PressClub Canada · Article.
Strong recovery performance in Saturday’s race at the Lausitzring: Timo Glock best-placed BMW driver in fourth.
Mon Aug 24 13:33:53 CEST 2020 Press Release
A strong recovery performance saw Timo Glock (GER) finish the fifth race of the 2020 DTM season in fourth place as the best-placed BMW driver. On a circuit that dried out after a wet start, Glock moved up ten positions after starting the race from 14th to claim his best result of the season in the iQOO BMW M4 DTM. Marco Wittmann (GER) crossed the finish line in fifth place in his Schaeffler BMW M4 DTM.
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Lausitzring. A strong recovery performance saw Timo Glock
(GER) finish the fifth race of the 2020 DTM season in fourth place
as the best-placed BMW driver. On a circuit that dried out after a
wet start, Glock moved up ten positions after starting the race from
14th to claim his best result of the season in the iQOO
BMW M4 DTM. Marco Wittmann (GER) crossed the finish line in fifth
place in his Schaeffler BMW M4 DTM. Philipp Eng (AUT, ZF BMW M4 DTM)
and Sheldon van der Linde (Shell BMW M4 DTM) were also in the
points, finishing eighth and ninth.
Lucas Auer (AUT, BMW Bank M4 DTM) started from sixth
place and completed the race in twelfth. Jonathan Aberdein (RSA, CATL
BMW M4 DTM) finished in 14th position. Victory in the fifth
DTM race of the season went to René Rast (GER, Audi).
Glock spun out in wet conditions right at the start of the
qualifying session and was unable to complete another timed lap. All
drivers chose to go into the race with wet-weather tyres and Glock
made a good start. An early switch to dry tyres saw him continue to
move up through the field. Wittmann and Eng were also able to improve
in the early stage and seemed to be on course for the podium after
their pit stops before falling back again as the race drew to a close.
The best-placed BMW representative in the drivers’ standings was
Wittmann in fifth position with 38 points. The sixth DTM race of the
2020 season will take place on Sunday.
Reactions to the fifth DTM race of 2020 at the Lausitzring.
Rudolf Dittrich (General Manager BMW Motorsport Vehicle Development):
“We all saw an exciting race. This third race at the Lausitzring
provided mixed and treacherous weather conditions for the third time.
We had a very wet and slippery circuit for qualifying before the
asphalt started drying during the race. Philipp Eng made a very good
start and Marco Wittmann held his ground with the leading pack. On the
other hand, we also lost some places during the confusion in the wet
conditions at the start, however all the drivers had a largely
error-free race and we were able to reclaim some positions. The timing
of the decision to switch from wet-weather tyres to slicks was
decisive as the circuit dried out. Our strategy allowed us to gain
plenty of time and improve by a few places. Timo Glock’s recovery
performance was particularly impressive as he moved up from
14th on the grid to fourth. Overall though, we were unable
to keep up with the pace of the fastest Audis. We have to continue to
work on that to make sure that we improve the setup for qualifying and
the race tomorrow.”
Marco Wittmann (#11 Schaeffler BMW M4 DTM, BMW Team RMG, Grid:
5th, Race: 5th, Drivers’ standings:
5th, 38 points):
“Fifth place in qualifying and fifth in the race; that’s pretty
normal overall. The Audis remain the dominant force, even here. Our
good pit stop strategy made us competitive for a time but to be
honest, you have to say that the gap we saw in qualifying was also
reflected in the race. We are driving at the limit but the Audi guys
are maybe able to take care of the tyres a bit better. You notice that
at the end of the race with the increased wear and when the tyre
deteriorates. That is quite a difficult situation for us and we will
have to make sure that we improve our performance as much as possible.
But we are not giving up.”
Timo Glock (#16 iQOO BMW M4 DTM, BMW Team RMG, Grid:
14th, Race: 4th, Drivers’ standings:
7th, 34 points):
“I have already apologised repeatedly to the team and to BMW, but now
I'd like to make it official: that mistake this morning was the most
stupid one I have ever made. You simply can’t park the car like that
on the third lap with the weather as it was. I didn’t pay attention
for a second, lost control and made a mistake. So, I was just
concentrating on one thing in the race - payback - and giving my all
for the guys. And that is just what we did. The overtaking manoeuvre
against Mike Rockenfeller was a tough one, but it had to be. I had to
get past and I took my chance. As far as I’m concerned, if the race
had continued for another two laps, then I might have been able to
catch Robin. However, I am happy with fourth place. We have to think
about what adjustments we could have made if we had been doing better,
but there’s no point thinking about could have, would have. We scored
some good points and that was important.”
Lucas Auer (#22 BMW Bank M4 DTM, BMW Team RMR, Grid:
6th, Race: 12th, Drivers’ standings:
11th, 10 points):
“Qualifying was good, but the race was poor. We stayed out too long.
You pay for that decision when everybody goes past you. The pace was
good, but overtaking was difficult.”
Philipp Eng (#25 ZF BMW M4 DTM, BMW Team RBM, Grid:
7th, Race: 8th, Drivers’ standings:
10th, 20 points):
“Perfect start, perfect stop lap, perfect pit stop. The race
execution was really good. However, after ten laps I had no more grip
on the rear tyres. We have to investigate what caused that. It wasn’t
so much fun towards the end.”
Jonathan Aberdein (#27 CATL BMW M4 DTM, BMW Team RMR, Grid:
12th, Race: 14th, Drivers’ standings:
13th, 5 points):
“It was a very tough race. It’s always tricky when you have this mix
of wet and dry conditions. I am not sure how I lost so much time,
maybe more on the out-lap than on the pit stop. We need to analyse it
more in detail and make sure we are spot on for tomorrow.”
Sheldon van der Linde (#31 Shell BMW M4 DTM, BMW Team RBM,
Grid: 8th, Race: 9th, Drivers’ standings:
9th, 28 points):
“The race was not ideal. I had a really bad start, recovered well after that and made up some positions. Then the DRS did not work right which was so frustrating. I think there could have at least been a P6 in it. But I just have to accept it and move on to tomorrow.”