RenĂŠ Rast achieves fourth DTM victory in succession
Nico MĂźller perfects one-two result for Audi
Driversâ championship to be decided at the Hockenheim finale
Audi achieved its 100th DTM victory at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. Following the somewhat fortunate one-two-three success on Saturday, Audi Sport celebrated a dominant one-two result on Sunday thanks to RenĂŠ Rast (Audi Sport Team Rosberg) and Nico MĂźller (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline).
âBefore the event, we definitely didnât expect to score our 100th victory here at Spielberg,â said Head of Audi Motorsport Dieter Gass. âThis is simply incredible. After qualifying, we didnât think we could win. We were hoping for Nico (MĂźller) to somehow manage to get in front of the Mercedes-Benz cars, and he did. RenĂŠ had a fantastic start. He put himself in a good position and subsequently drove an excellent race. The timing of the pit stop was perfect, too. Now weâre looking forward to Hockenheim.â
By clinching his fourth consecutive victory, RenĂŠ Rast managed to keep the DTM title race open. Mercedes-Benz secured an early win of the manufacturersâ classification at Spielberg, while in the more prestigious driversâ classification the reigning champion before the last two races at the Hockenheimring on October 13/14 only has a deficit of 30 points to Paul Di Resta and 26 to Gary Paffett.
Rast closed a similar gap last year at Hockenheim by delivering a perfect performance during the final weekend. The DTMâs shooting star is already sure of finishing the driversâ classification in one of the top three positions.
Like on Saturday, Rast on Sunday did not manage a perfect qualifying on a partially wet track. However, from seventh on the grid, the title defender in his Audi RS 5 DTM advanced to fourth position as early as on the first lap.
With strong lap times about halfway through the race and a quicker pit stop, Rast succeeded in overtaking his title rivals Gary Paffett and Paul Di Resta, and subsequently Nico MĂźller as well. The Swiss had started from the front row and fought a thrilling duel with Gary Paffett during the opening laps before being able to pull clear of the field shortly before the pit stops. âThe duel was a lot of fun and my car was also fantastic today,â said MĂźller.
âThank you very much to Audi and to my team! That I didnât put up very much of a fight against RenĂŠ is logical when you look at the standings. Audi clinched four of the possible six podium places including both victories here. Thatâs simply fantastic.â
RenĂŠ Rast was rather speechless after the race. âIt was an incredible weekend,â said the title defender who was presented with the winnerâs trophy by âfolk rock ânâ rollerâ Andreas Gabalier. âIâm incredibly thankful for a good race, a good car, a good pit stop and, again, good teamwork. Iâm simply overjoyed.â
The 31-year-old German again wrote a small chapter of DTM history: After Klaus Ludwig, Nicola Larini and Alessandro Nannini, he is only the fourth driver to have celebrated four victories in succession. Most recently, Nannini had achieved this feat in 1996. In the ânewâ DTM (since 2000), Rast is even the first ever driver to have done this.
Thanks to Mike Rockenfeller from Audi Sport Team Phoenix in eighth place, all three Audi Sport teams scored points again on Sunday. Jamie Green, Robin Frijns and LoĂŻc Duval in the 12th, 13th and 16th positions went home without points.
Statistics: 100 Audi victories in the DTM
Teams:
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline 55, Audi Sport Team Rosberg 18, SMS 12, Audi Sport Team Phoenix 8, AZR 7.
Drivers:
Mattias EkstrĂśm 23, Hans-Joachim Stuck 11, Edoardo Mortara 8, Jamie Green 8, RenĂŠ Rast 8, Frank Biela 7, Laurent Aiello 7, Timo Scheider 7, Martin Tomczyk 7, Mike Rockenfeller 5, Tom Kristensen 4, Miguel Molina 3, Nico MĂźller 1, Walter RĂśhrl 1.