Nürburgring. The third-to-last DTM race weekend of the season
at the Nürburgring (GER) turned into a triumph for Marco Wittmann
(GER). The two-time champion celebrated his first win of the season
and the 20th of his career on Sunday in the #11 Schaeffler BMW M4
GT3 EVO. On Saturday, he had already collected many valuable points
by finishing third on the podium. In the battle for his third
drivers’ title, he is back in the fight, now in fifth place with 135
points and a 25-point gap to the top. Kelvin van der Linde (RSA)
endured a frustrating weekend.

 

With fourth and sixth place in the two qualifying sessions, Wittmann
secured good starting positions for the races. He made good use of
these already on Saturday, and on Sunday he did even better thanks to
his driving skill and the outstanding performance of the Schubert
Motorsport team. At the end of a strategically perfect race with
strong pit stops, he claimed his first DTM victory since Zandvoort
2024. In the drivers’ standings, Wittmann is once again within reach
of his third title, while in the team standings, Schubert Motorsport
is third with 201 points and a 30-point gap to the top. Kelvin van der
Linde had a weekend to forget as on Saturday he retired due to a
technical issue, and on Sunday, he was innocently involved in a start accident.

 

Quotes after the race weekend:

 

Andreas Roos (Head of BMW M Motorsport):
“Congratulations to Marco Wittmann on a fantastic DTM weekend
at the Nürburgring! We knew that if we wanted to get back into the
title fight after the recent difficult races, we would need very
strong results at the Nürburgring. Marco achieved this in perfect
fashion. His combination of driving skill and experience makes him a
hot title contender. Thanks also to the Schubert team, which shone
with outstanding strategy and great pit stops. I feel very sorry for
Kelvin van der Linde. He also had the pace for podium finishes, but
this year in DTM, bad luck has been following him. There are still
four races to go. We will continue to give everything to keep the
dream of the title alive.”

 

Torsten Schubert (Team Principal Schubert Motorsport):
“A fantastic weekend for Marco Wittmann. After two years of
drought, he was finally able to celebrate another DTM victory.
Congratulations to him and many thanks to my team for the great
performance! Thanks to all the points, we at least have a theoretical
chance in the title race again. For Kelvin van der Linde, the weekend
was incredibly bitter. It just doesn’t seem to be his season. On
Sunday, he could have attacked at the front, but then he was simply in
the wrong place at the wrong time in the accident after the start.”

 

Marco Wittmann (#11 Schaeffler BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Race 1: 3rd
place, Race 2: 1st place): “I am extremely happy about this
weekend! After some difficult events this season, finally everything
went right from Friday onwards. The victory on Sunday was hard-fought
in the end. Thomas Preining and Tom Kalender put me under a lot of
pressure. Luckily for me, Thomas was a good buffer to Tom in the final
laps, as Tom was much faster on new tyres. Many thanks to my team, who
got the strategy spot on and delivered perfect pit stops. I’m proud of you!”

 

Kelvin van der Linde (#3 Shell BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Race 1: DNF,
Race 2: DNF): “To put it mildly, the weekend was a
disaster. Two retirements in two races – that’s obviously not why we
compete in DTM. I still have four races left to finish the season
properly. Many thanks to Schubert Motorsport for the good work.
Hopefully, I can still score some important points in the fight for
the team title.”