Miguel Molina confident for tomorrow after emotional victory in Lausitzring

Miguel Molina scored today his second win in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, after taking victory at the Lausitzring, host of the third round of the season.

The Audi driver started from pole position, but was overtaken by team-mate Jamie Green at the second corner. “I started well and Jamie came side by side with me, but I defended my position. Then, he got the inside and I thought it was better to avoid colliding with him and see what I could do” Molina told TouringCarTimes. “I could see I was faster than him, but he was defending well. At some point, coming into the banking, I had the right distance, so I went for the move and got ahead.”

Molina has been on the pace since the beginning of the weekend: “I was fast on Friday and this morning, and then got pole position. In the race I knew the car was going well and, if I didn’t have problems, we could do it. It’s a great feeling.”

The Audi RS 5 DTM gained five kilos in performance weight after the qualifying session. Asked for the impact of this in his performance, Molina said: “We know we have something extra here, because our car is very well suited to this track. To be honest, we as drivers don’t feel the effect of the weight so much, we just get on with driving. The weight is more of an issue for the engineers.”

The DTM will have another qualifying session and race tomorrow, and the Spaniard from Team Abt feels prepared and ready: “This result is very important for me, as it gives me good points to jump in the championship. My focus is now on tomorrow, when I think we will be competitive again. Let’s see what we can do, but I’m confident for tomorrow.”

Miguel Molina dedicated today’s victory to the memories of Moto 2 rider Luis Salom, who had a fatal crash yesterday, and the late Carlos Castellá, Spanish journalist who worked for Audi Sport: “I want to remember two special people. Luis Salom died in a terrible accident yesterday and Carlos Castellá passed a few weeks ago after a long illness. He had been with me since I arrived in the DTM and helped me a lot. This victory is for them.”