The Schubert BMW driver aced the start and, despite carrying 25 additional kilos that allowed Maro Engel (Gruppe M Mercedes) to close, he never came under serious threat until the final sequence of corners and won by 0.347 seconds.
Three-time DTM champion Rene Rast took the first podium of his comeback season in third in the leading Abt Audi, as a quick pitstop elevated van der Linde's team-mate Philipp Eng to fourth.
As van der Linde led into the banked Turn 1, Engel, Rast and Mirko Bortolotti (Grasser Lamborghini) briefly went three-wide behind him in their squabble over third.
Engel and Rast remained side-by-side on the long run to the Turn 2 left-hander and, just as Rast conceded the corner, Bortolotti made an aggressive move to Engel's inside that resulted in contact and nerfed the Mercedes sideways.
Engel slithered over the grass and rejoined right in front of Bortolotti, who had to jam on the brakes and lost third to Rast as a result.
The leaders ran in that order until the pitstop cycle began on lap seven, with Ricardo Feller (Abt Audi) peeling in from fifth position.
A quick stop for Eng, who had been seventh prior to the pit sequence, meant he rejoined narrowly ahead of the Swiss.
After Engel pitted on lap eight, van der Linde, Rast and Bortolotti came in together on the following tour.
Eng's pace on new tyres meant he cleared Bortolotti, the Italian also fell behind Nico Muller (Team Rosberg Audi) when the Portimao winner came in on lap 10.
That trio remained in the same position to the flag, despite Muller tapping Eng sideways on the exit of Turn 10 on lap 22 and Muller making a mistake at Turn 4 that allowed Bortolotti to get alongside on lap 12.
On new tyres, van der Linde kept Engel at arm's length, with the Mercedes man only truly getting close enough to challenge on the final lap.
His double win puts him into the lead of the standings ahead of Bortolotti, who was a frustrated sixth.
Nick Cassidy in the Red Bull Ferrari had closed strongly on the trio ahead and was set to finish seventh when he was forced into the pits by a puncture.
It completed a disappointing weekend for the AF Corse-run squad, after a fire in qualifying meant Felipe Fraga was unable to take the start.
Feller, who had lost out to Cassidy and had a grassy moment at Turn 4, took the flag in seventh ahead of pre-event points leader Lucas Auer (Winward Mercedes).
Laurens Vanthoor (SSR Performance Porsche) and Marco Wittmann completed the point scorers, the Belgian repassing his Walkenhorst BMW rival after the double DTM champion's lunge at Turn 2 cost both drivers positions to Auer.
Result - 36 laps:
| Cla | Driver | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 Sheldon Van Der Linde | BMW M4 GT3 | |
| 2 |
 Maro Engel | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 0.347 |
| 3 |
René Rast | Audi R8 LMS Evo II | 1.817 |
| 4 |
 Philipp Eng | BMW M4 GT3 | 6.907 |
| 5 |
 Nico Müller | Audi R8 LMS Evo II | 7.338 |
| 6 |
 Mirko Bortolotti | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | 7.682 |
| 7 |
Ricardo Feller | Audi R8 LMS Evo II | 14.572 |
| 8 |
Lucas Auer | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 14.872 |
| 9 |
 Laurens Vanthoor | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 15.426 |
| 10 |
Marco Wittmann | BMW M4 GT3 | 16.236 |
| 11 |
 Dennis Olsen | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 16.732 |
| 12 |
Luca Stolz | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 21.836 |
| 13 |
 Arjun Maini | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 23.874 |
| 14 |
David Schumacher | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 27.503 |
| 15 |
Maximilian Götz | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 27.748 |
| 16 |
Rolf Ineichen | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | 29.537 |
| 17 |
 Dev Gore | Audi R8 LMS Evo II | 29.981 |
| 18 |
Esteban Muth | BMW M4 GT3 | 31.285 |
| 19 |
 Esmee Hawkey | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | 1'14.562 |
| 20 |
Kelvin van der Linde | Audi R8 LMS Evo II | 1'18.639 |
| 21 |
Alessio Deledda | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | 1 Lap |
| 22 |
Maximilian Buhk | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 2 Laps |
| 23 |
 Nick Cassidy | Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 | 4 Laps |
|
Marius Zug | Audi R8 LMS Evo II | 7 Laps | |
|
Clemens Schmid | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | 13 Laps | |
 Nicki Thiim | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | 29 Laps | |
|
Thomas Preining | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 33 Laps | |
 Mikael Grenier | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | ||
| View full results | |||
