Photo: Audi Media

Worst DTM weekend so far for Audi

The DTM race at Norisring turned out to be the worst weekend so far this year for Audi.
“This was more than disappointing. For us, the race was practically over as early as in turn one when ‘Eki’ was pushed onto the car in front of him and almost all of our vehicles became entangled in the collisions,” said Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich.

Mattias ‘Eki’ Ekström qualified best in fourth position but was taken out in the first corner after being hit from behind by BMW driver Augusto Farfus Jr.
“It doesn’t take long to tell the story of my race. Some guys obviously thought that they could win a DTM race right in the first turn. One of the victims was my Audi that had been too heavily damaged for me to be able to continue to drive,” said Ekström.

Mike Rockenfeller managed to escape the first corner chaos and became best Audi driver in sixth position from eleventh on the grid.
“From grid position eleven, my expectations hadn’t been very high. The changeable weather of course benefited me to some extent but, still, my race wasn’t optimal in every respect. The key toward advancing was turn one, which I managed to get through unharmed on the inside in all the commotion. Afterward, I only concentrated on driving fast laps. Sixth place was the maximum for my team and me that was possible,” said Rockenfeller.

Ekström is still the best Audi driver in the championship, despite scoring zero points, but has fallen down to fifth position from second, and Mercedes has pulled up a gap of 62 points to Audi in the manufacturers championship.
“Now there’s just one thing to do: quickly forget the whole thing and look ahead. I’m particularly sorry for the whole squad that again worked extremely hard during the past days and weeks. But I’m sure that this work will be rewarded at the Nürburgring,” said Ullrich.