Marco Wittmann: “I wasn’t expecting the podium”

BMW Motorsport Team RMG driver Marco Wittmann was able to turn around his bad fortune at the DTM season opener two weeks ago with a decent performance and a podium on Sunday at the Lausitzring.

Despite enjoying better pace, the result was unexpected for the twice champion, who acknowledges there is still a lot of work to do for the Bavarian manufacturer.

Wittmann was the best qualifier for BMW Motorsport, placing seventh on the grid but half-a-second off the pole-position time.

At the start, the Team RMG driver made up several positions.

“I had a rocket start,” he said. “At Turn 1 I was already in P5, and then the Audis in front had a mess against each other. I squeezed myself on the outside to pass Nico for P4.”

Wittmann seemed to have a more consistent pace in the race than in qualifying, but refused to pinpoint the issue on a specific setup of the car.

“We were in better shape in the race than in qualifying,” the Team RMG driver told TouringCarTimes. “We could already see that in our runs on Friday but still not enough to fight for the win, so there is where we have to analyse and see where we can improve.

“The DTM car is an overall package and it’s difficult to point out one single part that we could change to be quicker.”

Wittmann pitted on the same lap than Audi’s Robin Frijns and eight laps earlier than Nico Müller. Despite that, the 2014 and 2016 champion was able to resist the Swiss racer for a few laps and overtake the Dutch for third place with apparent ease.

“I defended from Nico using the DRS and what I had but we knew he had better tyres and would be faster than us,” said Wittmann.

“After the pit stop I could not follow Robin and I was surprised that he dropped so much towards the end,” added the Team RMG driver. “I saw he struggled with the rear tyres, so I saw the chance and I overtook him.

“I wasn’t expecting this, so it was nice that I could secure the podium,” concluded Wittmann.

Wittmann is now the best-placed BMW driver in the championship in sixth place with 28 points, 72 behind Müller.