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Audi continues to dominate proceedings in the free practice sessions. On Sunday morning, there was a quartet of drivers from the Ingolstadt-based brand up front with René Rast (1m35.802s), Jamie Green (1m35.854s), Nico Müller (1m35.947s) and Mike Rockenfeller (1m36.001s).

Classified fifth, Lucas Auer (1m36.412s) ended up as the best-placed Mercedes-AMG driver, followed by Audi drivers Mattias Ekström (1m36.438s) and Loïc Duval (1m36.441s). Maxime Martin was the best-placed BMW driver in twelfth place.

“That wasn’t too bad, and it is another good team result as well. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to use the new tyres, because there was a lot of traffic and therefore we are lacking a little bit of experience. That is a pity, but all in all, it was very good,” René Rast commented after his first place.

The starting grid positions for the sixth race of the season will be determined during qualifying from 12.00 hrs. ONE will be broadcasting live from Budapest from 11.55 hrs.

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Nobody had expected that after qualifying: after an undisputed dominance by Audi in the practice session, Paul Di Resta (Mercedes-AMG), Timo Glock and Bruno Spengler (both BMW) were the drivers who celebrated on the winners’ podium after the first race at the Hungaroring.

All three of them benefited from their pit stop strategy that was based on an early tyre change, as well as a safety car intervention. Mike Rockenfeller was the best-placed Audi driver. He made maximum use of his dominant race speed, made up more than 20 seconds, but eventually turned out to be unable to find a way past Spengler and took the chequered flag in fourth place.

“I managed my tyres very well and thus I was able to drive many laps in one stint,” race winner Di Resta commented after the race. “We had to opt for a very aggressive strategy, because Audi was very, very fast. I was able to control Timo Glock, he simply wasn’t close enough.” For Di Resta, it was his eighth race win in the DTM, the Mercedes-AMG driver’s most recent win to date being his victory in the 2016 season opener at Hockenheim. The Scot dedicated his win to his wife Laura and their daughter Perla who was born last Monday.

Timo Glock was happy with second place: “We didn’t expect this at all,” he said. “Fortunately, we had made our pit stop before the safety car intervention, that was worth a lot. Had it not been for this situation, we wouldn’t have won anything today, let alone these 18 points. Initially, I was faster than Paul, but I deliberately held back to save my tyres.” The Hungaroring seems to suit Glock: in 2008, he scored his maiden Formula 1 podium finish here by finishing second.

For Spengler, the key to success was a second pit stop at the right time, just at the start of the safety car intervention. “Following my tyre change after the first lap, I had to make another stop, otherwise, I certainly would have had problems with the tyres towards the end,” the 2012 DTM champion from Canada commented. In the last two laps, he successfully defended his position against Rockenfeller’s attacks. “Mike was fast, the fastest driver in the field today. Had the race been longer, I would hardly have been able to keep him at bay.”

René Rast, who had scored his maiden DTM pole position with the Audi RS 5 DTM in qualifying, had to make do with sixth place behind his fellow Audi drivers Mike Rockenfeller and Mattias Ekström.

The reason for the safety car intervention was the retirement of BMW driver Maxime Martin, who came to a halt after eight laps and parked his BMW M4 DTM on the track. To allow for the car to be recovered, race control sent the safety car out.

Points’ leader Lucas Auer (Mercedes-AMG) didn’t score any points in the Saturday race at the Hungaroring, but still retained his championship lead. His margin from his two fiercest rivals Green and Rockenfeller has been reduced to eight and 16 points respectively.

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Audi driver Jamie Green was disqualified after the DTM race on Saturday. Thus, the stewards sustained a protest by the HWA team (starting number 63, Maro Engel).

The team had faulted the fact that a slot on the front diffusor of Green’s Audi RS 5 DTM had been covered without approval. According to art. T 2.10.1, this is forbidden on the control part, of which the use is mandatory on all cars.

Team Rosberg has announced an appeal against the decision by the stewards. This has to be submitted in writing by Wednesday evening. Until the decision by the appeal court, presumably only in a few weeks, the result of the Saturday race at Budapest will remain provisional.

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At the Hungaroring, Rene Rast secured his maiden DTM position. In qualifying for the Saturday race, the 30-year-old Audi works driver beat the opposition and set the fastest time of 1m34.742s. Rast’s maiden pole position also marks the first pole position for Audi in the 2017 DTM season.

The brand from Ingolstadt showed a strong overall performance in qualifying with a clean sweep of the top five as Jamie Green, Mattias Ekström, Nico Müller and Mike Rockenfeller followed in second to fifth place behind Rast. 

Augusto Farfus was the fastest BMW driver in sixth place. The Brazilian was 0.533 seconds down on Rast’s fastest time. Behind seventh-placed Loïc Duval, the current DTM points’ leader Lucas Auer ended up eighth as the fastest Mercedes-AMG driver. Gary Paffett (Mercedes-AMG) and Tom Blomqvist (BMW) rounded out the top ten.

"I am mega happy. This is something one can hardly describe. Pole position is very unexpected for me." Said Rast "So far, I have improved every race weekend. It didn’t look too good at the beginning with P9 on the first set of tyres, but I also had some traffic."

"I was still eight tenths of a seconds down on pole. With the second set of tyres, it worked out much better, that was just great." He added

The fifth race of the DTM season starts on Saturday at 14.45 hrs. ARD is broadcasting live from 14.20 hrs.

 

         

 

 

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