Jamie Green: “I started to overtake them one by one”

Audi Sport Team Rosberg driver Jamie Green finished the first day of the 2020 DTM season opener at Spa-Francorchamps with a big smile after crossing the line in second place after a fighting race.

Green qualified in tenth position after failing to make the most of his last attempt in qualifying. But things got worse for the Briton at the start of the race.

“I almost stalled the engine at the start,” said Green. “But I could see that I was much quicker than the others, so I started to overtake them one by one.”

The Team Rosberg driver pitted at the end of lap 14, a decision he feels cost him a few positions: “I stayed out very long before my pit stop, and I feel I lost two places because of it. I had to then go out and fight for those positions again.”

The gain for the 38-year-old came in the latter part of the race, when he was able to recover ground and positions over his fellow Audi drivers to finish in second place.

“I could see that again I was much quicker than other cars. The other Audis had a lot of tyre degradation and I was faster, so I was able to overtake.

“Today it was a bit of a lottery with the wet practice, the weather and that. I want to qualify better, because you get points for getting on the top three, so yes, we will work on that for tomorrow and see how it goes. We got a good result in the end and I’m happy,” concluded Green.

Audi Motorsport boss Dieter Gass praised Green’s strategy during the race: “In terms of tyre management only Jamie came close to Nico (Müller) and the result for us was incredible.”