The penultimate race weekend of the #dtm season in Spielberg ended with fourth place for Gary Paffett (Mercedes-AMG C 63 #dtm Mercedes me) in front of 35,500 spectators (through the gates over the weekend).
The 2005 #dtm champion thus achieved the 105th points-scoring finish of his #dtm career and his twelfth this season.
Two more #mercedesamg Motorsport #dtm drivers finished in the Top Ten – #pauldiresta (Mercedes-AMG C 63 #dtm, ninth place) and #robertwickens (Mercedes-AMG C 63 #dtm Mercedes me, 10th place). Wickens was fourth in the first race on Saturday.
Maro Engel (SILBERPFEIL Energy #mercedesamg C 63 DTM) finished the 16th race of the #dtm season in 15th place. Local favourite Lucas Auer (BWT #mercedesamg C 63 DTM) retired from his home race shortly before the end after Bruno Spengler (BMW) had caused him to spin off. Edoardo Mortara (BWT #mercedesamg C 63 DTM) also had to park up in the pits shortly afterwards.
The next race weekend: Drivers and teams will head from Styria to Hockenheim for the #dtm season finale, 13th – 15th October, when the last two races of the year will be contested at what is a home fixture for #mercedesamg Motorsport.
Comments after the race
Gary Paffett (36, England):
P4
Car number: 2
Team: #mercedesamg Motorsport Mercedes me
Car: #mercedesamg C 63 #dtm Mercedes me
“I’m pleased. I had a good qualifying and qualified in P6. Then I got a good start, but felt something odd just before I pitted. I thought maybe there was a lot of pickup on the tyres. The car felt good on the fresh set of tyres after the stop, so I was happy. Still, it was a very long stint, and I had to look after the tyres a bit. I managed, though, to hold on to P7 and then overtook two cars driven by Marco and Eki on the restart. I crossed the line in P4 thanks to Green and his problem. That was really good. It’s not ideal but it was the best possible result, given the pace we had this weekend.”
Paul Di Resta (31, Scotland):
P9
Car number: 3
Team: SILBERPFEIL Energy #mercedesamg Motorsport
Car: #mercedesamg C 63 DTM
“At least I came away with a few points. I was lucky to finish the race, because something was wrong with the set of tyres. I thought something was broken. I guess the safety car towards the end helped us a bit.”
Robert Wickens (28, Canada):
P10
Car number: 6
Team: #mercedesamg Motorsport Mercedes me
Car: #mercedesamg C 63 #dtm Mercedes me
“Pretty crazy race. I mean the start itself was okay. We tried going really long on the opening stint, which is why I was managing the tyres and maybe I overdid it, because I got a lot of graining. After that, I was struggling a little bit for speed. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough pace to make any undercuts, and I was catching #people on cold tyres and got stuck. The race opened up again once the safety car came out, and I’m pleased in the end to have scored at least one point. I had to fight hard for it. I overtook four cars on the last four laps, but ultimately, we now need to find out why our pace wasn’t as strong as yesterday.”
Maro Engel (32, Germany):
P15
Car number: 63
Team: SILBERPFEIL Energy #mercedesamg Motorsport
Car: SILBERPFEIL Energy #mercedesamg C 63 DTM
“Unfortunately, that was not a particularly good weekend for us. I think our pace in this race was not so bad. But the drive-through penalty was my fault – I pulled over to the right too early. It can be quite tricky, because you can’t see the line when you’re driving so close behind the other cars. That’s why I pulled over too soon. Now we are looking ahead to Hockenheim, where we intend to do a lot better.”
Edoardo Mortara (30, Italy):
Retired (classified P17)
Car number: 48
Team: BWT #mercedesamg Motorsport
Car: BWT #mercedesamg C 63 DTM
“My race today was heavily affected by the actions of another driver. Augusto Farfus pulled a dangerous move at the start and changed his line while braking. Later, on the restart, he pushed me off the track and ultimately out of the race.”
Lucas Auer (23, Austria):
Retired
Car number: 22
Team: BWT #mercedesamg Motorsport
Car: BWT #mercedesamg C 63 DTM
“That’s #racing. When you’re stuck way down the field, of course, it can happen that someone makes contact with you. Still, #racing here in Austria in front of such a large crowd was mega.”
Ulrich Fritz, Head of #mercedesamg Motorsport #dtm:
“Well, at least the fans got to see an exciting race towards the end, but it’s obviously very annoying the way that Luggi was pushed off track and out of the race through no fault of his own. As I saw it, the driving by one opponent in particular was downright aggressive. We lost three of our cars as a result. The one positive from today was Gary’s performance. What a strong display!”
Race results: Top Ten
Pos
Driver
Manufacturer
Time
1
René Rast
Audi
57:21.893
2
Mike Rockenfeller
Audi
+1.025
3
Nico Müller
Audi
+1.824
4
Gary Paffett
Mercedes-AMG
+3.741
5
Mattias Ekström
Audi
+6.136
6
Marco Wittmann
BMW
+7.968
7
Timo Glock
BMW
+8.181
8
Loic Duval
Audi
+8.457
9
Paul Di Resta
Mercedes-AMG
+9.328
10
Robert Wickens
Mercedes-AMG
+11.305
Drivers‘ Championship
Pos
Driver
Manufacturer
Points
1
Mattias Ekström
Audi
172
(…)
6
Lucas Auer
Mercedes-AMG
131
(…)
8
Robert Wickens
Mercedes-AMG
113
(…)
10
Paul Di Resta
Mercedes-AMG
99
11
Gary Paffett
Mercedes-AMG
88
(…)
14
Maro Engel
Mercedes-AMG
51
15
Edoardo Mortara
Mercedes-AMG
49
Manufacturers‘ Championship
Pos
Manufacturer
Points
1
Audi
697
2
Mercedes-AMG
531
3
BMW
484
Teams‘ Championship
Pos
Team
Points
1
Audi Sport Team Rosberg
288
(…)
3
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me
201
(…)
5
BWT #mercedesamg Motorsport
180
(…)
8
SILBERPFEIL Energy #mercedesamg Motorsport
150
148
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