Nico Müller increased his lead as Audi secured the manufacturers’ title

It was a another solid DTM weekend for Audi Sport at the Nürburgring as the Ingolstadt-based manufacturer secured another podium lockdown with Nico Müller, Robin Frijns and René Rast. The trio scored enough points for Audi to claim the manufacturers’ title.

“It’s great that we secured two of the three championship titles so early on,” said Audi Motorsport boss Dieter Gass. “We started to give our all again in the final year with the Audi RS 5 DTM. The results speak for themselves. That is pure ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’.

“I would like to thank the entire team and the employees in Ingolstadt, Neuburg and Neckarsulm for again putting so much effort into this last season with the Class 1 cars.”

Müller turned around his struggles of yesterday to a win, overtaking Abt Sportsline team-mate Frijns early in the second and final race of the weekend.

“Overtaking Robin Frijns was no problem,” said Müller after the race. “I think he saw that I was approaching quickly. But between the two of us, it is always smart and fair.

“It is nice when you have an advantage, but you never know what happens, whether there will be a safety car intervention or not. Therefore, you can never be relaxed, you have to remain focussed instead,” explained the championship leader.

“I already turned into the pit lane early for my stop and I knew that my second stint was going to be a really long one. Only five, six laps before the end of the race, I wasn’t that worried anymore, but even then, you never know what can still happen.”

Müller leads the drivers’ championship on 242 points, 18 more than Frijns and 47 over Team Rosberg’s René Rast.

In the manufacturers’ table, Audi Sport secured the title with three rounds still left, with a total of 827 points against 356 points for BMW Motorsport.