ENCOURAGING SIGNS BUT ALSO FRUSTRATION IN THE LOW LANDS

ENCOURAGING SIGNS BUT ALSO FRUSTRATION IN THE LOW LANDS

20/05/2019

It was again an intense weekend for the WRT teams on the various fronts where they were involved. At Zolder, in the return of DTM to Belgium after 17 years of absence, the WRT Team Audi Sport, in what was only its second race in the series, showed progress with respect to the Hockenheim debut, proving able to fight for the top-10 in qualifying and the points in the race. Eventually, Pietro Fittipaldi’s 9th position in Race 2 was the best result of the weekend.

At Zandvoort, in the FIA WTCR, the Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport lived a very frustrating weekend, as under the current regulatory conditions, the Audi RS 3 LMS had no pace at all. Only Jean-Karl Vernay could salvage only one small point.

It was the atmosphere of great days at Zolder, as Belgian fans welcomed the return of the DTM after a 17-year hiatus. It was also ‘home race’ for WRT Team Audi Sport in its second DTM outing ever. The Audi RS 5 DTM of the Belgian squad showed excellent pace since free practice, where they made twice the top-5, and came very close to the top-10 in both qualifying sessions.

Race 1 was heavily conditioned by a safety-car period that benefitted greatly the drivers having already made their first pit stop. Among them wasn’t Pietro Fittipaldi, who eventually took P14. Jonathan Aberdein saw his race shortened by body damage resulting from a contact with Duval, an incident that cost him also a penalty.

On the narrow track, the safety-car played also a crucial role in Race 2, and one of its appearances on the track was used by the Belgian squad to have both drivers pitting and rejoining with fresh tires. This gave them an extra boost in the closing laps, where Fittipaldi could take 9th and two more points and Aberdein closed in P12.

Vincent Vosse (Team Principal): “It has been another weekend of learning the hard way. We could have obtained a little bit more, but we take a better result than in Hockenheim, we scored again and we proved we can aim at the top-10 in both qualifying and races quite regularly. Moreover, the cars ran perfectly and had no issues. We grow…”

Jonathan Aberdein: “Another weekend with a good potential show, but unfortunately, we could not materialize that in results. I am still very confident for the future and Zolder proved that anything can happen in the DTM: you can still have very good races even when you don’t qualify well. We keep working and growing and hope in a little bit of luck”.

Pietro Fittipaldi: “I qualified well for Race 1 and was in the points area in Race 1, but the safety-car came in at the wrong time and we lost all the benefit of the first part ofthe race. In qualifying 2, we struggled a bit as we took a direction that did not prove to be the correct one. In the race, I had a contact at the start resulting in damage, but despite that, I pushed, had a couple of great moves and could finish in the points. I am happy, the team did a fantastic job, but we certainly have the potential to go for more.”

DTM - Round 2 Zolder, Belgium, 17-19 May 2019

Race 1 Result
1. Philipp Eng (BMW) 39 laps
2. Joel Eriksson (BMW) + 8s645
3. Nico Müller (Audi) + 8s829
4. Loïc Duval (Audi) +18s159
5. Mike Rockenfeller (Audi) +24s152
14. Pietro Fittipaldi (Audi) +1m09s779
DNF Jonathan Aberdein (Audi) (28 laps)

Race 2 Result
1.René Rast (Audi) 39 laps
2. Philipp Eng (BMW) + 9s845
3. Jamie Green (Audi) +11s791
4. Mike Rockenfeller (Audi) +12s601
5. Sheldon Vander Linde (BMW) +13s195
9. Pietro Fittipaldi (Audi) +22s661
12. Jamie Aberdein (Audi) +26s793

source: Team WRT
photos: Patrick Hecq Photography