Mercedes- AMG Team HRT driver, Luca Stolz, stormed through the field from eighth on the grid to win race two in DTM at the Nürburgring. Stolz moved to the front of the pack during the safety car period in the opening stages, as a quick pitstop from HRT and a flawless restart from the German secured the win.
The Van der Linde brothers, Sheldon, and Kelvin were flying after their 1-2 finish in race one. And they continued their rich run of form by qualifying first and second for race two.
Race one winner, Sheldon, made the better start. Holding onto his pole position through the opening laps, while Kelvin dropped back into the pack.
Sheldon’s Schubert Motorsport teammate, Philipp Eng, was making a rare appearance at the very front of the field after qualifying in third. The two teammates battled wheel to wheel through the first few couples with Van der Linde coming out ahead.
René Rast was forced into retirement after being punted around by David Schumacher in an accident similar to Bortolotti and Fraga’s incident in the race prior. The three-time DTM champion Rast, was angry after the incident, suggesting that some drivers would benefit from going back to lower categories to gain more experience.
The incident brought out the safety car, allowing the majority of the field to complete their mandatory pitstop. It was quick pitstop work by Stolz’s HRT mechanics that got the German out ahead of Sheldon Van der Linde, giving Stolz the lead of the race in principle.
But it was 17-year-old Theo Oeverhaus making his DTM debut over the weekend who had stayed out and was briefly leading the race at the restart. Inevitably, the more experienced Stolz repassed Oeverhaus at the restart. As Oeverhaus was pushed out wide, losing multiple places as a result.
Championship leader, Sheldon Van der Linde suffered at the restart. Dropping multiple places down the order before eventually finishing ninth.
Mirko Bortolotti, who had received a five-place grid penalty after crashing out Felipe Fraga in race one, was again involved in a race-ending incident. His weekend went from bad to catastrophic, as the Italian collided with Kelvin Van der Linde in the battle for fourth place. His left rear tire punctured as a result and was forced to retire. A weekend Bortolotti will want to forget in a hurry.
Luca Stolz had no such problem and was unchallenged for the remainder of the race, finishing as comfortably the fastest man on track. Dennis Olsen and Lucas Auer rounded out the podium places for SSR Performance and Team Winward.
