Van der Linde hits perfect shot in Assen

Fortune favors the bold, says the proverb. Sheldon Van der Linde magnified it on Sunday in Assen. The BMW driver achieved a masterstroke by winning the second race of the weekend, in a car that was inferior on paper. A perfectly timed heist.

The South African nevertheless qualified 14th, far, far behind pole sitter Rene Rast accompanied by the big names of the weekend, Loïc duval, Robin Frijns and Nico Müller. We thought that victory was going to be between them.

But the weather created the right conditions for a surprise. Having left under safety because ten minutes late after a deluge, the pilots quickly saw that the track was going to dry out. Lost for lost, Van der Linde took the gamble of stopping on the tenth lap to change tires.

Meanwhile, Loic Duval, who had taken the lead at the start, was overtaken lap after lap. Robin Frijns found himself in the lead with a comfortable lead. Behind, the two championship leaders René Rast and Nico Müller were at war, quickly joined by Timo Glock, on fire in the BMW. Rast gave way on lap 18, then Glock overtook Müller on lap 26 and found himself second.

The trajectory was now almost dry and the waltz of stops began. At that moment, we saw Sheldon van der Linde reappear… In first position. With better tires, he was able to string together fast laps and find himself in front of the favorites. With a quarter of an hour of racing remaining, everything remained playable.

When suddenly, Fabio Scherer hit the tire wall, triggering the safety car. This turned into a red flag when the rain fell again.

The drivers had five minutes of racing to spare, but the theft had already been committed. Van der Linde won ahead of Robin Frijns, who made the big move of the weekend in the championship, and Nico Müller. Loïc Duval ranks fourth ahead of René Rast. Note the great performance of Ferdinand Habsburg, who scored twice this weekend with Team WRT. 

In the championship, Nico Müller now has a 26-point lead over his new runner-up Robin Frijns. René Rast falls to third place.

The classification of the race.