Team maintains lead overall in 2024 title race after Zandvoort weekend ahead of home race at Norisring.
June 10, 2024
ABT Sportsline defended its lead in the 2024 DTM drivers’ standings thanks to a Kelvin van der Linde podium finish in Zandvoort as the team from Kempten still leads in the teams’ standings ahead of the home race at the Norisring across July 6-7. Here is all you need to know:
– The two ABT drivers had an unexpectedly difficult time on a track that has always suited the Audi R8 LMS particularly well in the past, as, due to a Balance of Performance (BoP) change, South Africans Van der Linde and Ricardo Feller had to look mainly in their rear-view mirrors in both races.
– After 13th place on Saturday, Van der Linde drove a spectacular race on Sunday. He regained a position from sixth at the start and, with good strategy, a quick pit-stop and a manoeuvre in which he overtook two drivers at the same time in one of the fastest corners on the outside, moved up to third.
– Although almost the entire grid piled up behind him in the final phase, the ABT driver was able to defend third place and all this after he made a short trip to the test day at Le Mans between the two DTM races and only arrived back in Zandvoort two hours before the start of Sunday’s race.
– Things went backwards for Swiss driver Feller – who had won Sunday’s race in Zandvoort last year from pole position – as he could only finish eighth and 11th from fourth and ninth respectively on the grid.
– ABT Motorsport Director Martin Tomczyk said: “After a frustrating Saturday for us, we were able to limit the damage with Kelvin van der Linde on Sunday. His third place was obviously good for the championship. Both drivers drove clever and scored important points. They had to drive defensively in Zandvoort, which is obviously no fun for any racing driver. Despite all the discussions about the BoP, we remained focussed as a team and defended our lead in the drivers’ and teams’ standings. That makes me proud of the team. The race on Sunday was extremely exciting and worth watching. At this point, congratulations to our partner Schaeffler on the victory with Schubert and Marco Wittmann.”
– Van der Linde (Saturday 13th/Sunday 3rd, 19 points) said: “Those were two crazy days for me. The race on Saturday didn’t go according to plan, but I was very happy with the podium on Sunday. We took home some good points and retained the DTM lead in Kempten. I am very satisfied. I think we can all make good use of the three-week break until the Norisring. Everyone in the team deserves a bit of a holiday, because it’s been a tough four weeks with two DTM races and our 24-hour project.”
– Feller (Saturday 8th/Sunday 11th, 13 points), who remains third in the drivers’ standings, said: “It was a disappointing weekend for me. I’m definitely not happy. The guys did a good job, but somehow we just didn’t have a chance on my side of the pits. We have to analyse this and hope to be stronger again at the Norisring.”