Mercedes AMG hampered by mechanical issues at Oschersleben

Mercedes AMG didn’t have the best day today at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, host of the seventh round of the 2015 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season. Pascal Wehrlein was, once again the best man for the Stuttgart squad, in fifth place.

Mercedes had hoped that the performance weight distribution, which made them 15 kilos lighter than Audi, would allow them to be more competitive. However, damage at the start of the race collisions and mechanical issues stalled the progress of the C63 DTMs on the track.

Right at the start, Robert Wickens hit, and was hit, by several competitors, in a risky manoeuvre at the first corner. The Canadian’s car was seriously damaged, having to retire from the race. The incident was investigated by the Stewards, who have handed Wickens a combined 13-place grid drop for tomorrow’s race. The Canadian hopes to put today behind: ““I had a strong start and overtook a whole line of cars in front of me. I was committed to the inside, going down into Turn 1. Rockenfeller moved position in the middle of the braking zone. I had to go really tight on the inside to avoid him and ran into some cars in front. It was just a nightmare.”

Gary Paffett was defending a points’ position when a steering problem forced him to slow down and retire. The Briton looks forward to doing better and fighting again tomorrow: “I was hemmed in by Mortara and lost some aerodynamic parts through contacts with other vehicles. After that, I struggled with my car and got a problem with the steering a few laps later.”

Pascal Wehrlein was fifth at the start of the race, and seemed he could attack the BMW ahead of him. However, the 20-year old had a problem with his power steering, suffering to bring his C63 DTM home and scoring some valuable points: “Considerably more would have been possible for us today. Unfortunately, my power steering failed quite early on in the race, just as I was putting pressure on Farfus. Most other drivers would give up in that situation, but I wanted to finish the race. Fifth place was damage limitation for me in the championship rankings which I now lead once again. It’s a good result in the circumstances, however, I could’ve done better but for the issues. It’s a pity.”

Team Mücke’s Daniel Juncadella was a happy man after the race, having finished in tenth place and scoring a point: “I‘m quite pleased with the result which is okay after starting from 14th on the grid. It’s always nice to finish in the points – even if it’s only a single point. The race went quite smoothly for me. The start and first lap were good. My goal was always to score points.”

Today’s result, albeit modest, has allowed Pascal Wehrlein to retake the lead in the Drivers’ standings, with a total of 130 points, four more tan Mattias Ekström. In the Manufacturers’ table, Mercedes AMG has reduced the gap to Audi Sport, now tailing the leaders by just 19points.

Ullrich Fritz, Head of Mercedes-AMG DTM, had higher hopes for the race, but was satisfied with the overall result in terms of the fight for the title: “This obviously wasn’t the race we’d hoped for before the weekend. It was clear that BMW would be strong because of the weight distribution, but more would certainly have been possible given the pace of our cars. What was positive today, though, is that Pascal Wehrlein fought his way back to lead the championship. It was, for sure, a great achievement to defend his position for such a long time with little or no power steering. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to attack the cars in front of him because of the problem. Our team is now working hard to get the cars back into tip-top shape for tomorrow.”

The DTM will be back on track tomorrow morning at 9:00 CEST (GMT + 2) for the warm up session.