Photo: Daimler Global Press

Championship leader Lucas Auer stays pragmatic ahead of Budapest

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Mercedes AMG driver Lucas Auer leads the DTM standings after a stellar start to the season, but refuses to be confident ahead of the new challenge at the Hungaroring, host of the third round of the season this weekend.

Auer counts two pole positions and two victories to lead the championship with 69 points, 16 over Audi’s Jamie Green and 23 more than team-mate Gary Paffett. The young Austrian, fresh from a podium finish at his debut in the ADAC GT Masters last weekend, chooses to remain realistic and focussed ahead of the Budapest round, which proved a difficult one for him last year.

“Mega cool city, super cool racetrack. However the last races there haven’t been easy, but we’ll have to wait and see how things go this year with the new rules and tyres. I’ll give 100% again as always, and then we’ll just have to wait and see how things turn out,” said the Team HWA driver.

Paffett also had a good start of the season, with a podium at Hockenheim and having scored points in all races held so far.

“The performance of our car is good, and I think we can go there and have another good weekend. We’re not really looking at the championship yet. It’s great to be in third place in the championship but there’s still a long way to go. We have to focus on each weekend as it comes,” said Paffett.

Edoardo Mortara had a very successful visit to the Hungaroring last year with two pole positions and a victory for Audi. The 2017 season has proven a challenging one for the Italian, having switched to Mercedes AMG, but hopes to be competitive this weekend: “The start of the season was certainly not the best as far as I’m concerned, but I’m confident that we can turn things around.”

Mercedes AMG has had a strong start of the season, leading all three championship tables. The Stuttgart-based manufacturer has 187 points, ten over Audi Sport and 123 ahead of BMW Motorsport. The strong pace of the C63 DTM does however come at a price, with the Team HWA-managed cars starting the weekend with a performance weight of 1,130 kg.

Ulrich Fritz, Head of Mercedes AMG, hopes his team can overturn a traditionally difficult circuit for the team: “We can certainly be very satisfied with the first two race weekends. Nevertheless, there is a big ‘but’, since we still don’t yet know how the car will perform at the Hungaroring where it’s going to be important to give the drivers as much downforce as possible. At the same time, tyre management will once again play a fundamental role. Generally speaking, I would say that we still have a score to settle in Hungary.”