Pole-sitter Sheldon van der Linde held off Ayhancan Güven (TR/Porsche 911 GT3 R) superbly at the start to retain the lead of the race. Rast promptly made up four positions and slotted into third, followed by Kelvin van der Linde (ZA) in an Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2 and Mirko Bortolotti (I) in a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 in fourth and fifth place. The big loser in the early stages was Thomas Preining (A), who had come into the race as championship leader but dropped from second to eighth in his 911. After several collisions in the first half of the race, a number of drivers were handed penalties and the safety car made two appearances. However, the order at the front of the field remained the same – that was all to change after the pit stops though.

Güven came in for a late tyre change, and consequently dropped back to sixth place as he was unable to get enough heat into his Pirelli tyres fast enough. Olsen, on the other hand, benefitted from a lightning-quick stop and rejoined the race in fourth place behind leader Sheldon van der Linde, Rast and Kelvin van der Linde. Lucas Auer was fifth in the Mercedes-AMG GT3. Shortly before the finish, misfortune struck Kelvin van der Linde: the South African could no longer shift gear and had to retire from the race on lap 64. That saw Olsen move into the third spot on the podium, with Auer and Güven completing the top five.

Despite picking up a time penalty, Bortolotti managed to finish sixth – the same position he started from. Behind him was Maro Engel (Monaco) in seventh place in his Mercedes-AMG GT3. Audi driver Ricardo Feller (CH) and local favourite Marco Wittmann (Fürth/BMW M4 GT3) followed in eighth and ninth. Laurin Heinrich (Würzburg) produced a sensational race after a puncture on the opening lap, cutting through spectacularly from the back of the field to finish tenth. The young Porsche driver also set the fastest lap time of the race: 49.492 seconds. Preining fell back to 18th after a poor pit stop, but still managed to finish twelfth and score valuable points. The Porsche driver now lies second in the overall standings, behind Sheldon van der Linde. The two racers are level on points, but Sheldon van der Linde’s success at the Norisring puts him ahead of Preining, who is still waiting for his first victory.

But the wait was over for Sheldon van der Linde: the South African finally claimed his first victory at the Norisring on Saturday in his fifth season in the DTM. The defending champion had previously secured his first pole position at the street circuit in Nuremberg, and so started the race from the front of the field. 69 laps later, he took the chequered flag in his BMW M4 GT3.

Race two in Nuremberg begins at 13:30 on Sunday. German free-to-air TV station ProSieben starts its comprehensive coverage from Germany’s only street circuit at 13:00. The grid positions for Sunday’s race will be decided in qualifying (from 09:20). Like the race, qualifying will also be streamed live at ran.de and on the DTM YouTube channel.

Dennis Olsen: “I am very happy with this podium. Like last year, we started from the back of the field and worked our way onto the podium. This time, however, it was incredibly hot in the car. Despite that, I tried to keep my concentration: with the walls and barriers lining the track, any mistake can mean the end of your race. The highlight for me was the great overtaking manoeuvre against Lucas Auer.”

Result of race 1, Norisring

1. Sheldon van der Linde (ZA/Schubert Motorsport)
2. René Rast (D/Schubert Motorsport), +1.520 seconds
3. Dennis Olsen (N/Manthey EMA), +2.547 seconds
4. Lucas Auer (A/Mercedes-AMG Team Winward), +4.142 seconds
5. Ayhancan Güven (TR/Team75 Motorsport), +5.042 seconds

The full race result is available at dtm.com/en/results.