“Before the event, we didn’t expect to score our 100th victory here at Spielberg,” said Head of Audi Motorsport Dieter Gass. “This is simply incredible. After qualifying, we didn’t think we could win. We were hoping for Nico (Müller) to manage somehow to get in front of the Mercedes-Benz cars, and he did. René 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 we’re looking forward to Hockenheim.”
By clinching his fourth consecutive victory, René Rast managed to keep the DTM title race open. Mercedes-Benz secured an early win of the manufacturers’ classification at Spielberg, while in the more prestigious drivers’ 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 DTM’s shooting star is already sure of finishing the drivers’ classification in one of the top three positions.
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René Rast was somewhat speechless after the race. “It was an incredible weekend,” said the title defender who was presented with the winner’s trophy by “folk rock ’n’ roller” Andreas Gabalier. “I’m incredibly thankful for a good race, a good car, a good pit stop and, again, good teamwork. I’m simply thrilled.”
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 “new” 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 Loïc Duval in the 12th, 13th and 16th positions went home without points.
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