René Rast: “We had to try something to catch Gary”

René Rast put an end point to the first half of the season scoring his and Audi Sport’s first victory of the year after a difficult race at Zandvoort.

The reigning champion started from third on the grid and, although he had improved his qualifying time by seven-tenths compared to yesterday, he was a long way behind Mercedes’ Gary Paffett.

“I can’t describe this feeling with words. Before the race I didn’t expect to win as Gary (Paffett) was half a second quicker,” Rast told TouringCarTimes. “We pitted at the end of lap one and the car didn’t drop, we continued to have the same pace, so I passed Gary virtually and I was surprised that he came behind me after he pitted. I was at first pulling a little, but then I focussed on keeping everything together.

“We chose to pit on the first lap as part of our strategy and I didn’t want to be stuck behind Philipp (Eng, BMW). We knew we had to try something to catch Gary and it actually worked out.

“Managing the tyres after pitting on the first lap was tough as you pick up a lot of gravel and rubber during the race and, after the safety car, there was a lot of rubbish on the track, so it was very hard to keep the tyres alive. The last 15 minutes were very long as the clock didn’t seem to tick but yes, I would say it was one of the hardest races of my life.”

Rast was on a winning strategy yesterday but the safety car was deployed just before the reigning champion was due to come into the pits for his obligatory pit stop, condemning him to a no points result once the tyre change was done. The Team Rosberg driver felt a bad omen as the safety car was deployed again today.

“I was screaming in the car, thought it couldn’t be happening again,” said the reigning champion. “Then, we reached Turn 1 and there was no car there (as Bruno Spengler’s BMW had already been recovered). But then I had to manage the situation focussing on the race. I knew Gary couldn’t take high risks as he’s fighting for the championship and he wouldn’t be doing any crazy things.”

In the end, Rast was happy to have achieved an important result for him and Audi Sport.

“We scored good points for the team and for the championship after so much bad luck in the last two weeks, so it’s great to have won this race.

“We were competitive and strong this weekend. We were already at Budapest, which is similar with high-speed corners. I think the tracks that are coming suit us a bit more so, yes, I hope this will change the luck for us this season,” concluded Rast.

Rast is now the best placed Audi driver in the championship in ninth place with 49 points, 99 behind Paffett.