Mercedes encouraged by strong Nürburgring form

Mercedes were happy to see five of their cars in the points today, with Paul Di Resta and Daniel Juncadella even mounting the challenge for the final podium spot, which ultimately went to Audi Sport’s Edoardo Mortara.

Despite some low expectations going into the weekend, the three-pointed-star cars did get some good results, as Paul Di Resta admits while celebrating replicating his best result of the season, fourth: “We can be satisfied with fourth place. We had a very strong car today, especially on the option tyres. Our pace was very good as a result. My thanks go to the team for their excellent work in preparing the car. From a team perspective, this was a good race for us today and at a circuit which we thought wouldn’t really suit our car. So, we seem to be on the right track. Now we need to continue pushing and do everything to go on improving.”

Daniel Juncadella was also happy after a tough season so far, with Mercedes definitely regaining competitiveness: “At last, a good result for me this season. I drove a flawless race. I took a bit of risk at the start of the race by taking an outside line, but that paid off. I enjoyed the overtaking here, because it’s not very easy to do on this track. Edoardo Mortara held Paul and me up, which cost us any chance of a podium. But fifth place is good anyway – it’s my second-best result to date in the DTM.

Despite closing the gap from the lead, Mercedes still find themselves over 180 points shy of leaders BMW in the Manufacturers’ standings.