Kelvin van der Linde has claimed his first DTM victory for BMW, fighting back against Thierry Vermeulen to take victory by an eventual comfortable margin at Zandvoort.
The Schubert BMW driver was considered a hot contender for the win before the race after the Balance of Performance was adjusted in favour of the M4 GT3 Evo on Saturday evening, while polesitter van der Linde also benefited in Sunday’s second race from a fresh set of tyres, which he had saved due to his early retirement the previous day.
Behind the victorious BMW driver, Ben Dorr secured not only his first DTM podium but also handing the Dorr squad its maiden rostrum in the series. Van der Linde’s team-mate Marco Wittmann completed the podium in third.
Maro Engel (Winward Mercedes) crossed the line in fourth position and in the process reclaimed the championship lead. He was followed by Emil Frey Ferrari driver Vermeulen, who was shuffled down the order in the closing stages of the race, with Abt Lamborghini duo Luca Engstler and Marco Mapelli in sixth and seventh places.
Previous championship leader Lucas Auer (Landgraf Mercedes) endured a difficult race and ultimately crossed the finish line in 13th position.
At the start, Van der Linde managed to hold onto the lead, followed by Abt Lamborghini driver Engstler, who squeezed past Thierry Vermeulen. Just like the previous day, the local hero did not get a good launch and dropped back to third position within the opening metres.
Behind them, Dorr slotted into fourth position, followed by Thomas Preining and Mirko Bortolotti, the latter losing two positions on the opening lap.
The order at the front remained unchanged until the opening of the first mandatory pitstop window. Engstler, Auer, and Cairoli were among the first drivers from the leading group to come in for a tyre change. The service was far from optimal for the then championship leader, causing Auer to drop out of the top 10 early on.
After the first pitstop window closed, the safety car had to be deployed when Gounon lost control of his Winward Mercedes during a duel with Arjun Maini (HRT Ford) and drove through a polystyrene sign at the side of the track, which subsequently had to be cleared from the track.
At the restart, Vermeulen snatched position from Engstler’s Abt Lamborghini, while Auer was hit and spun around by Nicki Thiim in the Comtoyou Aston Martin. The Dane had to complete the penalty lap three times as a punishment.
In a frantic few laps, van der Linde ran slightly off the racing line in the final corner, a mistake Vermeulen capitalised on immediately to take the lead, with the South African keeping Engstler at bay to keep hold of second place.
While the tyre change at Schubert worked perfectly once again in the second pitstop window, Emil Frey made a fateful mistake with the leading Vermeulen: the Dutchman’s Ferrari was released too early and before the front-left wheel had been fitted. As a result, the team lost crucial seconds in the battle for the lead.
Although the Dutchman returned to the track ahead of van der Linde, the BMW driver’s tyres were already in their operating window, meaning he breezed past and pulled away with ease. A difficult final phase began for Vermeulen: he lost his podium spot to Dorr and Wittmann before Engel also overtook him.
Engel leads the standings leaving Zandvoort on 67 points, pushing Auer (61 points) down to second place, ahead of Marco Wittmann (51 points), Thomas Preining (46 points) and Matteo Cairoli (43 points).
The third race weekend of the 2026 DTM season will take place from 19-21 June at the Lausitzring.
DTM Zandvoort – Race 2 results
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– The Autosport.com Team
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