AGAIN STRONG RESULTS IN THE DTM!

AGAIN STRONG RESULTS IN THE DTM!

25/08/2019

In the DTM, at the Lausitzring, Team WRT Audi Sport also produced a solid result, with three out of four points finishes for Pietro Fittipaldi and Jonathan Aberdein. The latter put again his Audi RS 5 DTM in first row for Race 2, proving the consistent growth of the team throughout this maiden season.

On a track where the Belgian team, for the first time in its maiden DTM season, could benefit from direct experience and own data (from the collective pre-season test), the squad’s cars did well since free practices, where they made it easily to the top-10, with Fittipaldi 6^th in the first session and Aberdein fourth in the second.

On Saturday, the Brazilian qualified 7^th for Race 1, while the South African couldn’t do better than 14th. Aberdein was complaining of the behavior of the car, which was taken out from parc fermé for a thorough check that did not reveal anything abnormal. This meant starting from the last row in the grid.

Race 1 was pretty linear, with Fittipaldi running 8^th in the initial phases before pitting in lap 13^th and gaining one position in the second part of the race to finish 7^th. Aberdein, on his side, had to struggle at the back of the grid, being further slowed by a drive-through penalty for unsafe release at the end of his pit stop in lap 12. He crossed the line in P14.

Luckily, things were completely different on Sunday for the South African, who took P2 in the qualifying for Race 2, starting from first row for the second time this year. Fittipaldi qualified 8^th. Race 2, the 500^th in DTM’s history, saw Aberdein taking a somehow slower start than his rivals, losing two positions, and Fittipaldi making a perfect lick-off and gaining three spots. Both made a relatively early pit stop (in lap 10 and 11, respectively, with Aberdein’s being the fastest one in the Audi camp), and found themselves in top positions in the second part of the race. Aberdein ran as high as 5^th and Fittipaldi 7^th. Both fought hard but, with the faster cars charging from the back with fresher tyres in the closing laps, they eventually finished 7^th and 9^th.

Pietro Fittipaldi: “Two points finishes, 7^th and 9^th, which make me happy because we regained a good momentum from past events. On Sunday, I had the pace to qualify in the top-4, but unfortunately, I could not put the right sectors together. In the race, I was 5^th at the beginning, but we still miss something in tyre degradation management. We still have to work on that and improve race pace, but we are focused and determined to improve.”

Jonathan Aberdein: “Overall, another promising weekend. Saturday, things did not go very well, because of a faulty tire set, which compromised qualifying and therefore the race. On Sunday, things turned around. We put the car in front row, which is incredible. The race didn’t quite go as planned, but we still banked some good points.”

DTM – Round 7
Lausitzring, Germany, 24-25 August 2019

Race 1 Result
1. Nico Müller (Audi) 34 laps

2. Robin Frijns (Audi) + 2s496
3. Mike Rockenfeller (Audi) + 3s206
4. Philipp Eng (BMW) +13s477
5. Loïc Duval (Audi) +14s742
7. Pietro Fittipaldi (Audi) +16s859

14. Jonathan Aberdein (Audi) +45s064

Race 2 Result
1. René Rast (Audi) 34 laps

2. Nico Müller (Audi) + 5s187
3. Mike Rockenfeller (Audi) + 8s953
4. Jamie Green (Audi) + 9s618

5. Robin Frijns (Audi) +11s341

7. Jonathan Aberdein (Audi) +13s752
9. Pietro Fittipaldi (Audi) +21s130

PHOTO: AUDI SPORT