After a rainy qualifying, the race took off on a damp racetrack. All six Audi drivers started on wet tires and switched to slicks between the third and the sixth lap. After a chaotic early stage with two short safety car phases, Robin Frijns launched his big show. One position at a time, the Dutchman fought his way up the field. With six laps to the flag, he overtook two rivals at once on the outside and three corners before the finish even managed to sweep past the Mercedes-Benz of Edoardo Mortara, who until then had been running in second.
“That was a tough and difficult race,” said Frijns, who has finished in the points six times so far in his maiden DTM season and is now the third-best Audi driver in the points. “First there was the damp track, then two safety car phases, topped off with a whole lot of chaos. I was pleased that the car stayed in one piece and was ultra fast over the entire race distance. That enabled me to overtake all those cars and also grab second place in the last lap. A great day!”
Loïc Duval from Audi Sport Team Phoenix and Frijns’s teammate Nico Müller put in equally inspired charges through the field and rounded off the strong Audi result with positions four and five. In the final phase, Müller struggled with a faulty DRS system, which partially opened the rear wing independently. Duval achieved his best result of the season, despite being “spun” by a competitor. Scoring tenth place, Mike Rockenfeller also finished in the points.
Competing for Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, Audi driver Robin Frijns has achieved the first podium of his DTM career in Misano, Italy. At the first ever floodlit night race in DTM history, the Dutchman ploughed from twelfth on the grid to finish second at the wheel of his Audi RS 5 DTM. With four cars in the top ten and a total of 42 points, Audi has yielded its best result of the season so far.
