DTM: Victory for Mortara, points for Müller
DTM NORISRING Edoardo Mortara from Geneva, who starts for Italy, was the outstanding driver on the fourth DTM weekend of 2018 at Nuremberg. For Nico Müller, apart from a few points, only the consolation of having been the fastest Audi driver remained. In Saturday's first race, Mercedes was superior to the competition from Audi and BMW. Edoardo Mortara captured the pole position [...]
In Saturday's first race, Mercedes was superior to the competition from Audi and BMW. Edoardo Mortara captured pole position and then celebrated his tenth victory of his DTM career, the second this season after Lausitzring and the second at the Norisring after 2016.
On Sunday, Edo drove to second place behind Marco Wittmann in a BMW. This moved him up to second in the standings, six points behind his teammate Gary Paffett, who had finished second on Saturday.
Unlike in FIA Formula E, Mortara drives under the Italian flag in the DTM. The Geneva native now has good chances of winning the title, but doesn't want to know anything about it yet.
Edoardo Mortara: "Saturday was perfect. Last year it was difficult for me, but this season things are going much better. But it's still too early to think about the championship. There are still many race weekends to come."
Tough patch for Audi
The parking lot around the former Reichstag building at Nuremberg's Dutzendteich, which had been converted into a race track, was not a good place for Audi. At least Nico Müller was the fastest of the six Audi drivers on both days.
The sobering result for defending champion Audi had already become apparent in practice and qualifying on Saturday. With a gap of 224 thousandths to pole position, Nico Müller in 10th place on the grid was the best-placed driver with an Audi RS 5 DTM.
Unfortunately, the Bernese caught a puncture in the first race in a fierce duel with the BMW of previous championship leader Timo Glock. The additional pit stop dropped Müller to last place.
Sixth place and best Audi driver
Things went better on Sunday. Again starting as the best Audi driver from 11th place, he made up several positions. After an early tire change, Müller held his ground in a fiercely contested group of BMW and Mercedes drivers.
In 2016, he celebrated his only DTM victory to date in the second race at the Norisring.
Nico Müller: "We struggled on this track but scored important points. That's a small reward for the hard work of the whole team, which did a great job. We were a bit unlucky on Saturday, otherwise we would have scored points there as well. Now I'm looking forward to the next race at Zandvoort. I hope we'll perform a bit stronger again there."
