Nico Müller strengthens his championship lead with “perfect day”

Nico Müller of Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline had a “perfect day” on Saturday at the Nürburgring, to claim his second pole-position and fourth victory of the year, to increase his lead in the drivers’ championship.

Not only did Müller beat reigning champion René Rast at the very end of the qualifying session, scoring the pole-position by an ample two-tenths margin. In the race, Müller’s pace was strong, also scoring the fastest lap of the race and winning with a 15-second advantage over Rast.

“I’m very pleased,” said Müller after the race. “Perfect days are very rare in DTM. My team and I are allowed to enjoy it for the next hour or so and soak it in, because it doesn’t happen every day.”

The Swiss hopes to continue with his good form on Sunday, with the DTM staying at the Nürburgring for next weekend, albeit racing on the shorter sprint circuit.

“We have shown we have quite a good package and now the challenge is to get as close to that perfection again as we can tomorrow,” added Müller. “But is going to be difficult because we know that our competitors are going to be there again, so we just need to keep pushing day by day and maximise the points’ haul.”

Audi Motorsport boss Dieter Gass was also pleased to have completed the first half of the season with his cars dominating the competition: “It’s been an incredible first half of the season for us, winning most of the races in quite a dominant way.”

“Nico was really outstanding today compared even to all the other Audi drivers,” Gass added praising Müller’s performance. “He put himself in a very good position for the remainder of the championship.”

Müller now has 192 points in his account, 43 ahead of Frijns and 52 over Rast, with the first half of the season completed. Audi Sport has also increased its lead in the manufacturers’ table to 614 points, with BMW Motorsport on 275 points.