DTM - Nurburgring: Not a good weekend for Fabio

This weekend, rounds 9 and 10 of this year’s DTM season took place on the Grand Prix race track at the Nurburgring. It was the first time that Fabio Scherer returned to a place where he had at least tested with the DTM-Audi of his Belgian team WRT.

« The gaps in the DTM are extremely narrow, » says Fabio. « And many drivers have a lot of experience with these cars. That’s why every race on a circuit I already know is a bit easier for me. And that’s why I was particularly looking forward to the races at the Nurburgring. »

Despite his track knowledge Fabio was not satisfied with the handling of his Audi RS5 DTM as early as Friday. In both free practice sessions the driver from WRT Team Audi Sport was missing more than one second. In the first qualifying session the gap became even bigger. So it was no secret that the 21-year-old Swiss driver was not satisfied with grid position 16. « I had no feeling for the brakes, » says Fabio. « They blocked again and again. I could never really build up confidence that way. »

In the race, Scherer had less problems than in qualifying. But in the end, within striking distance of his team mates, he could only secure P15. « The car had massive understeer, » said the DTM rookie supported by STOBAG and ATS Banding Systems. « At least it was a slight improvement if you compare with qualifying. »

Fabio finished the second qualifying session on P14, making him the fastest driver within the team. The start was also very good. Fabio made up another two positions. But after that he couldn’t keep up the pace any more. « All weekend long I was plagued by this understeer. We just couldn’t get it out of our minds. In the Schumacher-S I once rode through the gravel, which shows how difficult it was to handle the car. It was definitely not a good weekend. I hope that we can learn the lessons from these two races and do it better next week – again at the Nurburgring. »