Lucas Auer: “Mercedes’ decision won’t mean the end of DTM”

Mercedes AMG driver Lucas Auer had a dismal first day at Zandvoort, not scoring any points after a qualifying at the back of the grid and having an incident-packed race.

Auer was never on pace in the race and, on lap 11, he went off at Turn 8 as he tried to defend from Audi’s Nico Müller. The Team HWA driver was 15th and penultimate among the finishers. “For sure, today was a very tough day,” Auer said to TouringCarTimes. “There isn’t a lot I can say about it, only that this is racing and, sometimes, things don’t go your way. Tomorrow will be a new day and we will fight again.”

Despite not scoring any points, Auer is still third in the standings, just 15 points behind the leader, Audi’s René Rast. The Austrian refuses to let his focus off the day-by-day races: “I don’t think about the championship, I don’t think anybody does. What’s important for me is to get back in good shape and start getting good results, like we did at the beginning of the year. Thinking about the championship will come later.”

Mercedes AMG’s withdrawal from the DTM at the end of 2018 is the main talking point this weekend at Zandvoort. Auer believes the series is strong enough to react and continue: “Mercedes’ decision is a shame, they are a big part of the DTM. But I think we (DTM) have a good platform, we are the most professional touring car series in the world. When you see the fan base, you know that we have a good competition in our hands.”

“What we have to do is less complaining and talking about politics. Of course there are politics, anywhere where people invest money there are politics. Formula 1 is crazy, you don’t know what anybody is doing, sometimes you don’t even know what your own team is doing. DTM is a competitive and professional championship, the cars are great, we have good fans. I’m sure the DTM has a future and Mercedes’ decision won’t mean the end of it,” added Auer.

Lucas Auer has been a Mercedes DTM driver for three years, so his future from 2019 on is now uncertain. The Austrian refuses to speculate: “I know what I’m doing now and we will continue to fight in 2018. Whatever happens after that, I will be OK, for sure.”