A pair of weeks in the past, I was in Austria, interviewing DTM driver Sheldon van der Linde, after his race at the Red Bull Ring. During my job interview, van der Linde was foremost the driver’s standings but, immediately after an 11th area end, other drivers were being beginning to catch up. He nonetheless had a superior likelihood at successful the title, but I could tell he wasn’t delighted with his efficiency on that day. Nonetheless, van der Linde managed to set on a significantly better overall performance at the Hockenheimring earlier today, supplying his group, Schubert Motorsport, enough points to clinch the workforce championship title for the 2022 year.
Following a hard fought race, in which van der Linde came again from a 16th put start—thanks to a rule infraction from his team—he was in a position to finish in 2nd. That next position finish gave him ample points for crew Schubert to clinch the workforce title, in spite of there continue to getting an additional race still left.
As for van der Linde himself, he has 149 factors on the period, just two far more than Lucas Auer, from Mercedes-AMG team Winward. Tomorrow, if his finishes forward of Auer, van der Linde will acquire the championship. Having said that, Auer is the one who received today’s race at Hockenheim, proving that he and his motor vehicle are very fast there. However, van der Linda’s weak setting up grid placement undoubtedly hurt his chances of using the win, so a much better qualifying tomorrow could give him a superior shot. He could have pushed heroically, going from 16th to next spot but that was not adequate to score him the win and preserve Auer off his tail.
It would be incredibly great if van der Linde could take the championship title future calendar year. Not only for the reason that he would have so in a BMW M4 GT3 but mainly because van der Linde is straightforward to root for. The 23-yr outdated South African is an very humble and down-to-earth driver who races in DTM with his more mature brother (Kevin van der Linde, who drives an Audi R8 for workforce ABT Sportsline). So observing him deliver house the driver’s championship, while also assisting his staff snag the team championship, all although driving a BMW M4 GT3 would be quite interesting for followers of DTM and BMW.
