The DTM championship visited the Nürburgring for round six of the season, and it was a good weekend for one BMW driver, but not so good for the other.
Marco Wittmann was strong out of the box at the Nürburgring. He qualified fourth for the first race and finished third in the #11 M4 GT3 EVO, with the win going to Matteo Cairoli in a Ferrari 296 GT3. Fellow Schubert Motorsport BMW driver Kelvin van der Linde didn’t fare as well – he qualified 10th and had a DNF after a technical issue with the car.
For race two, Wittmann qualified in sixth while van der Linde qualified ninth. Making a bad weekend even worse, van der Linde moved up several positions at the start of the race, but was then hit by a spinning car on the first lap and taken out of the race. It’s been that kind of year for van der Linde in DTM, as he now has six DNF’s in 12 races. “To put it mildly, the weekend was a disaster,” said van der Linde. “Two retirements in two races – that’s obviously not why we compete in DTM. I still have four races left to finish the season properly. Many thanks to Schubert Motorsport for the good work. Hopefully, I can still score some important points in the fight for the team title.”
After his podium finish in race one, Wittmann managed to avoid the multi-car accident on the first lap that took van der Linde out and stayed at the sharp end of the field before pit stops in race two. A great stop by the Schubert team allowed him to move to the front and win the race. It was his first win in DTM since the Zandvoort race weekend in 2024 and brought him back into possible contention for the drivers’ championship.
Kelvin van der Linde had DNF’s in both races.
Wittmann’s win at the ‘Ring was also the two-time champion’s 20th victory in DTM competition. “A fantastic weekend for Marco Wittmann,” said Team Principal Torsten Schubert. “After two years of drought, he was finally able to celebrate another DTM victory. Congratulations to him and many thanks to my team for the great performance! Thanks to all the points, we at least have a theoretical chance in the title race again.”
With just two race weekends and four races left in the season, Wittmann is now in fifth place in the championship but just 35 points behind leader Maro Engel, who drives for Mercedes-AMG. Schubert Motorsport is now third in the team championship. The next DTM race weekend is at the Sachsenring in Germany on September 12th-13th.
Michael Schrey has won all six M2 Cup races this year.
The BMW M2 Cup was also back in action with a pair of races at the Nürburgring, as a support series for DTM. Michael Schrey has had a dominant year for the Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport team, winning both races at the ‘Ring and making it six for six on the season. Schrey not only won both races at the ‘Ring but also qualified on the pole for both races and had the fastest lap. The BMW M2 Cup series will also race again at the Sachsenring in mid-September.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy Gruppe C Photography]
