One-two win at Brands Hatch: Paul Di Resta wins home race from Gary Paffett

Second race, second victory at Brands Hatch: Five Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTMs in Top Ten

• Paul Di Resta (Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS) secured his third win at Brands Hatch, his second this season and the tenth of his DTM career
• Gary Paffett (Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS) ensured the outfit’s fifth one-two win this season and the 109th in team history as he took second place and his 45th DTM podium to date
• Pascal Wehrlein (Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS), Lucas Auer (SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport) and Daniel Juncadella (Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS) finished fourth, eighth and ninth respectively
• Mercedes-AMG Motorsport continue to lead the drivers ‘, team and constructors’ championships: Gary (177 points) has a 29-point on Paul (148 points) in second place
• Paul Di Resta: “I won my last two races here at Brands Hatch in 2009 and 2010, and I’ve done it here again today.”
• Ulrich Fritz: “We’ve had another strong weekend with a win and third place yesterday and one-two victory today.”

Successful start to second half of season. Following Daniel Juncadella’s maiden victory on Saturday, Mercedes-AMG Motorsport secured a one-two win on Sunday. Paul Di Resta (Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS) won his home race at Brands Hatch from championship leader Gary Paffett (Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS). This was the team’s fifth one-two win this season and the 109th in the brand’s 30-year DTM history. Paul finished on the top rung of the podium at Brands Hatch for the third time after taking wins there in 2009 and 2010. This was his second victory of the season and the tenth overall in his DTM career. Gary in second place rounded off a successful weekend for the team, securing his 45th DTM podium and seventh so far this season.

The team continued their winning streak this weekend at Brands Hatch. The Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM has taken at least one win at each of the six racetracks this year. From this season’s first twelve races, the brand with the three-pointed star has secured eight victories and 21 podium finishes, including five one-two wins. Paul’s success was the sixth win for a Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM driver at the old-established Brands Hatch circuit and the team’s 189th victory overall in the DTM.

Four Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM drivers qualified in the Top Five in the second qualifying session on Sunday morning. Gary secured his fourth pole position of the season, the 16th of his DTM career. For the brand with the three-pointed star, this was the sixth pole at Brands Hatch, the tenth in the twelfth race of the 2018 season and eighth in a row – a new DTM record. All in all, Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM drivers have started 136 times from pole position in the past 30 years.

Pascal Wehrlein (Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS) in P4 and Lucas Auer (SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport) in P8 also achieved points-scoring finishes. Daniel Juncadella (Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS), who took his maiden win in the DTM with his success in the first race of the weekend on Saturday, crossed the finishing line in ninth place just behind them. Edoardo Mortara (SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport) finished the twelfth race of the season in 17th position.

Mercedes-AMG Motorsport continue to lead the drivers’, team and constructors’ championships after the sixth of ten race weekends. In the drivers’ standings, Gary is on 177 points and has a 29-point lead on today’s winner, Paul (148 points). In the team classification, three Mercedes teams occupy the top three places: Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS (261 points) lead from SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport (211 points) and Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS (205 points). In the constructors’ championship, Mercedes-AMG (677 points) are 273 points up on BMW (404 points).

The next race weekend: From Brands Hatch, DTM drivers and teams will head next to Misano’s World Circuit Marco Simoncelli for the seventh race weekend of the 2018 DTM season (24th – 26th August).

Comments after the race

Paul Di Resta (32, Scotland):

• P1
• Car number: 3
• Team: Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS
• Car: Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM

“Today was just perfect, although taken as a whole, the weekend certainly wasn’t a perfect one for me. I won my last two races here at Brands Hatch in 2009 and 2010, and I’ve done it here again today. The start was decisive today. It was important to get in front of Gary. On this track, it is always difficult to get going from pole because of the uphill section. Yesterday was a tough day for me, but we analysed everything overnight, and we nailed it today in qualifying. But Gary set an even faster lap and was unbeatable in qualifying. I feel sure that you will be seeing further such contests between us right through to the end of the season. I lost some vital points yesterday, but with a bit of luck, I’m hoping to turn the tables pretty soon.”

Gary Paffett (37, England):

• P2
• Car number: 2
• Team: Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS
• Car: Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM

“I’m satisfied with the way the weekend turned out. Paul had the better start today, and as everyone knows, it’s very difficult to overtake here. Starting from pole seems to be a bit of a curse here, but to be honest I just didn’t get off the line very well. Paul managed to get around the outside in Turn 1, and I left him the space to do it. From there, I just tried to put pressure on him the whole race, which made it hard work for the tyres towards the end. I think I was a bit quicker, because I managed to stay within one second for the whole race. I was sitting there, just waiting to see if he would make a mistake, but he was very consistent and eventually won. So, well done to him, and thanks to the whole team for their terrific work all through the weekend.”

Pascal Wehrlein (23, Germany):

• P4
• Car number: 94
• Team: Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS
• Car: Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM

“At the start of the race, we decided to stop as early as possible, speculating that the safety car might come out. But ultimately, René (Rast) came out a few seconds ahead because I had lost a lot of time on the cold tyres. After that, it was all about bringing a result home. I had to pay attention to my front tyres, which were degrading quite badly because, of course, I was trying to unsettle René. Unfortunately, that didn’t work, and I had to settle for fourth place.”

Lucas Auer (23, Austria):

• P8
• Car number: 22
• Team: SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport
• Car: Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM

“I had to battle really hard today to score just a couple more points. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much more I was going to get out of this race. I think Robin (Frijns) made a slight misjudgement on the first lap and nudged my car as a result. That spun us both off the track and left me in last position, which was very unlucky. But after that, I had very good pace. Unfortunately, there was a problem with my pit stop, which dropped me back down the field again. But today, I managed to demonstrate that you can actually overtake on this track. That’s the way it is in racing – you just have to take it the way it comes.”

Daniel Juncadella (26, Spain):

• P9
• Car number: 23
• Team: Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS
• Car: Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM

“That was a tough day, but I’m quite satisfied with my race. I had a tricky qualifying session and started from 14th on the grid. P9 is a good result for me given my initial grid position. More was not possible today. Many thanks to my team. We had an excellent pit stop and really good strategy.”

Edoardo Mortara (31, Italy):

• P17
• Car number: 48
• Team: SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport
• Car: Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM

“Unfortunately, it’s been a weekend to forget for me. I had a mega start and gained a few positions. At the restart, I was again able to make good several places. After that, I was already into the Top Ten, and my pace was really good on the first stint. I was setting decent lap times and had got into a nice rhythm. Unfortunately, there were difficulties with my pit stop, which caused me to lose a lot of time. That put paid to my race.”

Ulrich Fritz, Head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM:

“We’ve had another strong weekend with a win and third place yesterday and one-two victory today. Paul and Gary showed again today exactly why they lead the championship. They both had error-free drives and extended their lead in the overall standings. I’m really pleased that they were able to produce such terrific results especially as this is their home fixture.”

Race results: Top Ten

Drivers‘ Championship

Manufacturers‘ Championship

Teams‘ Championship