Nico Müller: An almost perfect Sunday 🎥

Nico Müller's mood at the DTM opener in Hockenheim resembled April weather. After setting the fastest time in free practice on Friday, which was even more pleasant in terms of weather, his emotional state approached freezing point on the following day, as did the outside temperatures in the Motodrom in Baden. Starting from tenth place on the grid, the 27-year-old from Berne toiled over the 34 cold and wet laps in his new Audi RS5 with turbo engine.

Better than nothing
At least Müller, also benefiting from retirements, still managed to secure four championship points.

Nico Müller: "I had zero grip, a disaster. My rain tires never got into a usable working window. No kidding - even on the opening lap I could barely keep up the pace. At least I had a great outlap after the tire change, which allowed me to make up positions. Such a start to the season is not the end of the world, but after yesterday's best time I expected more."

Müller's super start makes race organizers wonder
With the return of the sun, the external conditions also changed on Sunday, which was still too cold for this time of year, although dark clouds threatened again in the afternoon. With fourth place on the grid behind the two BMW M4s of ZF ambassador Philipp Eng and previous day's winner Marco Wittmann as well as his Abt Audi teammate Robin Frijns, the only Swiss in the 18-strong field created a promising starting position.

His first turbo start in the dry was so good that Müller catapulted into second position right behind pole setter Eng. Race control even had to investigate the suspicion of a jump start, but did not recognize any infringement of the rules.

Nico Müller: "I knew it wasn't a false start. I was then able to keep my pursuers well at bay and waited to see how the race developed."

Unstoppable René Rast
It turned into a storming run for his Audi colleague René Rast. After retiring the day before due to a gearbox defect, last year's runner-up also suffered a defect in Sunday's qualifying, this time with the fuel supply. As a result, Rast only started from P16, whereupon the Rosberg team chose a risky strategy for him that worked out perfectly.

When Loïc Duval sank his Audi in the gravel and the safety car then intervened, Rast was whistled into the pits for an early tire change. Before the field was allowed to start freely again, the straggler had made up ground, whereupon he plowed through the entire field to the top with the fresh rubber. Even a second tire change didn't take him off the winning course.

The short video shows the highlights of the second race from Sunday.

Only one was better
After his single and lightning mandatory stop, which briefly dropped him back to seventh place, Nico Müller reasserted second place within five laps. With a twelve-second gap to Rast and a 262-thousandths advantage over Frijns, who was rapidly moving up with four laps less old tires, Müller brought the podium place safely to the finish.

So an almost perfect day?

Nico Müller: "Yes, only one was better today. But René was able to gambol because of his rear starting position, which wasn't possible for us at the front. And I was happy when I saw the checkered flag, because I don't know if I could have kept Robin behind me. So there are certainly still things we can improve."

Best start to the season since 2016
For Müller, this was the best start to the season so far, his sixth in the meantime. In 2016, he started similarly well as pole sitter and third in Saturday's race and seventh on Sunday. At the end of the year, after a mixed season, the only other highlight of which was the only victory so far, he finished ninth in the championship.

Having now clinched the eighth podium in his DTM career, Müller also wants to finally fight for the title. Audi's one-two-three victory suggests that the 2019 touring car is a successful throwback. So Nico would have the material to do so. Now he also needs consistency - and the necessary racing luck. See René Rast.

dtm.com