Mission accomplished for Mercedes AMG at the Nürburgring

Mercedes AMG had one simple target for the eighth round of the 2015 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season in Nürburgring: scoring points and widening the margin over their rivals. All the objectives have been achieved: Pascal Wehrlein has extended his lead in the standings, and Mercedes has climbed a position in the Manufacturers’ table.

Pascal Wehrlein scored a third and a fifth position in this weekend’s races. The target for the 20-year old was to maintain his championship lead. The HWA AG driver not only managed that, but also extended his margin over his main rivals. Wehrlein now has 165 points in his account, 37 more than Edoardo Mortara and 38 over Mattias Ekström.

Paul Di Resta also had a positive day, showing consistent pace to be second, his third podium of the year. The Scot was upbeat about today’s outcome: “I’ve felt good in the car for the whole of the weekend. Unfortunately, I made an error in yesterday’s qualifying. We had a strong car yesterday but were unable to show it. In contrast, things went well today. However, this was Miguel Molina’s day, and I congratulate him on his first win. After this result, we’ll be heading for the grand finale at Hockenheim in an optimistic frame of mind.”

One of the main protagonists in the race was Daniel Juncadella. The Spaniard was a strong fifth, but was called on team orders to allow Wehrlein to climb positions, after the championship leader had a long pit stop to avoid an unsafe release. In the process of allowing Wehrlein through, Juncadella was caught by Rockenfeller, Tomczyk and Farfus, and ended the race in tenth place, defending from Mattias Ekström. The Spaniard had a positive reading of the race, after a myriad of problems: “My start and my first lap were very good. Then I was overtaking Glock on the ninth corner when he turned into me, destroying the right-hand side of my car. Despite that, I was able to overtake Max and Augusto, because they were busy fighting with each other. So that put me into P6 ahead of the pit stop. While I was closing the gap on Blomqvist, I unfortunately lost grip because of the damage to my car. Towards the end, I was also having a bit of a problem with my brakes. I gave it everything I got and tried to stay inside the points. It was a tough fight with all the other guys, but I did succeed in scoring one championship point.”

Mercedes AMG is now second in the manufacturers’ standings, 51 points behind BMW and 31 ahead of Audi Sport.

Head of Mercedes AMG DTM Ullrich Fritz was satisfied with the results achieved, and is already looking forward to the season finale: “That was a decent race for us. Paul Di Resta especially produced an excellent performance and drove a faultless race. Also, Pascal Wehrlein extended his lead yet again in the drivers’ championship and we also moved up one position in the manufacturers’ rankings. Consequently, we are well placed for the start of the season finale at Hockenheim.”