Early champions

Six races yet to run, but the manufacturer’s title in what will be the least DTM (German Touring Car Masters) has already been decided.The usually massive crowds are absent and the now commonplace masks are everywhere, but the changes have not compromised the standard and quality of the racing.

With a 1-2-3 victory at the Nürburgring, Audi wrapped up the title, with Nico Müller, Robin Frijns and René Rast all sharing in the spoils.

To say it’s been a comprehensive effort by the Audi teams would be a serious understatement. Going into the final six races of the season, Nico Müller leads the drivers’ championship with 242 points ahead of Robin Frijns (224) and René Rast (195). In the teams’ classification, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline is way out in front in first place. 

But it is the scoreline between Audi and BMW in the manufacturers’ championship that is such a pronounced exclamation mark. Audi with 827 is so far ahead of BMW on 356 points that it’s already game over. That equates to a 10 to 2 win result for Audi.
With two wins each for Nico Müller and Robin Frijns, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline remained
unbeaten on both Nürburgring weekends. 

“ABT is simply one step ahead of us at the moment,” René Rast at the end of the weekend. “Yesterday, we were quite fast in the race. Today, I had to fight more again, especially with the second set of tyres. I didn’t make a mistake and never gave up, but all in all, we can’t be happy. We have to continue to work hard and catch up. The championship is not decided yet.” 

Ferdinand Habsburg took sixth place for the customer team WRT Team Audi Sport. The Austrian only had to admit defeat to Robin Frijns in qualifying and started from the front row for the first time in the DTM. 

Audi Sport Team Phoenix scored points with both drivers on Sunday. Mike Rockenfeller finished seventh, Loïc Duval ninth. 

Jamie Green had to park his Audi RS 5 DTM in the pits shortly before the end of the race due to a problem with a sensor, ending up in 15th. 

“Today, we’ve again seen a very strong Audi performance,” said Head of Audi Motorsport Dieter Gass. 

“Nico had some bad luck in the last two races. That he has been able to come back like this is fantastic, and I’m happy for him. It’s also great that we secured two of the three championship titles so early on. We started to give our all again in the final year with the Audi RS 5 DTM. The results speak for themselves. That is pure ‘Vorsprung durch Technik.’ I would like to thank the entire team and the employees in Ingolstadt, Neuburg and Neckarsulm for again putting so much effort into this last season with the Class 1 cars. After three tough race weekends in a row, everyone deserves a little break now before the final spurt.” 

The final six races will be split between Zolder and Hockenheim and will decide the Driver’s Championship – but it’s just a matter of which Audi driver holds that piece of silverware aloft.