HALFTIME in the most compact season in DTM history: After nine of 18 scheduled races, title defender Audi is clearly leading all three championships of the touring car racing series. Championship leader Nico Mí¼ller from Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline managed a perfect Saturday in the first of the four races at the Ní¼rburgring.
With his fourth victory of the season, the Swiss extended his lead in the drivers’ championship to 43 points. The best BMW driver is already 124 points behind after nine races. In the teams’ standings, the three Audi Sport Teams Abt Sportsline, Rosberg and Phoenix maintained their top three positions. In the manufacturers’ championship, the score between Audi and BMW at the halfway mark of the season is 614:275.
“Perfect days like today are rare in the DTM,” said Nico Mí¼ller after his commanding victory in Saturday’s race at the Ní¼rburgring. After setting the fastest time in free practice on Friday, the Audi driver secured pole position by 0.221 seconds, which is a big gap by DTM standards. During the race, the Swiss driver continued to pull away from his rivals and finally crossed the finish line with a 15.655-second lead. His fastest race lap was half a second clear of anybody else. “Today, everything simply worked for us,” said Mí¼ller. “My Audi felt mega. The team once again delivered a quick pit stop. The strategy was perfect and I was able to manage my tires well in the very long second stint. Today, we can just be happy. Thanks to Audi and the ABT team.”
Behind Nico Mí¼ller, defending champion René Rast from Audi Sport Team Rosberg crossed the finish line. “A second place is not a bad result,” said the two-time DTM champion. “However, the gap to Nico was huge. At the moment, he’s simply driving in a different league. He was already flying yesterday. Today, he was fast in qualifying and also in the race. At some point, he just disappeared. I instead had to fight with Robin (Frijns). Luckily he spun when he tried to overtake me.”
Frijns fell back from third to fifth due to his spin. “My attack may have looked a bit optimistic and spectacular on TV, but I have managed similar overtaking maneuvers before,” said Frijns, who, for a brief moment, literally became a “flying Dutchman”. “Before the pit stop, I was able to overtake René, but I was behind him again after the stop. When I attacked him, he defended himself well and I was forced onto the kerbs. As a result, I was briefly in the air with all four wheels and spun.”
Mike Rockenfeller from Audi Sport Team Phoenix profited from the Dutchman’s spin. Fourth place at his home race still didn’t make “Rocky” happy. “The gap to the top is simply too big and we’re not getting any closer,” said Rockenfeller. “We tried to get into a good position today with an early stop, however, my tires dropped off too much and that meant that I couldn’t really defend myself in the end.”
