2021 Zolder Race 1

2021 Zolder Race 1
The Circuit Zolder returned to the DTM in 2021.
Race Information
Date	7 August 2021
No.	274
Event	DTM Zolder 2021
Location	Circuit Zolder Heusden-Zolder, Limburg, Belgium
Format	55 min + 1 lap
Lap length	4.011 km (2.492 mi)
Distance	39 laps / 156.429 km (97.200 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Kelvin van der Linde
Team	Team ABT Sportsline
Time	1:27.054
Fastest Lap
Driver	Alexander Albon
Team	AlphaTauri AF Corse
Time	1:27.529 on lap 17
Race Result
First	Second	Third
Kelvin van der Linde	Mike Rockenfeller	Alexander Albon
Winner Team	Team ABT Sportsline
Time	1:00:45.078
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2021 Lausitzring Race 2		2021 Zolder Race 2

The 2021 Zolder Race 1, formally known as the DTM Zolder 2021 Race 1, was the fifth race of the 2021 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged at Circuit Zolder in Heusden-Zolder, Limburg, Belgium, on 7 August 2021. The race would see Kelvin van der Linde secure his second victory of the campaign, having resisted late pressure from teammate Mike Rockenfeller and a charging Alexander Albon.

Qualifying had seen Championship leader van der Linde sweep to pole position, although the South African racer would only narrowly beat title pretender Maximilian Götz by 0.021s in a tight session. Indeed, just three tenths covered the top eight drivers on the grid, with BMW's Marco Wittmann and Albon's Ferrari ensuring there were four different manufacturers in the top four.

The start of the race saw van der Linde duly convert pole into a lead, although he would have to resist a fast starting Wittmann, who stormed up from third to challenge for the lead. Behind, van der Linde's fellow title protagonist Liam Lawson would slip down the order after a poor start, which left the #30 Ferrari vulnerable to getting caught up in someone else's accident.

So it proved to be, for Arjun Maini would get out of shape on the brakes for the chicane during the opening tour and slammed into the back of Lawson's car, leaving both with heavy damage. The Safety Car was scrambled to allow the two ruined cars and debris to be clear, with the race resuming on lap six with the increasingly familiar rolling start.

At the restart van der Linde again found himself having to block Wittmann, who almost snatched the lead into the first corner but ultimately had to settle for second. A lap later and those two were in for their stops, the first of the lead group to do so, although Wittmann's bid for the lead would be hobbled as he was mugged by Vincent Abril as he rejoined, the Monegasque racer having gambled on stopping a lap earlier.

The following laps saw Wittmann also fall to Rockenfeller, while out front Albon assumed the lead and would remain out for a long first stint. Indeed, Albon's pace was so strong on his older tyres that he was actually lapping faster than both van der Linde and Rockenfeller, meaning that when he did eventually stop, the #23 Ferrari was right on the two Audi's collective tails.

The closing stages of the race saw Albon try his best to harry Rockenfeller for second, although the German racer's defence would be resolute. Behind, Abril was putting together a similar performance to deny Wittmann revenge and fourth place, while Götz was sliding back from them having lacked pace on his second set of tyres.

When the chequered flag flew van der Linde still led the field, finishing just a few tenths clear of Rockenfeller, who himself had Albon tucked in his wake. Abril was a distant fourth ahead of Wittmann, while Esteban Muth almost managed to force a move on the #11 BMW late on but had to settle for sixth. Götz was next up ahead of Philip Ellis, Lucas Auer and Nico Müller, while Christian Klien, making his and McLaren's DTM debut, finished in twelfth.

Background

Two weeks after the previous round in Lausitz the DTM field reconvened for the third race meeting of the season, staged at Circuit Zolder in Heusden-Zolder, Limburg, Belgium. The Zolder circuit itself was unchanged from the Series' previous visit in 2020, although the switch to GT3 Plus rules meant that the DRS zones had been removed. Likewise, there was only one notable change to the entry list from the previous round, with Gary Paffett still unable to take up his seat, leaving Maximilian Buhk in the #18 Mercedes-AMG.

Klien's Quest

Instead, the change to the entry list would be found in the form of ex-Formula One pilot Christian Klien, who would make his DTM bow in a twentieth car on the Zolder entry list. Furthermore, Klien's debut would also herald the debut for a new team in the form of Polish outfit JP Motorsport, as well as British marque McLaren in the DTM. Their delayed debut had been planned since the start of the season, having committed to three DTM rounds across 2021, as part of a plan to join the Series full time in 2022.

