Nico Müller and René Rast take title battle to “spectacular” Brands Hatch
The DTM heads to the British track Brands Hatch this weekend for the sixth round of the season and its last international round of the year. René Rast leads the championship ahead of fellow Audi driver Nico Müller, in an internal battle within the Ingolstadt based outfit.
Rast has got 158 points after three victories so far and has always qualified on the front row since the second round of the season at Zolder. But Rast’s progress, despite impressive, has been marred by technical failures and excessive tyre degradation, like in the last race at Assen.
Müller lies 22 points behind and has made the most of Rast’s few woes to keep up with him in the championship, and the Swiss is seeing a window of opportunity.
“I’m satisfied with the season so far,” said Müller. “We’ve built on the strong second half of the season we had back in 2018, but, in order to achieve good results, everything must always fit together, and that doesn’t always depend on your own performance.”
The Swiss recognises the advantage Rast has in qualifying, and is seeking to improve his own performance: “We’ve looked very strong in the races so far, but we can improve in the qualifying sessions. This will be a special focus for the rest of the season.
“If we succeed, anything is possible. But we should not forget to enjoy the whole thing. It’s just fun to drive the new DTM cars and the races are spectacular.”
Rast is also looking forward to one of the most demanding tracks on the calendar: “Brands Hatch is a real men’s track. There are many fast turns and almost no run-off areas. That means every mistake is punished immediately and you always have to be extremely focused.”
Due to the noise regulations in the area, the sixth round of the season will only run on Saturday and Sunday, an added challenge for the teams.
“Brands Hatch is a two-day event with an extremely compact programme,” said Audi Motorsport boss Dieter Gass, “so we need to make sure nothing goes wrong.”
Timetable
Saturday 10th August
10:00 – Free Practice
11:50 – Qualifying for Race 1
14:30 – Race 1 (55 minutes plus one lap)
Sunday 11st August
11:00 – Qualifying for Race 2
14:30 – Race 2 (55 minutes plus one lap)
