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Dirk Werner heading to Brands with ‘boosted’ motivation

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BMW’s Dirk Werner is heading to this weekend’s DTM race at Brands Hatch full of confidence after taking second at Hockenheim.

The Schnitzer driver put in a dogged performance in the season opener to climb from 20th to second, after struggling in Saturday’s rain soaked qualifying session.

The result was the best of Werner’s DTM career, which began last year after he switched from ALMS to be part of BMW’s line-up for its comeback season after a 20-year break.

“Thanks to the Hockenheim podium I’m travelling to Brands Hatch with boosted motivation – and even more so as last year’s race [at Brands Hatch] didn’t go too well, for me,” he said.

“I have made a good start to the season, and I want to build on that by making it into the points as consistently as possible in the coming races.

“[But] it’s a new race, so I’m starting from scratch again and will have to work hard again to be successful.”

Werner also stated that his first DTM podium was a relief and he believes the high standard he set himself in the opening round of the season should be the benchmark for the rest of the year.

“The first DTM podium is a kind of breakthrough and a huge relief.

“Making it to the podium was one of my goals when entering the DTM [and] in 2012, I came close to making it twice but failed in the end.

“Now I finally made it. And it goes without saying that continuing with this performance must be the new goal.”