Norisring Nirvana

Ahead of the trip to Zolder news of the ever popular DTM Nuremberg Speedweekend at the Norisring would emerge, as the DTM sought to find a date for the annual battle around Nuremberg's streets. Indeed, having initially been postponed from its traditional July date, the DTM continued negotiations with the Nuremberg council and Motorsport Club Nürnberg (MCN) to try and find another date for the event. That date would ultimately prove to be 8 - 10 October 2021, meaning the Norisring would stage the DTM season finale for the first time in its history, and mark the first time that the modern DTM had not held its final race of the season at the Hockenheimring.

Balance of EuroSpeedway

Elsewhere the Balance of Performance calculations were unchanged after the battle of Laustiz two weeks earlier, with McLaren's BoP calculation based off of Klien's performance in practice.

Outlined below are the BoP calculations and success ballast allocations for the 2021 Zolder Race 1:

2021 Zolder Race 1 BoP
Manufacturer	Weight	Boost/Restrictor
Audi	1,315 kg (—)	2 x 43.5 mm (—)
BMW	1,335 kg (—)	2.135 bar (—)
Ferrari	1,315 kg (—)	1.622 bar (—)
Lamborghini	1,305 kg (—)	2 x 42.5 mm (—)
McLaren	1,305 kg (—)	1.430 bar (—)
Mercedes-AMG	1,335 kg (—)	2 x 37.5 mm (—)
2021 Zolder Race 1 Ballast Allocation
Maximilian Götz	Liam Lawson	Kelvin van der Linde
25 kg	18 kg	15 kg

Götz Grace

Kelvin van der Linde had ended the second race weekend of the season still in the lead of the Drivers' Championship, although the South African racer's lead had been cut to just four points. Indeed, another podium finish for emerging star Liam Lawson had ensured that the New Zealander kept pace with the early leader, and moved him seventeen clear of Philip Ellis in third. Furthermore, Lawson had a handsome 37 point lead in the Junior Championship, with Esteban Muth even further away in third.

In the Teams' Championship Team ABT Sportsline had lost their tenuous lead atop the table, although they had only fallen one behind the new leaders. Indeed, AF Corse had moved back to the head of the field as both teams fell just shy of the 100 point mark for the season, with third placed Mercedes Team Winward 21 points off the lead. In the Manufacturers' Championship Mercedes-AMG had returned to the top of the table, 27 clear of Audi in second.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2021 Zolder Race 1 is displayed below:

2021 Zolder Race 1 Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Livery
3	Kelvin van der Linde	Team ABT Sportsline	Audi	R8 LMS Evo
4	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes-AMG Team HRT	Mercedes-AMG	GT3-Evo
5	Vincent Abril	Mercedes-AMG Team HRT	Mercedes-AMG	GT3-Evo
8	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM	Mercedes-AMG	GT3-Evo
9	Mike Rockenfeller	Team ABT Sportsline	Audi	R8 LMS Evo
10	Esteban Muth	T3 Motorsport	Lamborghini	Huracán GT3 Evo
11	Marco Wittmann	Walkenhorst Motorsport	BMW	M6 GT3
12	Dev Gore	Team Rosberg	Audi	R8 LMS Evo
15	Christian Klien	JP Motorsport	McLaren	720S GT3
16	Timo Glock	ROWE Racing	BMW	M6 GT3
18	Maximilian Buhk	Mercedes-AMG Team Mücke Motorsport	Mercedes-AMG	GT3-Evo
22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG Team Winward	Mercedes-AMG	GT3-Evo
23	Alexander Albon	AlphaTauri AF Corse	Ferrari	488 GT3 Evo 2020
26	Esmee Hawkey	T3 Motorsport	Lamborghini	Huracán GT3 Evo
30	Liam Lawson	Red Bull AF Corse	Ferrari	488 GT3 Evo 2020
31	Sheldon van der Linde	ROWE Racing	BMW	M6 GT3
36	Arjun Maini	Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed	Mercedes-AMG	GT3-Evo
51	Nico Müller	Team Rosberg	Audi	R8 LMS Evo
57	Philip Ellis	Mercedes-AMG Team Winward	Mercedes-AMG	GT3-Evo
99	Sophia Flörsch	Team ABT	Audi	R8 LMS Evo
Source:

• Numbers with a green background indicate an entrant in the Junior Championship.
• Numbers with a black background indicate a guest entrant.

