Weight off his shoulders: Kelvin van der Linde claims his first win of the season

• South African presents Abt Sportsline with the team’s 250th podium in the DTM
• Team-mate Ricardo Feller finishes third from the penultimate row of the grid
• Local favourite Thomas Preining closes the gap to championship leader Bortolotti

Spielberg. Kelvin van der Linde (ZA) has finally got the money off his back: the Audi driver won Saturday’s race at the Red Bull Ring in Austria and, after a number of setbacks this year, claimed his first victory of the season. With this success, the South African also presented his team Abt Sportsline with its 250th podium in the DTM. “What an exciting race. We did nearly everything perfectly today. The key to the success was the fact that we came into the pits for our tyre change earlier than our rivals. We took a risk and were rewarded for doing so. The early stop gave me enough time to get my slicks up to the right temperature,” explained the overjoyed winner. DTM newcomer Laurin Heinrich (Würzburg) crossed the finish line 1.306 seconds behind the winner in his Porsche 911 GT3 R. That earned him his second appearance of the season on the podium. Ricardo Feller (CH) produced a sensational fightback in the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2, coming through from 26th to finish third.

Key facts, Red Bull Ring, race 13 of 16

• Circuit length: 4,318 metres
• Weather: 15 degrees Celsius, cloudy with light rain at times
• Pole position: Laurin Heinrich (Team75 Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R #75), 1:36.778 minutes
• Winner: Kelvin van der Linde (Abt Sportsline, Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2 #3)
• Fastest lap: René Rast (Schubert Motorsport, BMW M4 GT3 #33), 1:29.495 minutes

The weather played a major role in race 13 of the season at the Alpine circuit in the Styrian region of Austria. With light rain falling, almost all the drivers started on wet tyres. The spectators were treated to one of the most exciting and action-packed races of the season, with fierce wheel-to-wheel battles and a host of overtaking manoeuvres throughout the field. Pole-sitter Heinrich immediately pulled clear at the start and was able to open a lead of over two seconds. The man from Würzburg was followed by his team-mate Ayhancan Güven (TR), Mercedes-AMG driver Maro Engel (Monaco), Preining, and Kelvin van der Linde. The latter worked his way into second place and was the first of the top three to come in for his mandatory pit stop. Shortly after, having had time to get some heat into his Pirelli slicks, van der Linde passed Heinrich, whose tyres were not yet up to their optimal temperature. After 37 laps of racing, the 27-year-old took the chequered flag ahead of Heinrich.

Behind them, the fans witnessed one spectacular battle after another, as well as Ricardo Feller driving like a man possessed. Having started from 26th on the grid, the Swiss overtook Preining and Engel after a short safety car period to move into third place. He was then embroiled in a heated battle with René Rast in the closing stages, but was able to fend off the attacks from the three-time DTM champion. In doing so, Feller made it quite clear that he still has his sights set on the title. Behind Rast, Engel crossed the finish line at the Formula 1 circuit in Spielberg in fifth place.

Preining, who currently lies second in the table, guided the Porsche 911 GT3 R or Manthey EMA to sixth place and closed to within six points of the lead in the process. Luca Stolz (Brachbach) climbed seven places to finish seventh in a Mercedes-AMG GT3. Marco Wittmann (Fürth) ended the 13th race of the season in eighth place in his BMW M4 GT3. Championship leader Mirko Bortolotti (I) had worked his way up to sixth place by the mandatory pit stop, but dropped back to ninth after the tyre change. However, that was still enough for the Lamborghini driver to hold onto the overall lead. Dennis Olsen (N) was tenth for Manthey EMA in the team’s second Porsche 911.

Race two at the Red Bull Ring gets underway at 13:30 on Sunday. German free-to-air TV station ProSieben begins its coverage at 13:00. The grid positions for Sunday’s race will be decided in qualifying, which starts at 09:35 and, like the race, will be streamed live at ran.de and on the DTM’s YouTube channel. The DTM is broadcast live or replayed in full in more than 150 territories around the world.

Laurin Heinrich: “When you start from pole position and lead the race for so long, you obviously want to win. Despite that, I am happy with second place. They were challenging conditions against the best GT drivers in the world, and in my first season in the DTM. Maybe we came into the pits a bit too late, the track suddenly dried out quickly round the back of the circuit. That meant I did not have a chance on cold tyres against Kelvin van der Linde.”

Ricardo Feller: “Starting from 26th on the grid, I did not expect to make up any ground at the top of the table. However, that just goes to show how close it is in the DTM. A super strategy, a fast pit stop and, of course, that little bit of luck that you need were the factors behind that fightback. In the final few laps, I went ‘all in’ against René Rast. I was determined not to lose third place.”

Result of race 1 at the Red Bull Ring
1. Kelvin van der Linde (ZA/Abt Sportsline)
2. Laurin Heinrich (D/Team75 Motorsport), +1.306 seconds
3. Ricardo Feller (CH/Abt Sportsline), +6.631 seconds
4. René Rast (D/Schubert Motorsport), +6.899 seconds
5. Maro Engel (D/Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter), +9.397 seconds

The full race result is available at dtm.com/en/results.