In the 2023 DTM season, a duel is looming at the finale in Hockenheim between Thomas Preining in the Manthey-Porsche and Mirco Bortolotti in the SSR-Lamborghini. Ricardo Feller in the Engstler Audi and DTM defending champion Sheldon von der Linda in the Schubert BMW also still have a mathematical chance of taking first place. Van der Linde, who became DTM champion in 2022, is writing off the title and wants to give everything to reach third place.
“It’s obviously annoying, but you can’t win everything,” said the South African before the finale at the Hockenheimring on October 21st and 22nd. “We gave everything and made mistakes this year, that has to be said very clearly. That’s why it won’t be enough for first place, but we’ll still give it our all in Hockenheim. Maybe we’ll get another win, but for the championship Of course it’s going to be tight now.”
“My goal now is third place in the championship – so Ricky, I’m coming from the back in Hockenheim,” said van der Linde, who wants to challenge his brand colleague Feller in the fight for the bronze medal. In the overall standings, van der Linde and Preining are separated by 52 points, while Feller is 21 points apart. A maximum of 56 points are still up for grabs in two races, 50 points in the race plus a maximum of six points in qualifying.
DTM: No BWM help for van der Linde
Hockenheim seems to be a good place for van der Linde, who finished in the top three twice in 2022: “Last year, things went really well for us there. We had two podium places there – we were second twice. Now we need something similar Result to finish third in the championship. That’s a realistic goal. I hope Ricky is ready for the fight. I expect a good race for BMW. It should go well.”
Van der Linde is not hoping for help from the BMW camp, as team orders are officially forbidden in the DTM. That’s why there was no swap of positions between the 24-year-old and his teammate Rene Rast in Spielberg, Austria. “A team order was out of the question for me, I’m not a fan of it. The title fight was realistic for me,” was the South African’s sober analysis.
Schubert’s team manager Marcel Schmidt has also already given up on the title fight, but hopes that Hockenheim will be a conciliatory finale to a season with ups and downs. “The starting position was very difficult for Sheldon and it is a shame that, despite his strong performance in the second race, he no longer has a realistic chance of defending his title in the finale,” says Schmidt.
“But he is just as strong as a person as he is as a driver and takes things as they are,” said Schmidt about his top driver in the BMW. “That’s what sets him apart and we know that he will come back stronger and fight for the team championship with us in Hockenheim.” In this, Manthey leads with 283 points, but behind them there are several title contenders close on the Porsche team’s heels. Abt has 256 points, followed by SSR with 255 and Schubert with 253 points. So everything is still open in this rating!