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settembre 22, 2018 - Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport

DTM - Race 1 - Paul Di Resta takes championship lead from Gary Paffett

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Paul Di Resta leads the drivers' championship from #garypaffett by nine points with three races remaining before the end of the season

  • Paul Di Resta (Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS) regains the lead in the drivers’ standings after securing fourth place
  • Lucas Auer (SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport) books P6 and #garypaffett (Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS) is tenth
  • Mercedes-AMG Motorsport continue to lead the drivers’, constructors’ and team standings after 17 of the 20 races so far this season
  • Paul Di Resta: “Tomorrow is a new day and there’s no reason to feel too disappointed with fourth place”
  • Ulrich Fritz: “We had a very eventful race today with lots of scraps. It was a roller-coaster of emotions for us.”

Mercedes-AMG Motorsport went through the whole gamut of emotions as they got the penultimate race weekend of the 2018 #dtm season underway at #spielberg. To begin with, Daniel Juncadella (Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS) secured his third #dtm pole in qualifying and was first across the finish line in an exciting race that took place on a drying track. Daniel had led the race for a long time but received a drive-through penalty for transgressing the regs during the re-start shortly before the end of the race. That penalty was subsequently converted into a 30-second time penalty. As a result, he was bumped back down the field into 14th place.

His team-mate #pauldiresta (Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS) ended the race in fourth place to reclaim the lead in the drivers’ standings. Paul has a nine-point lead on his fellow Mercedes-AMG Motorsport #dtm driver, #garypaffett (Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS), after 17 out of 20 races so far this season.

Lucas Auer (SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport) finished his home fixture at #spielberg in P6. His team-mate #edoardomortara (SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport) came home in ninth place but also received a drive-through penalty after the race had ended. His penalty was also subsequently converted into a 30-second penalty, dropping him down into 16th place.

Gary Paffett fell back to the rear of the field after a chaotic opening lap and a contact with Bruno Spengler (BMW) to cross the line in tenth place. #sebastienogier (Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS) finished 12th ahead of #pascalwehrlein (Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS) as he made his #dtm debut.

Apart from leading the drivers’ standings, Mercedes-AMG Motorsport still head the team and constructors’ rankings in the #dtm. Team Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS (307 points) are in first place with a lead of 30 points on Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS (277 points). In the constructors’ classification, Mercedes-AMG (825 points) have a 280-point lead on BMW (545 points).

Looking ahead to race 2: The 18th round of the 2018 #dtm season starts on Sunday at 13:30 CEST (live on SAT.1 at 13:00 CEST). Third practice will take place before that at 08:30 CEST followed by the second qualifying at 10:35 CEST. During each race weekend, we will provide live timing data, live commentary, fan voting and exclusive behind-the-scenes videos of the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport #dtm Team on our website at: www.mercedes-amg-motorsport.com/dtm.

Comments after the race

Paul Di Resta (32, Scotland):

  • P4
  • Car number: 3
  • Team: Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS
  • Car: Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM

“There was a lot of confusion today on the drying track, but it was obvious that it would be a tough race. At one point, it looked worse than it actually was. Towards the end, I was in a good position for the re-start but got caught out by a slow start, which, unfortunately, also cost Dani the win. The change of position at the end, unfortunately, had a bigger influence than we would have liked. Still, tomorrow is a new day, and there's no reason to be too disappointed with fourth place.”

Further information in the press release to download