It was a successful sixth DTM race weekend for Mercedes-AMG after Daniel Juncadella’s maiden win on Saturday followed up by victory on Sunday for Paul Di Resta.
In the twelfth race of the season, Di Resta's fellow Mercedes-AMG driver and points’ leader Gary Paffett completed the success for the Stuttgart-based brand by finishing second.
At the demanding Grand Prix layout of the Brands Hatch circuit last year’s champion René Rast came third with his Audi RS 5 DTM.
Di Resta already laid the foundation for his victory at the start of the race. From second on the grid, the Scot overtook pole-sitter Paffett after a few metres already and remained in front at the restart after a safety car intervention.
On the opening lap, Augusto Farfus, Robin Frijns and Lucas Auer tangled and partly slid off the track, resulting into the safety car being deployed for three laps. For Di Resta, who scored his tenth DTM career win, today’s victory was a huge consolation.
“The result with 16th place on Saturday was hurtful,” the second-placed in the drivers’ standings commented after the race. “We worked on the car overnight and that paid off. Thus, I had a good battle with Gary today, just like in 2010.”
Even though Paffett was unable to extend his lead in the drivers’ standings, he remains in first place. “I am very happy with the entire weekend. Yesterday’s points were important. They are making the difference between Paul and myself.”
Having started from fourth place on the grid, Audi driver René Rast showed a strong performance in the closing stages of the race. Even though he was able to reduce the gap to Paffett on the final laps, it wasn’t enough to mount a challenge to Paffett for second place.
“I didn’t really expect this result,” last year’s DTM champion commented. “Overtaking is difficult here. All in all, I am absolutely happy with my race.”
Behind Pascal Wehrlein with his Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM in fourth place, Marco Wittmann was the best-placed BMW driver in fifth. The winner of the race on Saturday, Daniel Juncadella was classified ninth behind Mike Rockenfeller, Philipp Eng and Lucas Auer. Nico Müller rounded out the point-scoring positions on Sunday.
After twelve of this season’s 20 DTM races, Gary Paffett remains in the lead of the DTM drivers’ standings. The Mercedes-AMG driver is on top with 177 points from Paul Di Resta (148 points) and Marco Wittmann and Lucas Auer (both 110). Also tied on points, Edoardo Mortara and Timo Glock (both 101) are fifth and sixth.
