The dream of vacationing in Mallorca has burst in the last few metres! Sheldon van der Linde, his Schubert-BMW teammate René Rast and brother Kelvin van der Linde were not only on their way to celebrate on the podium together in the first Norisring race, but also to get hold of plane tickets to “Malle”.
The three drivers are managed by Pole Promotion. Company boss Dennis Rostek has promised that if they make it onto the podium together, there will be a vacation to the party island together. Of course, Rostek would cover the entire cost.
“We would have flown to Mallorca for a week if the three of us had made it onto the podium,” confirms Rast and grins: “He would have paid for the whole week!” In the heads of the drivers, summer, sun, beaches and parties have already been dreamed of.
“In the last 20 laps I’ve been thinking about Mallorca,” reveals the three-time DTM champion. The exact duration of the holiday trip together has to be “still negotiated”. “But then Kelvin unfortunately dropped out,” Rast sighs. “It has to work out this year!”
Kelvin van der Linde was in third place behind the Schubert-BMW duo until shortly before the finish line. Sheldon van der Linde was also watching his brother closely and knew that the Mallorca flight ticket was only a few kilometers away.
Norisring brings van der Linde no luck
“He was third for almost the entire race and then something happened again,” Sheldon sympathizes with his older brother. “I saw that on the monitor in Turn 2. Hopefully the three of us can make it onto the podium together one day. That’s our dream!”
The Norisring brings no luck to Kelvin van der Linde. In 2021 he lost the fight for the championship title in a controversial season finale. Last year he retired from both races. And this time he didn’t see the checkered flag either. His Abt-Audi was stuck in second gear.
“It was a perfect race up to that point,” sighs Kelvin van der Linde. “We fought our way up to third place and it looked like we had a chance for the podium because there were only six laps left.”
“Unfortunately, the paddle shifter had a technical defect and I couldn’t shift up.” The Audi rolled back to the pits at slow speed. The failure was sealed. According to initial information from the team, however, it was not a gearbox defect.
Olsen benefits from failure
Apparently a magnet in the shift paddle fell out because of the heat, which meant that van der Linde was no longer able to shift up. So Rostek didn’t have to pull out the credit card for flights and hotels in Mallorca.
While Sheldon van der Linde and Rast celebrated their double success on the podium, Kelvin van der Linde is still waiting for his first top place of the year. “Very bitter because it would have been the first podium of the year. Now we have to try again tomorrow.”
Dennis Olsen’s Manthey EMA Porsche benefited from the late retirement. “Kelvin flashed the lights,” says the Norwegian, describing the key moments. “I didn’t know exactly what was going on, but I saw that he was having problems. Then he suddenly slowed down. Anyway, I’ll take the position. I’m happy with third place.”