Dieter Gass (Head of Audi Motorsport)
“It was an unbelievable weekend, and above all for René (Rast). Two wins and two pole positions – I don’t know how he does it. Obviously it’s fantastic for René, but also fantastic for Audi. After the difficult start to the season we couldn’t really expect this. We never gave up and improved the car little by little within the confines of the limited possibilities that the regulations allow. As a consequence of the new regulations relating to the minimum tire pressure, the challenge grew for everybody, and also for us. We must now work so that the other drivers reach the level of René. He benefitted twice this weekend by the fact that he nailed his qualifying lap like nobody else.”
René Rast (Audi Sport RS 5 DTM #33) 1st place / 1st place
“A perfect weekend! Even though I’ve been racing for a long time, I’ve never experienced anything quite like this in my career. Two poles, two wins – and this in such a hard-fought championship like the DTM. Many thanks to the team, to Audi and everybody who didn’t give up over the last weeks. We were almost last in the championship and within just a few weeks we’ve moved up to third place. Only 57 points separate us from the leader. We’re now more motivated than ever before and hope to have some more great wins.”
Mike Rockenfeller (Schaeffler Audi RS 5 DTM #99) 6th place / 12th place
“A very mixed home race for my 150th DTM race! On Saturday I was 14th after the first lap and finished sixth. It was a great race and I was fast. On Sunday I was already third and was looking forward to fighting for the podium. Then I missed my braking point and got a flat sport as a result and no more performance. Later there was also contact which caused me to spin. A shame as much more was possible.”
Loïc Duval (Audi Sport RS 5 DTM #28) 8th place / 11th place
“Things still looked good in free practice, but from qualifying on Saturday I couldn’t use the performance in the car. The first race was okay, I was able to catch some cars and score points. I changed the setup for Sunday but the race was even harder than on Saturday. I was stuck behind Pascal Wehrlein and just couldn’t overtake. Otherwise I could probably have finished ninth.”
Nico Müller (Castrol EDGE Audi RS 5 DTM #51) 10th place / 13th place
“On Saturday I had a bad qualifying session, but a good race. On Sunday qualifying was a little better but I just didn’t get lucky to be sixth or seventh. In the race the pace felt good and we had the chance to finish sixth or seventh. I was involved in a hard battle with Pascal Wehrlein, got knocked into a spin and dropped out of the top ten.”
Robin Frijns (Aral Ultimate Audi RS 5 DTM #4) 17th place / 10th place
“The weekend didn’t start well. From first free practice I was a little behind and wasn’t completely satisfied with my car. In the second race the pace was quite okay, but I had the feeling that we didn’t extract the maximum. However, on the whole I’m pleased with tenth and a point.”
Jamie Green (Hoffmann Group Audi RS 5 DTM #53) 14th place / 15th place
“Unfortunately there weren’t many highlights. The qualifying sessions were weak with 14th and 15th places – this is not where we should be. On Saturday I took a risk with the strategy and made my pit stop on the sixth lap, but it didn’t work. With the new tire pressure regulations you can’t drive such long stints. On Sunday I had light contact on the first lap and the front tire was flat. The race pace was really good but with the extra pit stop we were too far back.”
Thomas Biermaier (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline)
“Congratulations to René (Rast) and Team Rosberg. They did a spectacular job and with 56 points took the maximum haul. After Misano we travelled here very motivated and in a positive frame of mind and we are very disappointed to travel home with just two points. Our targets are different.”
Ernst Moser (Team Director Audi Sport Team Phoenix)
“René (Rast) demonstrated one again what you can achieve with the Audi RS 5 DTM. Hats off! Qualifying wasn’t perfect on Saturday, but we were able to move up through the field in the race. This is why I was satisfied with Saturday and optimistic for Sunday. After that qualifying was also okay. But the race was frustrating, both drivers scored no points. We could have achieved so much more. Loïc (Duval) wasn’t as fast as in the three previous races, he didn’t feel the tire so well.”
Arno Zensen (Team Director Audi Sport Team Rosberg)
“What a weekend! Incredible when you think just where we started at the beginning of the year. We struggled to make the top ten. But now René (Rast) took pole position twice here and claimed two wins – cool! Thanks to Audi for believing in us. And thanks to my guys as the stops were fantastic. It was a mega weekend!”
Audi driver René Rast achieved the perfect DTM weekend at the Nürburgring: As he did on Saturday, the defending champion also claimed pole position and victory on Sunday. As a result, he scored the maximum possible points with his Audi RS 5 DTM and moved up to third overall in the overall standings.