Qualifying

Results

The final qualifying result for the 2021 Zolder Race 1 are outlined below:

2021 Zolder Race 1 Qualifying Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Ave. Speed	Grid
1st	3	Kelvin van der Linde	Team ABT Sportsline	1:27.054	—	165.414 km/h	1
2nd	4	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes Team HRT	1:27.075	+0.021s	165.374 km/h	2
3rd	11	Marco Wittmann	Walkenhorst Motorsport	1:27.190	+0.136s	165.156 km/h	3
4th*	23	Alexander Albon	AlphaTauri AF Corse	1:27.225	+0.171s	165.090 km/h	9*
5th	5	Vincent Abril	Mercedes Team HRT	1:27.244	+0.190s	165.054 km/h	4
6th	9	Mike Rockenfeller	Team ABT Sportsline	1:27.256	+0.202s	165.031 km/h	5
7th	57	Philip Ellis	Mercedes Team Winward	1:27.272	+0.218s	165.001 km/h	6
8th	10	Esteban Muth	T3 Motorsport	1:27.340	+0.286s	164.872 km/h	7
9th	51	Nico Müller	Team Rosberg	1:27.340	+0.286s	164.872 km/h	8
10th	30	Liam Lawson	Red Bull AF Corse	1:27.385	+0.331s	164.788 km/h	10
11th	31	Sheldon van der Linde	ROWE Racing	1:27.392	+0.338s	164.774 km/h	11
12th	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes Team Winward	1:27.436	+0.382s	164.691 km/h	12
13th	18	Maximilian Buhk	Mercedes Team Mücke	1:27.646	+0.592s	164.297 km/h	13
14th	8	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes Team GruppeM	1:27.688	+0.784s	164.218 km/h	14
15th	36	Arjun Maini	Mercedes Team GetSpeed	1:27.838	+0.784s	163.938 km/h	15
16th	15	Christian Klien	JP Motorsport	1:28.191	+1.137s	163.281 km/h	16
17th	12	Dev Gore	Team Rosberg	1:28.374	+1.320s	162.943 km/h	17
18th	26	Esmee Hawkey	T3 Motorsport	1:28.374	+1.320	162.754 km/h	18
19th	99	Sophia Flörsch	Team ABT	1:28.482	+1.428s	162.744 km/h	19
20th	16	Timo Glock	ROWE Racing	1:28.529	+1.475s	162.658 km/h	20
Source:

• Bold indicates a driver's best/qualifying time.
• * Albon served a five place grid penalty for failing to slow down sufficiently under red flag conditions during practice.

Grid

The starting grid for the 2021 Zolder Race 1 in shown below:

		99	Sophia Flörsch	1:28.482			12	Dev Gore	1:28.374			36	Arjun Maini	1:27.838			18	Maximilian Buhk	1:27.646			31	Sheldon van der Linde	1:27.392			23	Alexander Albon	1:27.225			10	Esteban Muth	1:27.340			9	Mike Rockenfeller	1:27.256			11	Marco Wittmann	1:27.190			3	Kelvin van der Linde	1:27.054
	16	Timo Glock		1:28.529		26	Esmee Hawkey		1:28.477		15	Christian Klien		1:28.191		8	Daniel Juncadella		1:27.688		22	Lucas Auer		1:27.436		30	Liam Lawson		1:27.385		51	Nico Müller		1:27.340		57	Philip Ellis		1:27.272		5	Vincent Abril		1:27.244		4	Maximilian Götz		1:27.075

Race

Results

The final classification of the 2021 Zolder Race 1 is displayed below:

