Mike Rockenfeller unsure on Audi progress
Audi’s Mike Rockenfeller is still unsure whether Audi can take the fight to BMW and Mercedes in the 2013 DTM season.
The Phoenix Audi driver qualified 14th on Saturday and managed to claw his way back to eighth come the end of yesterday’s race. Whilst Rockenfeller took four points from the Hockenheim season opener, he still remains cautious as to whether Audi can challenge BMW and Mercedes on a consistent basis in 2013.
“I hope we’ve improved,” he said, speaking to TouringCarTimes.
“But the reality is that the performance should be the same [as last year] because you’re not allowed to change the car.
“It does [frustrate me to know this], so we’re trying to do everything we can to improve and we will see [what happens].”
Rockenfeller also said that despite the improvements Audi made to the car over the winter, it still remains difficult to set up, which was one of the major issues surrounding the team’s performance in 2012.
“Well, I think we improved it a little bit here and there, [but] the reality is that there’s not a big difference. It’s more or less the same, except now it’s called the RS5.
“It’s still difficult, [but] the thing is, is that we didn’t have much testing. We had Barcelona and we had Hockenheim and most of it was in wet conditions.
“That’s it pretty much, so for me, it feels like last year so far.”
However, Rockenfeller was encouraged by his performance yesterday and believes he could have finished higher than eighth, had he not lost time in the pits or found himself stuck behind an Audi stablemate after his second pit stop.
“At the pit stop we lost two seconds because something was jammed and then I got stuck behind a brand colleague while I was in a battle with Bruno Spengler.
“Without these two minor incidents fifth place might have been possible.
“That’s a bit disappointing [to miss out], but when you finish in the points after starting from 14th in a race with so many question marks, that’s good damage containment.”
