Sheldon van der Linde: “Winning from 14th on the grid is unbelievable”

BMW driver Sheldon van der Linde made the most of a risky strategy to claim his maiden DTM victory in the final race at Assen. The victory also represents the first win for a South African driver in the German series.

Van der Linde had a difficult qualifying session, only managing 14th on the grid.

In the race, the South African recovered some positions, but felt he was being slowed down by fellow BMW drivers Marco Wittmann (Team RMG) and team-mate Philipp Eng. So his team decided to bring him to the pits early, changing tyres on lap ten.

Returning to the track, van der Linde immediately posted fast lap times that saw him climbing the order. When WRT’s Fabio Scherer crashed, causing a safety car intervention, then a red flag, the Team RBM driver climbed further.

“Winning the race after having started from 14th on the grid is actually unbelievable,” said Van der Linde after the race. “It shows that simply anything can happen in the DTM.”

“We never would have expected it at the start,” continued the Team RBM driver. “Of course, the weather helped us as well. We were able to get the maximum out of the race and my team had a fantastic strategy today. The car was amazing in the wet.”

The restart after the red flag was an important moment, as van der Linde came under fire from Audi’s Robin Frijns. But the BMW driver kept his cool despite the treacherous conditions: “The restart was a bit tricky, but we were in control throughout,” said van der Linde.

“A dream has come true, it’s incredible. I’m just really happy to have got my first DTM win. I think everyone at BMW more than deserves this. My team worked so hard for this. Thanks to everyone for this.”

RBM team principal Bart Mampaey praised his team and driver, revealing they gambled on the weather remaining wet: “We opted for an alternative strategy, but with something in mind. We expected the whole race to be wet. Then it dried up during the race, but we saw that the bad weather would make a comeback.

“After his early tyre change, Sheldon van der Linde drove fast laps and overtook the others who didn’t react to our strategy. Then the rain came back, and it was very tense again at the restart. I think we did a really good job. The stops were good, the tyre pressure too, and Sheldon was fantastic,” concluded Mampaey.