Marco Wittmann: “I have improved since last year”

Marco Wittmann completed the third round of the 2016 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season in Lausitzring as the best placed man for BMW Motorsport in both races. The 2014 champion is now second in the standings, three points behind leader Robert Wickens.

Wittmann finished fourth in Saturday’s race, resisting the attacks of Mercedes AMG’s Christian Vietoris to be sixth today, bagging important points. Talking about the weekend, the Team RMG driver was pleasantly surprised. “We were weary of coming to the Lausitzring, as we know it’s not a good circuit for us”, Wittmann told TouringCarTimes. “We struggled last year and we know that our car doesn’t deal well with the bumps. Still, I did the best I could and found that I could push hard, we scored points in both races and got a good result for the championship, so yes, I’m happy.”

Sixth place could seem a poor result for Wittmann, but the 2014 champion insists on the level of competitiveness in the DTM to assert the importance of every point: “The DTM is very close, the drivers are very professional and the cars are much levelled, braking at the wrong moment or a mistake can cost you a lot. Furthermore, from track to track every car can change, adapt better or not compared to the others… There are so many things that can change a little bit and have an effect on the championship, on where you are from one race to the next, that getting results and scoring points is always important, even if it’s out of the podium.”

Wittmann’s victory in Spielberg’s first race is his only podium result this season, having scored points at every round, except for the season opener. As result, the Team RMG driver is the leading man for BMW Motorsport in the standings. Asked about the season so far, Wittmann said: “We sat together at the end of last season and looked at what had been different from 2014 to 2015, where we could improve and learn. We changed a few things in the way we do things and, yes, we are back being competitive again, so we are on the right road.”

Next for the DTM is Norisring, a track traditionally not very good for BMW. Wittmann remains focussed: “Norisring is not very good for us, but the task is the same: to push as much as we can, try to score points and continue being up there in the championship getting results.”

The Norisring round of the DTM takes place in three weeks time, from the 24th to the 26th of June.