Paul di Resta fights hobbled car to bag valuable points

A third and a fourth for Paul di Resta at Norisring saw him close to within five points of the DTM series lead, but the Team HWA Mercedes driver was left to reflect on the “missed opportunity” of a race win on Sunday.

Di Resta benefited the incident involving Christian Vietoris, Robert Wickens and Mattias Ekström to finish on the rostrum on Saturday, but was himself the victim of contact from Ekström on Sunday which caused severe damage to his car.

As a result, di Resta was hampered with a lack of pace throughout the longer race, with stable-mate Lucas Auer protecting him from a huge train of cars in the closing stages and helping him salvage fourth.

Giving his view on the race, di Resta said: “He hit me – I didn’t reverse into him! I spoke to him and he was a little bit shocked how early we all braked. As I came in I found Blomqvist braked quite early and he [Ekstrom] misjudged it and ran into the back of me.

“The team came on the radio and told me I was missing the whole back box and half the back end. They just said ‘do what you can’ but I couldn’t believe how much it did affect it.

“It was just a case of damage limitation. It was a difficult race, but the pitstop was awesome and Lucas did a great job to protect me.

“It’s been a reasonable weekend but I think a bit of a missed opportunity today. I think we had the pace to win today, especially looking at who won and how it happened.”

The 2010 DTM champion said he accepted the nature of the circuit meant mistakes and contact were inevitable, adding: “That’s what this track is about. Everyone’s on the limit. Yesterday in qualifying I lost a tenth and a half, which is the difference between five places.

“When it’s out of your control there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s the nature of Norisring – you expect to have contact at certain points.”

Thoughts now turn to Zandvoort, where di Resta believes racking up points at every opportunity will be the key to a successful weekend.

He said: “We’re within five points of the championship lead, which shows you how close it is. This is probably one of the tightest years and consistency is going to be key.

“To bounce back from Lausitzring shows we’re going to be in the game. There’s still a long way to go.”