The defending Champion is back: in the tenth race of the year, René Rast gave the Audi RS 5 DTM its first victory of the season in the sand dunes at Zandvoort (Netherlands).
What a story! In 2016, René Rast made an unexpected debut quite literally overnight in the DTM at Zandvoort. At that time he replaced Adrien Tambay, who had been injured the day before, in Audi Sport Team Rosberg. In 2017, Rast won the title as rookie at the first attempt, but had a difficult weekend in Zandvoort. Two years after his debut he ended Audi’s lean spell in the current DTM season in the dunes on the North Sea.
The defending Champion took his fourth victory in the DTM using a risky strategy: starting the race from third on the grid, the German changed tires after only one lap and with this strategy moved ahead of Gary Paffett (Mercedes-Benz) and Philipp Eng (BMW). After Paffett had also completed his pit stop, Rast extended his lead to almost three seconds before the safety car was deployed and duly nullified his advantage. However, at the restart Rast held his lead and defended first place against the championship leader all the way to the finish.
« The last 15 minutes were the hardest that I have ever experienced in a race, » said Rast, who completed 34 laps with one set of tires around the tire-killing track. « I didn’t expect this result before the race. However, we took an extremely risky strategy and I had a mega car that was consistently fast. So we could fight with Mercedes-Benz for victory. This win is incredibly refreshing after the long run of bad luck this year. »
« What a race. Incredible! » said Rast’s team director Arno Zensen. « You can only congratulate René for this performance. When of all people (his teammate) Jamie (Green) caused the safety car phase I nearly died. But René brought the victory home. Of course we are over the moon to have finally won a race again. Thanks to Audi for the fantastic car and the clever strategy! »
With the same strategy as Rast, Nico Müller (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline) moved from 16th on the grid to seventh place and in doing so also scored points. Following his strong race on Saturday, teammate Robin Frijns in contrast retired early after only ten laps due to a defect in the electric system. Jamie Green finished the race in 14th place after receiving a drive-through penalty following a collision with Bruno Spengler (BMW). Loïc Duval and Mike Rockenfeller (both Audi Sport Team Phoenix) finished 15th and 16th after punctures and additional pit stops.
After a short break the action continues on August 11–12 at Brands Hatch (Great Britain). The DTM competes for the first time on the longer circuit, which is regarded as equally challenging as the track in Zandvoort.
René Rast (Audi Sport RS 5 DTM #33) 17th place / 1st place “Last on Saturday, first on Sunday – my feelings couldn’t have been more mixed! Sunday’s race was obviously great: I had a mega car and with a super strategy won from third on the grid. Towards the end it was really close again because of the safety car. I hope that this was the turning point for a better second half to the season.”
Robin Frijns (Aral Ultimate Audi RS 5 DTM #4) 5th place / retired “Saturday was a perfect home race: best Audi driver in qualifying and my best DTM result so far with fifth place. A fantastic day. Unfortunately, on Sunday my car had an electronic problem, which accompanied me the entire day and which ultimately caused the retirement in the race. But even as I rolled to a stop at Turn 11 my fans applauded me enthusiastically. Thanks to all for the phenomenal support.”
Nico Müller (Castrol EDGE Audi RS 5 DTM #51) retired / 7th place “It’s always a highlight to be able to drive a race car in Zandvoort. A sensational track, pure adrenalin. In the first race a fourth place and twelve points slipped through our hands due to a puncture. This is annoying. On Sunday we completely missed the balance-window in qualifying. A shame because the race pace was top. With a good strategy and a perfect stop we moved up from 16th to seventh. This is a just reward for the mechanics who rebuilt my car again after yesterday’s accident.”
Jamie Green (Hoffmann Group Audi RS 5 DTM #53) 10th place / 14th place “Unfortunately, I had problems in qualifying on both days. A shame because my Audi was fast in both the free practices as well as the race. At least on Saturday I could move up from the back row to tenth and in the points. Unfortunately, on Sunday the strategy wasn’t ideal and I got caught up behind a competitor, with whom there was contact later. As a result I was given a drive-through penalty. Congratulations to Audi, Team Rosberg and René (Rast) for the victory. He showed that we have made progress with the car, and we can look correspondingly optimistic towards the second-half of the season.”
Loïc Duval (Audi Sport RS 5 DTM #28) 11th place / 15th “In the free practice sessions I was fifth twice and fourth once. In both races I was also among the fastest five. This underlines that the speed was there and we could have scored a lot of points. Unfortunately, both qualifyings didn’t function as expected and the races didn’t run according to plan. The performance was good, but as far as the result is concerned it was rather a bleak weekend.”
Mike Rockenfeller (Schaeffler Audi RS 5 DTM #99) 15th place / 16th place “First of all congratulations to René (Rast), Team Rosberg and Audi for taking the first win of the season. It was a great performance. For me, Sunday was much better than Saturday, both qualifying with sixth on the grid and also the race. We changed the car a lot compared to Saturday as the race pace was nowhere near where it should be. In the second race a top six finish was possible, unfortunately a tire lost pressure after the restart and I had to make another pit stop.”
Thomas Biermaier (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline) “Congratulations to René Rast who took Audi’s first victory of the season. We scored points with both cars again this weekend and had excellent strategies on both days. Robin (Frijns) drove excellently on Saturday. A shame on Sunday that there was an electronic problem with his car, which couldn’t be solved. It was annoying that Nico (Müller) lost a top-five result on Saturday with a puncture. It was impressive that out team repaired the car so quickly after the accident without having to take a joker and then to complete the fastest pit stop as well on Sunday. With a better qualifying session for Nico so much more than seventh place could have been possible on Sunday, because he was just as fast as René (Rast) in the race.”
Ernst Moser (Team Director Audi Sport Team Phoenix) “A fantastic race for Audi, René (Rast) and Team Rosberg. The win showed that we can also win this year with the Audi RS 5 DTM when everything fits. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case with our team in Zandvoort. Although we impressed repeatedly with good lap times we also seemed to suffer as much bad luck as you can have on such a weekend. If we can shake this off and put our performance all together then we’ll also celebrate on the podium again.”
Arno Zensen (Team Director Audi Sport Team Rosberg) “What an incredible mix of emotions! On Saturday the safety car destroyed René Rast’s race, on Sunday almost the same again! René (Rast) drove two great races. I’m absolutely delighted that we finally won a DTM race again. Thanks to the team and thanks also to the strategists who did everything right. The strategy was touch and go, but exactly right. I’m just happy.”
Press release Audi Sport
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