Kelvin van der Linde put his Team ABT Audi R8 LMS EVO II on pole for DTM’s first race of the weekend at the Norisring, in the new grouped qualifying format unique to this weekend.
The South African set a 49.236 to go fastest, beating out Kus Team Bernhard Porsche’s Thomas Preining, who was fastest in the first qualifying group, by 0.016. Ayhancan Guven will start third, with the Turkish driver filling in for regular driver Nick Cassidy at Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse.
Another guest driver, Franck Perera, will start fourth for GRT Lamborghini, with Lucas Auer for Winward Mercedes-AMG in fifth. K. van der Linde’s teammate at Abt, Rene Rast, will start sixth.
Championship challenger, GRT Lamborghini’s Mirko Bortolotti, will start seventh, with Arjun Maini, driving the HRT Mercedes-AMG, eighth. Rounding out the top 10 is ABT’s Ricardo Feller, winner last time out in Imola, and Nico Muller in the sole Team Rosberg Audi.
Championship leader Sheldon van der Linde could only manage 22nd out of a 27-car field, giving himself lots of work to do in the race if he wants to maintain his lead over Bortolotti.
The race will start 12:30 UK time, 13:30 local time in Germany.
