Nico Müller and Robin Frijns lose pit stop battle against René Rast

The Team Abt Sportsline duo of Nico Müller and Robin Frijns couldn’t stop Team Rosberg’s René Rast from winning the first race at the Lausitzring, despite a bad start by the reigning champion.

Müller and Frijns have taken all pole positions of the season so far, with Müller having a healthy advantage in the drivers’ championship.

Müller led in the initial stages of the race from the pole position, with Frijns in second place.

Rast sat in third place, having to defend from BMW driver Marco Wittmann. Both Frijns and Rast pitted at the end of lap 13, with Müller doing so a lap later, a decision that proved fatal for the Swiss’ aspirations of claiming a new victory.

“The pit stop was one of the deciding factors,” said Müller after the race. “We were a few laps late, definitely at least one lap too late.

“I came out in traffic and that compromised the warming up of the tyres, because I underestimated how long the slicks took to come on. I thought one lap would be enough, but I was wrong,” admitted the championship leader.

Frijns wasn’t happy either. The Dutch led 11 laps of the race, but couldn’t stop Rast from taking over the lead, losing also second spot to his team-mate.

“I was quick both on wet and slick tyres,” said the Dutchman. “I found I had quite a good rhythm after the pit stop and I changed tyres at the right moment.

“But I was surprised that, given the damped conditions, how sharply the tyres degraded in the last six laps, so it’s a big disappointment for me today,” concluded Frijns.

Müller leads the championship on 121 points, 33 ahead of Rast and 47 over Frijns. In the manufacturers’ table, Audi has got 355 points, 220 ahead of BMW.