Mercedes DTM: 2017 Spielberg – Race 1

Three Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTMs in Top Ten in first round in Austria

• Robert Wickens (Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM Mercedes me) moved up three places at the start and finished the race in P4
• Pink Panthers Lucas Auer and Edoardo Mortara (both BWT Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM) also in the points in P8 and 9
• Robert Wickens: “I was just hoping to still finish in the points, and luckily, I was able to manage P4 in the end.”
• Ulrich Fritz: “It’s important that we take what’s positive from today’s race and go all-out on the attack tomorrow.”

The DTM is staging the penultimate race weekend of the season at Spielberg this weekend. Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM driver Robert Wickens (Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM Mercedes me) ended the 15th race of the season in fourth place. The Canadian moved up three positions at the start and finished in the points for the 35th time in his DTM career (and for the eighth time this season).

The Pink Panthers behind him also finished in the points. Local favourite Lucas Auer (BWT Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM) came home in P8 as he contested the 50th DTM race of his career to date. The Austrian gained four places on his grid position during his home fixture. His team-mate Edoardo Mortara (BWT Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM) improved from 14th on the grid to take P9.

Paul Di Resta (Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM) in P11 narrowly missed the points at the chequered flag. Maro Engel (SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM) and Gary Paffett (Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM Mercedes me) placed 15th and 17th respectively at the finish line.

Looking ahead to race 2: The 16th round of the 2017 DTM season starts on Sunday at 15:18 CEST (live on ARD TV at 15:00 CEST). Third practice will take place before that at 09:25 CEST followed by the second qualifying at 12:00 CEST (live on One at 11:55 CEST). During each race weekend, we will provide live timing data, live commentary, fan voting and exclusive behind-the-scenes videos of the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM Team on our website at: www.mercedes-amg-motorsport.com/dtm.

Comments after the race

Robert Wickens (28, Canada):

• P4
• Car number: 6
• Team: Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me
• Car: Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM Mercedes me

“What a tough race. The Audis are so strong here this weekend. It’s making our lives pretty miserable, to be honest. But I had a really good start from P7 to P4 after Lap 1. I was feeling really good in the run-up to the first pit stop. The team did a fantastic job in the pits and gave me some breathing space to Wittmann, but Rast on cold tyres drove into the side of my car after the stop, and I got a lot of damage on the floor and the whole side. From there on, it was just a matter of surviving, to be honest. I was just hoping to still finish in the points, and luckily, I was able to manage P4 in the end. It has been such a hard weekend for us so far, with various issues, but we fought through, and hopefully we can get a similar result tomorrow.”

Lucas Auer (23, Austria):

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

“It’s been a difficult day for me. Finishing eighth after starting from twelfth – that’s good. At least it means that I take a few points from the race. But for now, we need to carry on working at it.”

Edoardo Mortara (30, Italy):

• P9
• Car number: 48
• Team: BWT Mercedes-AMG Motorsport
• Car: BWT Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM

“That was a relatively long race. As regards to my pace, it went really well. I was probably the fastest Mercedes in the field by a long way. Unfortunately, I had a problem at the start and dropped down to last place. But after that, I overtook a few cars and made good several positions. With our strategy, it might have been possible for us to finish fourth today. But I’m quite satisfied with ninth place after being in P18 after the start. As for tomorrow, I’m aiming to do a lot better in qualifying and get myself into a position where I can go on the attack.”

Paul Di Resta (31, Scotland):

• P11
• Car number: 3
• Team: SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport
• Car: Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM

“I took a lot of damage on Lap 1. Somebody hit me in the back, and I lost a lot of the rear of the car. From there on, the race was always going to be quite hard for me. Furthermore, it was probably not the most optimum race in terms of how we timed the pit stop, but overall P11 is very close to getting into the points. Tomorrow, we need to do a better job collectively as a manufacturer, because Audi were very dominant today.”

Maro Engel (32, Germany):

• P15
• Car number: 63
• Team: SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport
• Car: SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM

“A tough day for us. We must now analyse everything carefully to get to the bottom of things and improve the car for tomorrow, so that we can attack again. It was certainly not quite what we’d hoped for, but we have a fresh opportunity tomorrow, on which we now intend to concentrate.”

Gary Paffett (36, England):

• P17
• Car number: 2
• Team: Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me
• Car: Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM Mercedes me

“I’m obviously very disappointed. We definitely had a lot more lap time in the car, but we didn’t get it right in qualifying. We took a bit of a risk after that and pitted on Lap 1 – hoping for a safety car or something. That didn’t work out. When you pit early on the first lap, you can’t expect to do much better, so we’ll just have to do better tomorrow in qualifying.”

Ulrich Fritz, Head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM:

“On the whole, we have to be satisfied with the result in view of the situation we found ourselves in after qualifying. Rob did a superb job in a car that was badly damaged and took a very well deserved fourth place. Luggi also managed to rack up a few more points, but of course, it was a setback as far as the fight for the championship goes. Still, it’s important that we take what’s positive from today’s race and go all-out on the attack tomorrow.

Race results: Top Ten

Drivers‘ Championship

Manufacturers‘ Championship

Teams‘ Championship

Source : Mercedes.com

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