Four Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTMs in Top Ten in first race at Hockenheim

Penultimate race of season at Hockenheim: Edoardo Mortara, Robert Wickens, Lucas Auer and Gary Paffett finish in the points

• Edoardo Mortara (BWT Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM) finished the penultimate race of the season in fifth place, Robert Wickens (Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM Mercedes me) was seventh
• Lucas Auer (BWT Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM) in P8 achieved his 20th points-scoring finish in the DTM
• Gary Paffett (Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM Mercedes me) in P9 finished in the Top Ten for the 13th time this season
• Edoardo Mortara: “I don’t think we could have done more today, but ultimately, P5 is a good result for me”
• Ulrich Fritz: “We achieved points-scoring finishes with four of our Mercedes cars. That’s what was good about today”

The DTM is holding the last race weekend of the 2017 season at Hockenheim, which is a home fixture for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport. Edoardo Mortara (BWT Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM), the winner of two races at Hockenheim, ended the 17th race of the season in fifth place, achieving his 51st points-scoring finish in the DTM.

In total, four Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTMs came home in the Top Ten. Robert Wickens (Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM Mercedes me) was seventh, crossing the line directly in front of his Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM team colleague Lucas Auer (BWT Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM, eighth place). The winner of the first race of the season at Hockenheim took his 20th points-scoring finish of his DTM career and his tenth this season. Gary Paffett (Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM Mercedes me), who has won four times at Hockenheim, achieved his 13th finish in the points this year and his 106th overall in the DTM.

Two-time winner at Hockenheim Paul Di Resta (Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM) crossed the finish line in P14. Maro Engel took the chequered flag in P16 in his orange SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM to end the penultimate race of the season.

Looking ahead to race 2: The final round of the 2017 DTM season starts on Sunday at 15:13 CEST (live on ARD TV at 15:00 CEST). Third practice will take place before that at 09:00 CEST followed by the second qualifying at 12:00 CEST (live on One at 11:55 CEST). During each race weekend, we will provide live timing data, live commentary, fan voting and exclusive behind-the-scenes videos of the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM Team on our website at: www.mercedes-amg-motorsport.com/dtm.

Comments after the race

Edoardo Mortara (30, Italy):

• P5
• Car number: 48
• Team: BWT Mercedes-AMG Motorsport
• Car: BWT Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM

“That was a long race, but I don’t think we could have done more today. Overall, I think that we did just about everything right. I had a good qualifying and a good start. I was always able to attack when necessary, but we were just a little bit slower than the others towards the end and were down on pace slightly. And so, we couldn’t fight them properly, which is a pity, because we had a good scrap with them in the first stint. But ultimately, P5 is a good result for me.”

Robert Wickens (28, Canada):

• P7
• Car number: 6
• Team: Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me
• Car: Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM Mercedes me

“That was not an easy day. We did a better than expected job to go sixth on the grid and with Edo in P5. I think that was more or less probably the maximum that we could have done. In the race itself, I ran a pretty lonely P6 for the whole thing. I fell back to P7 after the pit sequence, because Rocky was incredibly quick. I tried to overtake Rene Rast on the second-to-last lap, but unfortunately I couldn’t make it work and I had to settle for P7. The last few races, we have been scoring some steady points. Hopefully we can work over night and try to be a little quicker tomorrow.”

Lucas Auer (23, Austria):

• P8
• Car number: 22
• Team: BWT Mercedes-AMG Motorsport
• Car: BWT Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM

“After things just didn’t work for us in qualifying, I at least improved by seven places in the race. But unfortunately, we were never going to get more than that today. Now we have to wait and see what’s feasible tomorrow.”

Gary Paffett (36, England):

• P9
• Car number: 2
• Team: Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me
• Car: Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM Mercedes me

“I’m obviously pretty disappointed with qualifying. I just didn’t achieve the maximum. We should have been in the Top Five or Six on the grid. Starting from P11, it was obvious things would be tough. I put in quite a long first stint and pitted after everyone else, because we wanted to have a fresher set of tyres at the end of the race. When I came out of the pits, it felt like I’d gained some ground but I then got stuck behind Lucas and couldn’t find a way past. So I finished in P9 and got some points at least, but maybe more would have been possible. Hopefully, I can have a better qualifying tomorrow.”

Paul Di Resta (31, Scotland):

• P14
• Car number: 3
• Team: SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport
• Car: Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM

“A very painful day. We lacked a bit of pace in qualifying, and that continued into the race. For sure, the first lap could have been a bit better, but I chose to try and protect Lucas a bit. From there on, I was a bit on the back foot and didn’t have the speed. We have to look into that tonight. It would be nice to go out on a high, but we struggled for pace, although we are normally pretty good here. Anyway, let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

Maro Engel (32, Germany):

• P15
• Car number: 63
• Team: SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport
• Car: SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM

“That was a difficult qualifying session and consequently a difficult race. I didn’t feel quite so comfortable in the car today. With having to start from 17th on the grid today, I decided to take a chance and pit at the end of Lap 1. It was clear to us that it would be tremendously hard without a safety car deployment. But my thanks go to the team anyway. My car worked flawlessly. We’l l now analyse what changes we can make in the setup for tomorrow. Then we can hopefully put in a stronger performance, especially in qualifying. If we can do that, we will also be in a position to finish significantly further forward.”

Ulrich Fritz, Head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM:

“We achieved points-scoring finishes with four of our Mercedes cars. That’s what was good about today. It’s obviously a pity to finally be out of the fight for the championship. Qualifying was certainly key in putting the top positions out of reach today. We will definitely aim to end the season on a more positive note tomorrow.”

Race results: Top Ten

Drivers‘ Championship

Manufacturers‘ Championship

Teams‘ Championship

Press release Mercedes-AMG, picture : Ludovic Carnal-Project Diffusion/Sport-Auto.ch