DTM | Oschersleben 2023: Sheldon Van der Linde leads immediately in free practice

The best time in the first DTM free practice for the defending champion ahead of the best Rast and Drudi. Bortolotti very fast in the morning.

A new era of DTM extension The ADAC license plate number starts this weekend’s announcement Oscherslebenthe location of the first round of the eight that make up the 2023 championship. The first Friday of action saw the reigning champion Sheldon Van der Linde getting the best time between the two free practice sessions, and achieving his best performance in today’s second session. Below is today’s story.

FP1

The first free practice session saw Mirko Bortolotti have a good time inside 1:22,376 which sees him commanding a session in which lap times were very close, with 26 of the 27 drivers present to be collected within seconds.

The Italian Lamborghini SSR Performance driver leads this round David Schumacher for just 36 thousand, with the son of the family starting his second season in the DTM in the best possible way with second place in FP1.

Behind them is closed Lucas Auerthird more than ten from the leader despite the fact that at the beginning of the session he was the protagonist of the 2nd trip, even putting the tires on the gravel before returning to the track.

The German driver is ahead of his compatriot Maro Engelalready very quickly in the pre-season tests and the author of the fourth fastest time in the morning before Kelvin van der Linde for just 4 thousand, with the South African from ABT Motorsport in fifth place with the best Audi drivers.

Sixth time for the rookie Tim Heinemann, DTM Trophy champion in 2020 and 2022 and is now behind the wheel of a Porsche for the Toksport WRT team. The German is ahead of Ricardo Feller, seventh and the second Audi of ABT, and the reigning champion Sheldon Van der Linde, back from the second place achieved in the 24h of the Nürburgring and only eight in the morning.

The BMW driver is ahead of the other rookie by only 3 thousand like Jack Aitkenninth with Emil Frey Racing’s Ferrari, with Mattia Drudi completing the Top10 less than fourteen behind Bortolotti’s time.

Although the standings of the session are limited, some of the most eagerly awaited protagonists closed these FP1s outside the top 10; among these we certainly find René Rast and Thomas Preining, respectively in 14th and 16th place while Patric Niederhauser divides them, Arjun Maini takes 20th place while bad things go to the two veterans of the division such as Luca Stolz and Marco Wittmann, respectively in position 24th and 25th place. Alessio Deledda closes the position in 27th and last place, making him the only one with a gap from the top of more than a second.

FP2

FP2 saw the fastest times from the start, also thanks to the arrival of the sun on the German track which allowed the temperature to rise, giving more grip to the riders who were able to do better in the first few minutes, focusing then on. the pace of the race but again providing a final classification that sees almost all drivers gathered within a second of the difference.

As mentioned at the beginning, the fastest in the second free practice session was the reigning champion Sheldon Van der Lindecapable of stopping the stopwatch on1:21,960 which gives him the best time of the day, improving by more than a third of what Bortolotti did in the morning.

The South African driver is ahead of his new Schubert Motorsport teammate, the three-time champion. René Rast who in the afternoon found the second time more than a tenth behind.

Rast, on the other hand, precedes the best Matthias Drudithird with the Audi of Tresor Orange only 5 thousand behind one of the veterans of the series, where he appears for the first time this season after the long experience gained over the years in the panorama of GT competitions.

The Italian driver leads the first two Lamborghinis Mick Wishofer and of Frank Pererarespectively fourth and fifth at the end of FP2, also less than a tenth off Rast’s second time.

A little behind Ricardo Feller, sixth in front of Christian Engelhart, Porsche’s best drivers of the season were seventh fastest, almost a tenth off the pace. Eighth time for Jack Aitken, once again the best Ferrari driver despite going off track in the middle stages of the session.

The Audi duo of Kelvin Van der Linde and Patric Niederhauser complete the top 10, with the South African moving up in the last quarter of an hour of the session with a flying streak.

Maro Engel is out of the top 10 by just 6 thousand, finishing the session in 11th place ahead of Thierry Vermeulena good 12th place with the second Ferrari of Emil Frey Racing, one and a half tenths behind the performance of his colleague Aitken.

Behind the two protagonists of FP1 David Schumacher and Mirko Bortolotti, respectively in 20th and 22nd place, shared by Luca Engstler in the Audi of the family team. The Italian rider is ahead of Dennis Olsen, Luca Stolz and Thomas Preining, who concludes a difficult Friday with the 25th and final hours in FP2, ahead of only Alessio Deledda. Lucas Auer is not in this session.