Kelvin van der Linde won the first DTM race of the weekend at the Nurburgring for Audi Abt Sportsline, his third win of the season.
The South African further extends his championship lead over Liam Lawson, who failed to finish in the points after being spun around by guest driver Markus Winkelhock.
In second was Luca Stolz, with fellow Mercedes-AMG driver Philip Ellis in third. Mike Rockenfeller went from 16th on the grid to fourth after stopping late on into the race.
Maximilian Götz took fifth for Team HRT, while Marco Wittmann, the previous race winner at Circuit Zolder, came home sixth. Fellow BMW driver Sheldon van der Linde took seventh after starting 18th, with Team Rosberg’s Nico Müller finishing 8th after two five second penalties.
Daniel Juncadella and Arjun Maini completed the top 10, with Lucas Auer and Vincent Abril making it four Mercedes-AMG’s in row in 11th and 12th.
Liam Lawson finished 13th in a severe blow to his championship hopes, with Esteban Muth 14th. Christian Klien took 15th, with Markus Winkelhock coming home 16th after a the drivethrough for the contact with Liam Lawson destroyed his hopes of a points finish.
Esmee Hawkey finished 17th, with Hubert Haupt 18th and Timo Glock 19th. Alex Albon finished 20th, but retired a few laps from the end after early contact with Arjun Maini. Michael Ammermüller, Christopher Haase, and Maximillian Buhk were the other retirements from the 23-car field.
| # | Driver | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kelvin van der Linde | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 1:00’55.726 |
| 2 | Luca Stolz | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 4.749 |
| 3 | Philip Ellis | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 13.503 |
| 4 | Mike Rockenfeller | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 14.050 |
| 5 | Maximilian Götz | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 23.676 |
| 6 | Marco Wittmann | BMW M6 GT3 | 29.262 |
| 7 | Sheldon Van Der Linde | BMW M6 GT3 | 33.058 |
| 8 | Nico Müller | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 34.495 |
| 9 | Daniel Juncadella | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 34.723 |
| 10 | Arjun Maini | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 39.935 |
| 11 | Lucas Auer | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 44.411 |
| 12 | Vincent Abril | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 45.788 |
| 13 | Liam Lawson | Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 | 46.588 |
| 14 | Esteban Muth | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | 49.722 |
| 15 | Christian Klien | McLaren 720S GT3 | 50.162 |
| 16 | Markus Winkelhock | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 50.449 |
| 17 | Esmee Hawkey | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | 56.459 |
| 18 | Hubert Haupt | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 57.599 |
| 19 | Timo Glock | BMW M6 GT3 | 1’09.126 |
| 20 | Alex Albon | Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 | 8 Laps |
| 21 | Michael Ammermüller | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 34 Laps |
| 22 | Christopher Haase | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 39 La |
