Continue to review motorsport news. Last weekend, Germany became a motorsport center, in parallel with the passing rally stage, a DTM racing weekend was held at the Lauzitsring. This weekend for DTM a historical event was brewing, namely the 500th race.
In Saturday's qualification before the 499th race, the pole was won by Rene Rast, this is the sixth pole for the vice champion of DTM. Rast showed a lap time of 1 35.241, which is 45 thousandths faster than Jamie Green, who was the fastest in the first races. The third place on the starting grid was taken by Nico Muller, the fourth - Robin Frijns. Thus, the manufacturer from Ingolstadt occupied the first lines of the starting grid. The fastest BMW rider was Marco Wittmann in fifth place. The fastest driver of the Aston Martin team was Jake Dennis in 13th place.
Heading the Saturday race, the pole owner nevertheless quickly went to the pits and got off the track due to problems with the car. Already on the seventh lap, Rast felt a lack of power, this was used by the closest pursuer Nico Muller, this was a decisive moment in the fight for the podium, since from that moment Muller remained the leader of the race until the finish line. Taking advantage of the slowdown in the first positions, Marco Wittmann joined the fight. Jamie Green put pressure on the leader of the race and was ready to participate in the fight for first place, but received a fine for a dangerous exit from the pit lane in the end rolled back to 10th place. After the pit stop, Wittmann fell out of the fight and could not hold back Frijns and Rockenfeller who had stopped earlier.
In qualifying before the 500th DTM race, Jamie Green was the fastest pilot with a time of 1,335,397. This time no one could improve until the end of the session and this was the first pole for Green this season. Jonathan Aberdeen took second place on the starting line. Behind them at the start will come Nico Muller and Rene Rast - the main competitors in the fight for the title. Once again, the best BMW racer was Mark Wittmann, finishing in sixth place.
In the Sunday race, just a day after his failure, Rene Rast achieved a triumph. Four races before the end of the season, the duel between the two racers Audi is gaining momentum. Meanwhile, the manufacturer himself ahead of schedule celebrated his success by winning the 2019 Designer Cup. Already at the start of the race, Rast laid the foundation for his victory, coming in second and fourth. Mueller’s clutch problems knocked him out of the fight and after the first lap the Swiss rider was 10th. After four laps, Rast beat Green and secured the lead in the race. Nico Muller thanks to an early pit stop was able to reduce the lead over the leader and eventually became the second in the race. Thus, Muller scored points in each of the previous races of the season. The best of BMW pilots, as in qualification, was Marco Wittmann, taking sixth place. The best racer from the team Aston Martin Daniel Juncadella took 12th place. It is noteworthy that he was the only one from Aston Martin who reached the finish line. Timo Glock, as in the first race, was forced to leave the track due to problems with the car.
Photos taken from dtm.com
