Photo: Daimler Global Media

Mercedes happy with first ever DTM victory in Moscow

Mercedes AMG started this weekend hoping to not lose too much ground on the championship battle. But the Stuttgart squad delivered a strong performance today at the Moscow Raceway to finish the day as the championship leaders in all three points tables.

The morning rain quickly evaporated, giving way to a dry and sunny afternoon for both qualifying and race. Despite not having the best session, with only two cars in the top 10 for the grid, Mercedes was able to get three cars in the points, including the race winner.

Pascal Wehrlein knew he could win the race. Starting from second position on the grid, he was faster than Marco Wittmann. After a thrilling battle, and with the clock ticking towards the end, Wehrlein managed to overtake and drive to the finish to get his third career win: “My car was just brilliant today, for which I have my team to thank. I realised at the start that we had a strong car. I knew that the tyre degradation on the BMWs is usually slightly higher, so I had to be patient for a little while before mounting a well-planned overtaking manoeuvre. It was, though, a bit of a surprise attack that succeeded. Marco defended with everything he had but raced very fairly. This is exactly how a scrap should be. I’m absolutely delighted with the race.”

Team Mücke’s Daniel Juncadella started from ninth place, but was able to gain positions up to fifth. In the closing stages he managed to reach the leading pack, but wasn’t able to progress any further. He hopes to make up for it tomorrow: “Overall, I’m happy with the race, but I wanted a little bit more. When you’re so close to achieving a podium, you would obviously prefer to end up there. Sadly, I didn’t succeed, but we’ll try again in the second race tomorrow. My start and the first two laps were good. My pace was also very good. However overtaking is tricky here. All in all, though, it was okay.”

Gary Paffett also performed outstandingly today. The Briton started from 20th place on the grid, but was able to work his way through the pack to finish in seventh position. Paffett was satisfied with the outcome of the race: “Great race. Really good fun. I avoided the accident in Turn 1, and then the car was really strong. I caught up with the other drivers, overtook, and got into the points. I didn’t think that it was going to be that good after starting from P20. P7 means points, so it was a good race.”

The other side of the coin for Mercedes was Christian Vietoris, who started from last position of the grid. After the first corner, he couldn’t avoid spinning Miguel Molina, crashing into the Audi and then into the barriers. His C63 DTM was very badly damaged: “That was a short race for me. Miguel Molina spun in Turn 1 in front of me, and I had no time to react or to see anything. Because of that, I hit him full on and I’ve slightly injured my knee. However, I think that I’ll still be able to race again tomorrow. My car is really badly damaged, but I hope that my team will get it fixed for tomorrow.”

Ullrich Fritz, Head of DTM for Mercedes, was full of admiration for his men, and wasn’t able to evaluate whether the team would be able to repair Vietoris’ car in time for tomorrow: “That was an action-packed race with a deserving winner. Pascal drove a great race, but Daniel Juncadella, and especially Gary Paffett, also did really well. I’m just full of admiration for Gary, who started from P20 on the grid and then moved up to P7 in this short race. Now we have to ensure that we can repeat this performance again tomorrow. At the same time, we’ll have to wait and see how badly Christian Vietoris’s car is damaged. Unfortunately, there’s not much to report on that score at the moment. The most important thing is that he’s OK.”

Pascal Wehrlein now leads the Drivers’ standings with 119 points, eight more than Mattias Ekström. Mercedes AMG also leads in the Manufacturers’ table with 379 points, 19 more than Audi Sport.

DTM action returns tomorrow at 9:10 CEST (GMT + 2) for the 15-minute morning warm up.