Nico Müller happy with positive start of the season

Audi Sport Team Abt driver Nico Müller has had a strong start of the 2016 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season, scoring his first pole position in the series and finishing in third place in the race, his first DTM podium.

“The car was very good today, the team did a great job and was quick,” the Swiss driver told TouringCarTimes. “I had a good qualifying, made the right decisions and was able to keep out of trouble, which is also very important.”

Müller had a slow start and was overtaken by Edoardo Mortara. The Team Abt driver said: “It’s nice to have a free view at the start, no cars before me, and just think about getting off the line and to the first corner. Unfortunately, I made a mistake, struggled with car balance and lost positions, so I couldn’t fight for the first place.”

The Swiss driver also lost out to Robert Wickens, falling to third place and, eventually, dropping behind the Canadian: “Wickens was very quick today, the Mercedes has lots of speed in the straight and it was hard to get close to him. I was able to follow though, but I made a mistake and dropped out of DRS window and, eventually, had to let him go. But it’s a good result, something I wasn’t expecting so soon as I’m in a new team. It’s good to have a positive start of the year.”

The Audi RS 5 DTM received five kilos of performance weight before the race. Asked about the effect on the car, Nico Müller said: “To be honest, it didn’t make too much of a difference for me, it’s not something I think about. I believe that you have to get in the car, extract the most of it and be competitive, so the extra weight it’s not an issue for me. It shouldn’t have an effect on tomorrow’s qualifying.”

The DTM resumes tomorrow morning at 10:00 CEST for the third free practice session.