Ricardo Feller steered his #7 Abt Sportsline Audi R8 LMS Evo II to victory in the second DTM race at Zandvoort this afternoon.
It was a comfortable victory, his first of 2023 and second in his career, in front of a healthy crowd of 24,000 spectators trackside.
Like Engel in Race 1, Feller’s win was from pole and saw him immediately pull away from the field from the start.
“It was a super race!” he said. “I have finally backed up my first win from last year. The start was good and the pace of the car was incredible. The team did a superb job overnight and we leave Zandvoort feeling good.
“I love this circuit, the country, the people and the region, so I am especially delighted to have won in front of all these spectators.”
Behind, Thomas Preining finished runner-up in his #91 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R. His second place finish put him top of the championship standings, ahead of Feller who moved up to second.
The third spot on the podium went to Mercedes-AMG Team HRT driver Luca Stolz.
“Today went much better than expected,” said championship leader Preining. “Everyone in our team did a mega job. We were among the fastest in the pits and the strategy was top. As such, a big thank you goes to the team.
“It is nice that all the hard work has borne fruit. It is always nice to be the championship leader. However, what really matters is where we are come the end of the season in October.”
In the early laps, Race 1 winner Maro Engel managed to snatch second off Preining, ahead of Laurin Heinrich and Audi racer Patric Niederhauser who completed the top five.
However, fast pit stops for Preining and Stolz moved them up to second and third. Engel meanwhile, fell back to fifth in his Team Mann-Filter Mercedes, behind Project 1 BMW driver Marco Wittmann who emerged fourth after the stops. These positions remained unchanged all the way to the finish.
Behind Engel, Kelvin van der Linde produced a fighting display, climbing from tenth to sixth in his Abt Sportsline Audi R8. Seventh place went to Ayhancan Güven in his Team Bernhard Porsche 911 GT3 R, ahead of Niederhauser, who ended up eigth after a penalty.
The next race weekend is in two weeks’ time, when the DTM drivers visit the famous Norisring from July 7th to 9th.
Images courtesy of DTM/Gruppe C Photography
