DTM Lausitzring: Van der Linde holds off Engel for double win

The Schubert BMW driver aced the start and despite carrying 25 additional kilos that allowed Maro Engel (Gruppe M Mercedes) to close, he never came under serious threat until the final sequence of corners and won by 0.347s.

Three-time DTM champion Rene Rast took the first podium of his comeback season in third in the leading Abt Audi, as a quick pitstop elevated van der Linde's team-mate Philipp Eng to fourth.

As van der Linde lead into the banked Turn 1, Engel, Rast and Mirko Bortolotti (Grasser Lamborghini) briefly went three-wide behind him in their squabble over third.

Engel and Rast remained side-by-side on the long run to the Turn 2 left-hander, and just as Rast conceded the corner Bortolotti made an aggressive move to Engel's inside that resulted in contact and nerfed the Mercedes sideways.

Engel slithered over the grass and rejoined right in front of Bortolotti, who had to jam on the brakes and lost third to Rast as a result.

Felipe Fraga, AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo on fire

Photo by: Andreas Beil

The leaders ran in that order until the pitstop cycle began on lap seven, with Ricardo Feller (Abt Audi) peeling in from fifth position.

A quick stop for Eng, who had been seventh prior to the pit sequence, meant he rejoined narrowly ahead of the Swiss.

After Engel pitted on lap eight, van der Linde, Rast and Bortolotti came in together on the following tour.

Eng's pace on new tyres meant he cleared Bortolotti, the Italian also fell behind Nico Muller (Team Rosberg Audi) when the Portimao winner came in on lap 10.

Van der Linde led Engel and Rast to the flag, as Eng soaked up staunch pressure from Muller and Bortolotti to hold onto fourth.

After a fire on his Red Bull Ferrari in qualifying, Felipe Fraga was unable to