Race 1 at the Nürburgring: Dominant van der Linde wins suspended race.
Runaway championship leader Kelvin van der Linde clinched his fourth successive win in the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup. The opening race at the Nürburgring had to be suspended on lap 11 of 14 following a crash involving Lukas Schreier. The German rolled several times, but was able to climb out of his car unaided. The 18-year-old was then flown by helicopter to the military hospital in Koblenz as a precaution. He will be kept under observation there for 24 hours and will not take part in Sunday’s second race. The race was completed behind the safety car.
Sweden’s Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky came home second behind the 17-year-old South African to secure her best finish this season in the only natural gas-powered one-make cup in the world. Third place went to Denmark’s Kasper H. Jensen. In the Legends competition, TV expert Christian Danner (55) triumphed for the DTM Legends, finishing a respectable eleventh. Former DTM and Formula One driver Emanuele Pirro (Italy/51) was 15th, while rally champions Markku Alén (62) and Juha Kankkunen (54/both Finland) also showed the class that made them household names on the rally scene.
With 200 points to his name, van der Linde now holds a commanding lead over Denmark’s Michelle Gatting (120) in the overall Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup standings. The flying Dane was forced to retire from race one after a collision shortly after the start. Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky climbed to third place (111). Race two of the fourth race weekend begins at 15:20 on Sunday.
“I am happy to have won, even though the race came to such a quick end. I would like to dedicate my win to a good friend: Peter Burroughs, who was recently diagnosed with cancer. I would particularly like to congratulate Mikaela on her great race. I am happy that there is a second race this weekend. Michelle’s retirement opened the door for me to extend my lead in the championship, but I am still not even considering the title. I just want to win as many races as possible.”