When Kelvin van der Linde was taken out of the race by Maro Engel on the penultimate lap at the Sachsenring, frustration was high. “Who hit me? What an idiot!” the luckless Schubert BMW driver fumed over the radio. No wonder, because van der Linde failed to finish for the seventh time in 14 races this season – and, after the AMG collision at the Nurburgring, had already become a victim of the Mercedes title contender for the second time.
But after the hearing with the stewards, who handed Engel a 15-second substitute penalty for three penalty laps, van der Linde embraced him despite losing fifth place. “I put my arm around him because I know how much that hurts him,” van der Linde explains of his gesture.
The penalty cost Engel eleven points – a significant blow in the title fight. “He has been around for years and wants to make his dream come true – and I know how much it hurts when you realise that the chances are slipping away,” van der Linde can put himself in Engel’s position.
“I wanted to tell him not to let his head drop”
The South African knows from his own experience what it feels like when, despite strong performances, the dream of a major triumph falls apart: in 2021 and 2024 he fought for the DTM title in an Abt Audi and finished third once and runner-up once.
“I simply wanted to tell him not to let his head drop and that it goes on,” says van der Linde. “We have known each other for years, Maro has always supported me even in difficult phases, so there is a lot of respect between us – and that was simply a sign of mutual respect.”
The crash itself is “water under the bridge” for van der Linde, the 30-year-old says. “It is a mistake that happens.”
Crash “dealt with” for van der Linde
The fact that the two have known each other since 2014 also plays a role in van der Linde’s reaction. “We’ve raced together many times, we’ve had some great battles on track, we’ve also had incidents – unfortunately twice over the past two weekends – but we’ve always had respect for each other,” van der Linde stresses. “And as far as I’m concerned, that’s water under the bridge.”
The two top GT3 drivers first raced against each other in van der Linde’s debut year in the ADAC GT Masters, when van der Linde became champion alongside Rene Rast in Christian Abt’s Audi team. Engel was in the Rowe Mercedes at the time.
It is known that the two rivals value each other – and also trust each other in wheel-to-wheel combat. The Winward Mercedes driver expressed as much only this DTM season at the opener in Spielberg after his overtaking move on the Schubert BMW driver.
Engel is second in the overall standings ahead of the season finale at Hockenheim, 23 points behind Manthey Porsche driver Thomas Preining. Turning the title fight around will be anything but easy, as there are only 56 points still available.
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