DTM – Audi scores one-two victory at motorsport festival
The brilliant winner of the fourth race this season was Jamie Green from Audi Sport Team Rosberg who had just barely missed pole position by 0.027 seconds in an extremely close qualifying session. Having started from position three, the Briton overtook the BMW of Tom Blomqvist as early as on lap four and afterwards went on to chase the fastest driver in qualifying, Robert Wickens in a Mercedes-Benz. On the 31st of 43 laps, Green pulled off the crucial overtaking maneuver at the end of the start-finish straight. Subsequently, Green managed to pull clear of his immediate rivals, control the pace and celebrate a dominant 15th victory in his DTM career. In the overall classification, Green improved to position two, trailing leader of the standings Lucas Auer, who only came tenth on Sunday, by just 16 points.
“I’m very happy about my second victory in just four races this season,” Jamie Green said after his victorious run. “It felt like a long race. I was following Robert Wickens in position two most of the time and waited for the perfect time to attack. In the first stint, Robert was very strong, but after the pit stop I was able to attack. The battle with him was fair and in the end I managed to gain an advantage. Plus, it’s great that two Audi drivers were on podium today.”
A sensational race with an aggressive strategy made Mattias Ekström advance from grid position eight to second place. Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline called the Swede into the pits for the tire change after just one lap. In spite of his extremely early stop, Ekström set consistently fast lap times up until the end and six laps before the finish overtook Robert Wickens as well. “With a good setup, I’ve always been able to take it easy on the tires,” said the rallycross world champion following his first DTM podium result in the 2017 season. “And today we had a good setup. Starting from position eight meant we had to show some willingness to take risks. This tactic worked out tremendously.”
Mike Rockenfeller (Audi Sport Team Phoenix) advanced from grid position eleven to fifth place using the same tactic. The German changed tires after just one lap too. Nico Müller finished his 50th DTM race in position six. René Rast completed Audi’s success in seventh place and by setting a new lap record that beat his best time from the day before. Loïc Duval achieved fast lap times as well. However, following a few fierce duels, the DTM rookie had to settle for position 18 in the end.
“That was truly fantastic for us today,” Head of Audi Motorsport Dieter Gass said after the race. “We successfully fought a forward battle with nearly all our drivers. Obviously, Jamie’s (Green) victory is particularly sweet, but the aggressive strategies of Mattias (Ekström) and Mike (Rockenfeller) with their stops on lap one were top-class too. They set fast times up until the end and Mike even posted his fastest lap on the penultimate one. This speaks for our new Audi RS 5 DTM. We had five Audi cars in the top seven today. What more could you ask for?”
Dieter Gass (Head of Audi Motorsport)
“We experienced a tremendous motorsport festival at the Lausitzring. The crowd was impressive, especially on Sunday. Obviously, that was the outstanding day for us, too: a one-two victory and five Audi cars in the top seven positions – you could hardly wish for more. We’ve now won two of the first four races and had at least one driver on podium every time. This speaks for our squad and the new Audi RS 5 DTM that is extremely strong over the race distance. In qualifying, there’s still some room for improvement, although Jamie (Green) on Sunday was only lacking 0.027 seconds for pole position. Except for the Norisring, I can’t remember ever having seen such a close qualifying. The race, too, was highly entertaining again. We’re already looking forward to Budapest, as well as to the short breather, because the entire squad has been working extremely hard in recent weeks and months.”
Jamie Green (Hoffmann Group Audi RS 5 DTM #53) position 10 / position 1
“It’s been a weekend with highs and lows. Saturday with an average qualifying and only position twelve on the grid was frustrating. Then there was the mistake in qualifying with one of René’s used tires on my car. As a result, I had to start from the last position on the grid. I managed to fight back to tenth place, which was a tough battle. On Sunday, things went better in terms of the setup, ‘many thanks’ from me to Audi Sport Team Rosberg for the hard work. I managed a good lap in qualifying and was in grid position three. I had to battle my way through the race and that worked out pretty well. Celebrating two victories on the first two race weekends is great.”
Mike Rockenfeller (Schaeffler Audi RS 5 DTM #99) position 5 / position 5
“My hopes had been a little higher, but I think that on the whole we can be happy. We finished in the top five twice. Both of the qualifying sessions weren’t really ideal, but in the race we advanced nicely. I think we’re constantly learning with the new tires, the new format and the new car. I’m already looking forward to Budapest. That’s a track I think is really cool. I’m hoping for us to be able to make another step forward.”
Mattias Ekström (Red Bull Audi RS 5 DTM #5) position 8 / position 2
“In terms of qualifying performance, the weekend was rather poor for me – that does bother me quite a bit. At least the two races were good. I had a few nice overtaking maneuvers, brought good points home and have hardly any scratches on the car. To sum it up: two great races following poor qualifying sessions.”
René Rast (AUTO BILD MOTORSPORT Audi RS 5 DTM #33) position 3 / position 7
“On the whole, I’m obviously satisfied with the weekend. My first podium on Saturday was awesome and on Sunday, in position seven, I managed to score solid points again. That we’re consistently fast gives me a particularly positive feeling. Fourth and sixth in the qualifying session, plus the fastest race lap twice: we can definitely build on that for the coming races.”
Nico Müller (Playboy Audi RS 5 DTM #51) position 18 / position 6
“We were consistently fast throughout the weekend at the Lausitzring: always good for the top eight in qualifying and the race pace was good, too. Unfortunately, a technical issue took us out of the race on Saturday when we were heading for a top-five result. On Sunday, I had a great race as well in which I overtook a lot of cars. But then there was a mistakable radio message from race control. I understood it to mean that I should give back a position after I’d just overtaken Maxime (Martin). In order to not risk a drive-through penalty I let him pass. Afterwards, I had to overtake him again and lost a lot of time in the process. That was frustrating, but the consistency we showed here gives me a positive feeling for the future.”
Loïc Duval (Castrol EDGE Audi RS 5 DTM #77) position 15 / position 18
“For me, personally, it’s been another difficult weekend, but at least a successful one for Audi – that obviously makes me happy. I try to concentrate on the positive things. In the first race, I set good lap times at least in my second stint and on Sunday, things went better after the pit stop as well. I posted the fourth-fastest lap time. But in total, all the things don’t fit together yet. We’re going to continue to work on that. In any case, I continue to be fully motivated and would like to battle for the top positions with the squad. Hopefully we’ll be able to do that already at Budapest.”


