon Van Der Linde	BMW M6 GT3	39	1:01'28.937	43.859
15	Dev Gore	Audi R8 LMS Evo	39	1:01'28.970	43.892
16	Sophia Flörsch	Audi R8 LMS Evo	39	1:01'50.771	1'05.693
	Maximilian Buhk	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	34	53'43.299	5 Laps
	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	1	2'19.295	38 Laps
	Liam Lawson	Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020	1	4'52.867	38 Laps
	Arjun Maini	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	0
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