2021 Zolder Race 1 Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	3	Kelvin van der Linde	Team ABT Sportsline	39	1:00:45.078	1:28.262	253
2nd	9	Mike Rockenfeller	Team ABT Sportsline	39	+0.696s	1:28.042	18
3rd	23	Alexander Albon	AlphaTauri AF Corse	39	+1.786s	1:27.529	15
4th	5	Vincent Abril	Mercedes Team HRT	39	+21.978s	1:28.897	12
5th	11	Marco Wittmann	Walkenhorst Motorsport	39	+24.554s	1:28.937	101
6th	10	Esteban Muth	T3 Motorsport	39	+25.140s	1:28.685	8
7th	4	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes Team HRT	39	+26.466s	1:28.858	62
8th	57	Philip Ellis	Mercedes Team Winward	39	+27.333s	1:28.670	4
9th	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes Team Winward	39	+27.846s	1:28.804	2
10th	51	Nico Müller	Team Rosberg	39	+28.170s	1:28.279	1
11th	16	Timo Glock	ROWE Racing	39	+41.277s	1:28.741
12th	15	Christian Klien	JP Motorsport	39	+42.111s	1:28.980
13th	26	Esmee Hawkey	T3 Motorsport	39	+43.678s	1:28.971
14th	12	Dev Gore	Team Rosberg	39	+43.892s	1:28.425
15th	99	Sophia Flörsch	Team ABT	39	+1:05.693	1:29.108
16th	31	Sheldon van der Linde	ROWE Racing	39	+1:13.859	1:29.027
17th	18	Maximilian Buhk	Mercedes Team Mücke	34	+5 Laps	1:29.585
Ret	8	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes Team GruppeM	1	Collision	—
Ret	30	Liam Lawson	Red Bull AF Corse	1	Collision	—
Ret	36	Arjun Maini	Mercedes Team GetSpeed	0	Collision	—
Source:

• ³ Indicates a driver was awarded points for qualifying in the top three.
• Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
• Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.

Milestones

• Debut race for Christian Klien.
• First race for JP Motorsport as an entrant.
• McLaren Automotive made their debut as a manufacturer.
• Kelvin van der Linde secured his second victory.
• ABT Sportsline claimed their victory as an entrant.
  • win for Audi as a manufacturer.
• Maiden points finish for Vincent Abril.
• Alexander Albon recorded his first fastest lap.

Standings

A second victory of the campaign had moved Kelvin van der Linde a full race's worth of points clear at the head of the Championship, after main rival Liam Lawson failed to score. Indeed, the New Zealander had slipped 32 behind midway through the third race weekend, while Maximilian Götz had closed to within nine points of him back in third. Elsewhere it was status quo in the Junior Championship, with Lawson and Sheldon van der Linde having both failed to score, while Esteban Muth had inched closer to the latter in third.

Team ABT Sportsline had reclaimed lead atop the Teams' Championship after the fifth race of the campaign, and had moved 30 points clear atop the table. AF Corse, former leaders, had slipped to second while Mercedes Team Winward were in third, 60 off the lead. In the Manufacturers' Championship Mercedes-AMG had seen their lead cut to four points midway through the trip to Zolder, with Audi having remained as their closest challengers.

2021 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Kelvin van der Linde 97 ◄0 2nd Liam Lawson 65 ◄0 3rd Maximilian Götz 54 ▲1 4th Philip Ellis 52 ▼1 5th Alexander Albon 46 ◄0 6th Mike Rockenfeller 44 ▲3 7th Marco Wittmann 39 ◄0 8th Lucas Auer 29 ◄0 9th Sheldon van der Linde 28 ▼3 10th Nico Müller 26 ◄0 11th Daniel Juncadella 19 ◄0 12th Esteban Muth 15 ▲1 13th Vincent Abril 12 ▲2 14th Maximilian Buhk 9 ▼2 2021 Junior Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Liam Lawson 65 ◄0 2nd Sheldon van der Linde 28 ◄0 3rd Esteban Muth 15 ◄0 4th Sophia Flörsch 0 ◄0

2021 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Team ABT Sportsline 141 ▲1 2nd AF Corse 111 ▼1 3rd Mercedes Team Winward 81 ◄0 4th Mercedes Team HRT 66 ◄0 5th Walkenhorst Motorsport 39 ▲1 6th ROWE Racing 28 ▼1 7th Team Rosberg 26 ◄0 8th Mercedes Team GruppeM 19 ◄0 9th T3 Motorsport 15 ▲1 10th Mercedes Team Mücke 9 ▼1 2021 Manufacturers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Mercedes-AMG 171 ◄0 2nd Audi 167 ◄0 3rd Ferrari 111 ◄0 4th BMW 67 ◄0 5th Lamborghini 15 ◄0 6th McLaren 0 ◄0

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.

References

Images and Videos:

• Liveries: byggxx, 'Rennwagen (2021)', dtm.fandom.com/de, (DTM Wiki/de, 2021), https://dtm.fandom.com/de/wiki/Kategorie:Rennwagen_(2021), (Accessed 29/05/2020)

References: