BMW works driver Sheldon van der Linde had a fantastic weekend of DTM racing at the Lausitzring in Germany, winning both races in his Schubert Motorsport M4 GT3. After starting second on the grid in the first race, van der Linde streaked into the lead at the start and didn’t look back, clocking the fastest lap of the race and winning handily over the second place Mercedes of Luca Stolz. It was just his second victory in DTM and the first for BMW this year. van der Linde won his last race in DTM in 2020 and was glad the drought was over. “Last year was very tough for me, I often not even made it to the finish,” he said after the race. “Winning again now, two years after my maiden DTM race win, is outstanding, of course.” Walkenhorst Motorsport driver Esteban Muth finished twelfth, while works drivers Marco Wittmann and Phillipp Eng both ran into trouble and didn’t finish the race.
After starting from pole position in the second race, van der Linde showed the same form he did in race one. The South African driver won again with an impressive drive from the front, despite carrying an extra 25 kilograms of weight what was added to his car after winning on Saturday. “That was the best race weekend of my career,” he said. “After Saturday, I did not think it could get any better – but I was wrong. Sunday was even better! BMW M Motorsport has built a very good car in the BMW M4 GT3. And the team did a perfect job all weekend.” Teammate Phillipp Eng had a strong performance to finish fourth in his M4 GT3, while Wittmann and Muth finished tenth and eighteenth, respectively. The two wins by van der Linde put him into the lead in the DTM driver’s championship standings and put Schubert Motorsport into the lead in the team standings.
BMW is also represented by six M4 GT4s in the DTM Trophy championship for GT4-spec race cars, which held its first race weekend of the year at the Lausitzring. The best finish for a BMW driver in that series was a second-place podium finish for Walkenhorst Motorsport driver Theo Oeverhaus in race two. Project 1 driver Colin Caresani also finished on the podium in race two in his M4 GT4. Both races were won by Tim Heinemann in his Toyota Supra GT4, which of course is all BMW underneath.
The DTM championship heads to the Imola circuit in Italy for their next event on the weekend of June 17th-19th. —David Haueter
[Photos courtesy DTM/Gruppe C Photography]