DTM Race Zandvoort 2: BMW Victory by Kelvin van der Linde, Dörr on Podium

– Kelvin van der Linde secured his first DTM win for BMW: The South African, who started the race from pole position, temporarily lost the lead after a mistake to Thierry Vermeulen (Emil-Frey-Ferrari), but fought back to the front after the second pit stop – and then drove to a comfortable victory with more than six seconds lead. (Race result)

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But the Schubert-BMW driver was already considered a strong contender for victory before the race: Not only was the Balance of Performance adjusted again in favor of the M4 GT3 Evo on Saturday evening, Kelvin van der Linde also benefited in the second race on Sunday from a fresh set of tires that he had saved by retiring early the day before.

“I knew we had the new tires at the end,” said the jubilant race winner in an interview with ProSieben. “A mega team result with Marco, but my heart almost stopped after the slide out there. I had a brief moment before the last corner where I thought the race was over.”

“But luckily the outlap was good,” added van der Linde, who stormed back to the front after the second pit stop. “We got through well, many cars in front of me were well positioned and we were able to bring the win home.”

Ben Dörr takes first podium for Dörr-McLaren

Behind the winning BMW driver, Ben Dörr caused another DTM first: The McLaren junior finished second and celebrated not only his first podium in the DTM but also gave the Dörr team its first podium finish.

“After the first pit stop, unfortunately, I dropped back to seventh because a wheel got stuck, which was really a shame,” said Dörr on ProSieben. “I had already lost a bit of hope, but suddenly I got faster and faster.”

The 21-year-old “fought his way forward again with one cool move after another,” reports Dörr, who had previously stood on the podium but was then disqualified. “It feels extremely good to fight back to the podium after Sachsenring, where it was taken away from me last year.” Marco Wittmann (Schubert-BMW) completed the podium in third place.

Maro Engel (Winward-Mercedes) finished fourth and thus also took over the championship lead again, followed by Emil-Frey-Ferrari driver Thierry Vermeulen, who was passed in the final phase of the race. Luca Engstler and Marco Mapelli (both Abt-Lamborghini) finished sixth and seventh on Sunday.

Thomas Preining (Manthey-Porsche, 8th) and Mirko Bortolotti (Grasser-Lamborghini, 9th) fought for eighth place in the final phase, while Manthey-Porsche driver Ricardo Feller completed the top 10. The previous overall leader Lucas Auer (Landgraf-Mercedes) had a difficult race and ultimately finished only 13th.

Bastian Buus retires after tire damage

At the start, polesitter Kelvin van der Linde was already able to take the lead, followed by Abt-Lamborghini driver Luca Engstler, who passed Thierry Vermeulen. The local hero, like the day before, had a poor start and fell back to third position within the first meters.

Behind them, Ben Dörr settled in, followed by Thomas Preining and Mirko Bortolotti, who lost two positions in the first lap. Further battles and contacts occurred in the backfield, but without major incidents.

Only for the Land team did the difficult weekend in the Netherlands continue after Saturday’s disqualification: Bastian Buus had to come to the pits after just three laps due to tire damage. The Dane thus even fell out of the lead lap and shortly afterwards parked his Porsche for good.

Pit stop drama at Winward-Mercedes

Until the opening of the first mandatory pit stop window, the order at the front remained unchanged. Engstler, Auer, and Cairoli were among the first drivers from the leading group to come in for tire changes. For the championship leader, the service went anything but optimally, causing Auer to drop out of the top 10.

Things also went poorly for the Winward team: Maro Engel lost almost 15 seconds at the pit stop because a pneumatic wrench apparently caused problems. Shortly after, teammate Jules Gounon also suffered, losing valuable time because the problem could not be fixed in time.

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“We currently don’t know exactly what the problem is, whether it’s the air pressure or the pneumatic wrench,” said Winward team boss Christian Hohenadel in an interview with ProSieben. “The problem is, of course, in this sequence where we are now, we only had two laps and couldn’t solve the problem.”

The AMG team was not alone with a bad stop: The tire changes at Dörr were also not perfect, so Dörr and Glock lost valuable seconds during their pit stops. Meanwhile, everything went smoothly for leader Kelvin van der Linde, so the BMW driver was initially able to defend the lead after the first stop.

Jules Gounon triggers the only safety car phase

After the first pit stop window closed, the safety car had to come out briefly: Gounon lost control of his Winward-Mercedes in a duel with Arjun Maini (HRT-Ford) and drove through a styrofoam board at the edge of the track, which then had to be cleared from the track.

At the restart, Vermeulen snatched the Abt-Lamborghini from Engstler, while Lucas Auer was hit and spun by Nicki Thiim (Comtoyou-Aston-Martin). The Dane had to drive the penalty lap three times and thus also fell back.

“A very big maneuver,” said an ironic Auer in an interview with ProSieben and added: “That was important for both of us, definitely. Now we became second last and last. There’s nothing to say, after that it was a wasted day.”

Soon after, there was contact between Maximilian Paul (Grasser-Lamborghini) and HRT-Ford driver Finn Wiebelhaus, which ended prematurely for both drivers. Shortly after, the lead also changed: Kelvin van der Linde slightly left the ideal line in the last corner, which Vermeulen immediately took advantage of.

The South African could not counter, had to let the Ferrari driver go and even had to look behind in the following laps, where Abt-Lamborghini driver Luca Engstler smelled his chance for second place. However, BMW driver van der Linde managed to defend his position.

Vermeulen loses chance of victory at second stop

“We had to put the tires on relatively early, and the Ferrari is simply a powerhouse at the moment,” explained Schubert team boss Torsten Schubert on ProSieben why the pace of the BMW driver suddenly dropped after the halfway point of the race.

“He has opportunities to overtake, but we’ll try it in the third stint, maybe if the pit stop goes well, he can get back in,” said Schubert. Kelvin van der Linde came to the pits immediately with the opening of the second pit stop window, while leader Vermeulen followed one lap later.

While the tire change at Schubert worked perfectly again, Emil Frey made a costly mistake with leading Vermeulen: The Dutchman’s Ferrari was released too early, although the left front wheel was not yet mounted. This cost the team crucial seconds in the fight for the lead.

Although the Dutchman returned to the track ahead of Kelvin van der Linde, the BMW driver’s tires were already in the working window. Van der Linde therefore passed again and quickly pulled away. A difficult final phase began for Vermeulen: He lost his podium place to Dörr and Wittmann before Maro Engel also passed him.

The Winward-Mercedes driver takes over the overall lead again with his fourth place. Engel now has 67 points and displaces Auer (61 points) to second place. Marco Wittmann (51 points) moves up to third overall, followed by Thomas Preining (46 points) and Matteo Cairoli (43 points).

The third race weekend of the 2026 DTM season (here the complete race calendar) will take place from June 19 to 21 at the Lausitzring.

Read more DTM Race Zandvoort 2: BMW Victory by Kelvin van der Linde, Dörr Podium