Quotes after the race at Hockenheim

Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): “The people at Audi Sport and in our teams worked extremely hard in the past weeks. That’s why a result like today’s is good for everybody. Audi is always committed to battling for victories – and that’s what we’re able to do with the new RS 5 DTM. We’ve got a good base and, fortunately, suffered no major damage here at Hockenheim so that the whole DTM squad can now enjoy the successful season opener and calmly prepare for Oschersleben.”

Dieter Gass (Head of DTM): “Basically, we’re happy. The most important thing was to show that the Audi RS 5 DTM is powerful and has the potential to be in contention for race victories. I think we proved this. Having clinched positions two, three and four, we’ve got two drivers on podium. The result could even have turned out much better because Timo (Scheider) definitely belongs there at the front, and so does Edoardo (Mortara), who unfortunately suffered a puncture. This gives us a certain amount of self-confidence that we’ll be taking with us into the next races.”

Mattias Ekström (Red Bull Audi RS 5 DTM), 2nd place
Tires: standard/option
“Finishing the race and then mounting the podium to top it off is obviously a successful start of the season. Before the next race we’ve still got a bit of work to do though in order to make the car even faster because we could tell that the BMW in particular were running really well too. But all in all, I’m very pleased.”

Adrien Tambay (Playboy Audi RS 5 DTM), 3rd place
Tires: option/standard
“A very good weekend: the first pole position and the second podium in my DTM career. Starting the season like this is a nice reward for the guys who had a lot of work to do in the winter and often toiled away late into the night. The season could hardly have started any better.”

Mike Rockenfeller (Schaeffler Audi RS 5 DTM), 4th place
Tires: standard/option
“The race was really exciting because nobody knew what to expect. Tenth place wasn’t an optimal starting base. Finishing in fourth place, I think, was the maximum that could be achieved from that grid position. These are important points for the overall classification. I’d like to thank my team – it wasn’t easy for any of us. We were pretty tense before the race. Now we know where we stand and can travel to Oschersleben with a good feeling.”

Timo Scheider (AUTO TEST Audi RS 5 DTM), 9th place
Tires: option/standard
“On the option tires, everything was going according to plan in the beginning. We didn’t know what to expect but our prediction that it would be going well was right. The pit stop went well too. I had a realistic chance for a podium place. Unfortunately, António Félix da Costa hit my car in the hairpin turn during a yellow period, which easily cost me ten seconds. At the end, I had to defend myself against three BMW on option tires and that didn’t work out so well. As a result, I lost a few more positions.”

Miguel Molina (Audi Sport Audi RS 5 DTM), 13th place
Tires: standard/option
“My race was positive in one respect. We overtook ten cars and my Audi was fast. Unfortunately, we started from the very rear of the grid. The race was tough. Yesterday, in qualifying, we showed that we’re quick. Unfortunately, the dummy camera wasn’t installed and that destroyed our race. But I’m optimistic for the next races.”  

Nico Müller (Audi Financial Services RS 5 DTM), 16th place
Tires: standard/option
“The race was chaotic for me in the beginning. Something went wrong at the start. When I engaged second gear the engine speed massively dropped. After I depressed the clutch it was suddenly okay again. Of course it’s difficult once you’ve ended it up at the rear of the field. I battled and managed to make up some ground again. Unfortunately, my DRS didn’t work anymore after my pit stop. But in spite of this I managed a couple of good maneuvers. That was fun. To sum it up: I’m taking a lot of positive things with me from this race, I learned a lot but the end result has room for improvement.”

Edoardo Mortara (Audi Sport Audi RS 5 DTM), retirement
Tires: standard/option
“A big disappointment because we could have finished on the podium today. We were fast in the race, both on option and standard tires. Unfortunately, we then had the problem with the left front tire. Now we’re going to work even harder for Oschersleben.”

Jamie Green (Hoffmann Group Audi RS 5 DTM), retirement
Tires: option
“The whole weekend didn’t go particularly well for me. In free practice, we didn’t manage to work out an optimal set-up, in qualifying the car was okay but I got off track and was relatively far at the back of the grid. And when you start from a position at the rear it’s not easy. On the first half lap, I recovered a few places but then Augusto Farfus closed the door when I was in the process of overtaking him. My car was so heavily damaged afterwards that I wasn’t able to continue to drive.”

Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): “That was a very good start of the season. We can really be pleased with positions two and three. Obviously, we’d have liked to win but in the end it was important to see that our cars are running well. And they did. The team did a superb job, all pit stops worked perfectly.”  

Ernst Moser (Team Director Audi Sport Team Phoenix): “I’m pleased. Our intention was to advance as much as possible from grid positions nine and ten, and we managed to do that. If Timo (Scheider) had not been unfortunate due to collisions that were not his fault he’d have had the possibility to finish on the podium. We used a fifty-fifty strategy and that worked out too. We did everything right, the cars are fast, the drivers are good, and the team performed good stops.”

Arno Zensen (Teamchef Audi Sport Team Rosberg): “Congratulations to (Mattias) Ekström, (Adrien) Tambay and (Mike) Rockenfeller on a great race. We were unfortunate though. Nico (Müller) had a problem at the start. He drove off in a normal way and in second gear there was suddenly some black smoke. We’ve got to investigate this. It doesn’t seem to have been his fault, he subsequently drove a good race. For Jamie (Green) the race took an unfortunate course. Following a good start, he was already in ninth place in turn one. Then Augusto Farfus failed to notice him, the two cars collided and Jamie was forced to retire from the race with a defect. We’re looking ahead to Oschersleben.”

– End –