DTM: Only technology slows down Nico Müller 🎥
FIRST VICTORY, THEN TECHNICAL PROBLEM After his fourth win of the season in Saturday's DTM race, Nico Müller seemed to be heading for the podium again on Sunday at the Nürburgring. But then he suffered a defect. The highlights of Race 1 show how confidently Nico Müller drove to his fourth victory of the season. After leading the championship at the DTM round, Nico Müller [...]
The highlights of race 1 show how confidently Nico Müller drove to his fourth victory of the season.
After Nico Müller, as championship leader, had to settle for two third-place finishes at the DTM round at Assen a week ago, the driver from Berne in the Audi RS 5 DTM dominated the first race on the Grand Prix circuit of the Nürburgring in commanding fashion. Müller won with an advantage of more than 15 seconds ahead of his Audi colleague René Rast.
A perfect Saturday...
For the 28-year-old Audi factory driver, this meant the seventh DTM victory of his career and the fourth this season. In addition, he even managed a motorsport hat trick in Saturday's race: pole position, victory and fastest lap in the race - it doesn't get any better than that. The reward was a maximum of 28 championship points.
Nico Müller: "That was a perfect race. I had a super start, a very good pit stop, the strategy was perfect, and the tire management was also right. I'm enjoying this victory. Things haven't always gone my way in recent weeks, but today was the case. Above all, qualifying with pole position was the perfect prerequisite for this success."
... and a Sunday affected by technology
In the second race, everything had initially looked like another triumph for Nico Müller after he had once again - for the third time in 2020 - clinched pole position and the three additional points.
The start also went without a hitch for him. Müller got away well and was able to keep the competition lurking behind him, in the shape of Frijns and Rast, at bay. The tide turned when Müller made his mandatory stop on lap 11.
Robin Frijns came into the pits just one lap later and then burned one fast lap after another into the asphalt of the 5.148-kilometer GP circuit. The championship leader, on the other hand, visibly slowed down and seemed defenseless.
Nico Müller: "Apparently there was a sensor problem. In any case, the result was a pretty big loss of power, which got worse and worse towards the end of the race. I was just hoping to finish, because a retirement would have hurt a lot today. Fortunately, we saw the flag. Unfortunately, the race was two or three laps too long, otherwise it would have even been enough for a podium."
The highlights of race 2 show how Nico Müller first lost the lead to his Abt Audi team Frijns and then lost further positions.
The DTM squad stays in the Eifel region
Müller dropped back to fifth place in the final laps behind his Audi colleagues René Rast, Mike Rockenfeller (who has been a Swiss citizen for a few weeks and scored his first podium of the season) and Loïc Duval.
In the drivers' standings, Nico Müller's lead over his Abt Audi team-mate Robin Frijns shrank to 29 points. René Rast is a further 17 points behind in intermediate 3rd place (see table here).
Next weekend, two more DTM races are scheduled at the Nürburgring sprint circuit.
