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

– Kelvin van der Linde secured his first DTM win for BMW: The South African, who started from pole position, had to temporarily relinquish his lead to Thierry Vermeulen (Emil-Frey-Ferrari), but after the second pit stop, he regained the lead – and brought his first win of the season home with a commanding margin of more than six seconds.

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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, but Kelvin van der Linde also benefited from a fresh set of tires in the second Sunday race, which he had saved from the previous day.

Behind him, Ben Dörr caused great joy: The McLaren junior finished second and celebrated not only his first podium in the DTM but also the first podium for his Dörr team. Marco Wittmann (Schubert-BMW) finished third.

Maro Engel (Winward-Mercedes) took fourth place, 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), Mirko Bortolotti (Grasser-Lamborghini), and 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 in 13th position.

Bastian Buus retires after tire damage

At the start, Kelvin van der Linde was already able to take the lead, followed by Abt-Lamborghini driver Luca Engstler, who managed to pass Thierry Vermeulen. The local hero, as on the previous day, had a poor start and fell back to third position.

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.

For the Land team, which was disqualified on Saturday, the disappointing weekend continued: After just three laps, Bastian Buus had to head to the pits with tire damage, which even took the Dane out of the lead lap. He therefore stopped his car.

Pit stop drama at Winward-Mercedes

Until the opening of the first of two pit stop windows after ten minutes, there were no position changes at the front. Engstler, Landgraf-AMG driver Auer, and Cairoli were among the first top drivers to come in for the mandatory tire change. However, the stop for the championship leader did not go perfectly, causing Auer to fall out of the top 10.

But the Winward team also had issues with both drivers: First, Maro Engel stood for almost 15 seconds because the impact wrench apparently did not work, then teammate Jules Gounon lost nearly 14 seconds because the problem could not be fixed in the short time available.

“We currently don’t know exactly what the problem is, whether it’s the air pressure or the impact 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: Dörr’s tire changes were also not perfect, causing Dörr and Glock to lose valuable seconds during the first tire change. Everything went smoothly for leader Kelvin van der Linde, allowing the BMW driver to defend the lead after the first stop.

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Jules Gounon triggers the only safety car phase

After the first pit stop window closed, the safety car had to come out: Gounon briefly lost control of his Winward-Mercedes 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 serve the penalty lap three times and thus fell back as well.

Soon after, there was contact between Maximilian Paul (Grasser-Lamborghini) and HRT-Ford driver Finn Wiebelhaus, which ended prematurely for both drivers. Just a few minutes later, there was a lead change at the front when Kelvin van der Linde slightly slid off the ideal line in the last corner.

Vermeulen did not hesitate and took advantage of the BMW driver’s mistake. The South African could not counter and instead had to look behind him, where Abt-Lamborghini driver Luca Engstler sensed his chance for second place.

Vermeulen loses chance of victory at second stop

“We had to put the tires on relatively early, and the Ferrari is simply dominant 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 into it,” said Schubert. Polesitter van der Linde came in for the tire change as soon as the second pit stop window opened.

While the stop for the Schubert team went perfectly again, problems occurred for the leader a lap later: Vermeulen’s Emil-Frey-Ferrari was released too early when the left front wheel was not yet mounted. That cost crucial time.

Although the Dutchman returned to the track ahead of Kelvin van der Linde, the BMW driver’s tires were now up to temperature, allowing him to take the lead and extend it to over five seconds within the first laps.

For the Dutchman, the final laps went even worse: First, Dörr and Wittmann pushed the Ferrari driver off the podium, then Maro Engel also passed him, who even sensed a chance for a podium in the final laps but could not make a move against Wittmann.

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

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