Zolder DTM: Eng and Rast score wins

Race 2 podium - Eng, Rast and Green
Race 2 podium – Eng, Rast and Green

Audi’s Rene Rast earned a second win of the 2019 season with a commanding drive to victory at Zolder, as the field behind him enjoyed a thrilling race-long battle around the sweeps and chicanes of Belgium’s classic Zolder circuit.

Retirement on Saturday, victory on Sunday has become Rast’s modus operandi so far in 2019. But, unlike Hockenheim, where the German made best use of a canny strategy and a concerted push past other cars to claim the victory, his win on Sunday was relatively straightforward.

He passed BMW rookie Sheldon van der Linde with a decisive move into Turn One on lap 11 to assume the lead, then retained it after the round of mid-race pit-stops to comfortably lead the field home.

Saturday’s race winner Philipp Eng picked up another podium in Belgium, coming home second after another punchy race to end the weekend as the new championship leader.

After a frenetic battle on the very last lap, Jamie Green compounded Team Rosberg’s fortuned by claiming third place, his first podium finish since the 2017 season finale at Hockenheim.

Mike Rockenfeller made it three Audis in the top four despite a wild moment on the final lap which saw him skating across the grass in a spirited lunge to pass Green.

Race 1

Philipp Eng
Philipp Eng

Philipp Eng earned an emotional maiden victory as the DTM returned to its birthplace at Belgium’s Zolder circuit. The Austrian BMW driver benefited from a mid-race Safety Car period, that carved the race in half, and enabled him to take full advantage of an early stop for tires to take victory in DTM at his 23rd attempt.

Having started from the fourth row after qualifying seventh, Eng benefited from a Safety Car intervention to retrieve the stranded R-Motorsport Aston Martins of Daniel Juncadella and Jake Dennis. The Safety Car wound the field in for five laps and enabled Eng, who along with a clutch of other drivers had already completed his mandatory mid-race stop, to narrow the gap to the leaders.

At the restart, the Austrian also overtook his fellow BMW driver Joel Eriksson (SWE), the decisive maneuver of the race, moved past Rene Rast and established a small but critical lead at the front.

I’m probably the happiest person in the world!" said Eng afterwards. “I’m so glad to be in the DTM, so happy to be racing for BMW. Winning is simply fantastic. This is the scenario I’ve always dreamt of. However, reality is much better than the dream by far – although the last five, six laps felt as long as a 24-hour race! There was some luck involved as well, but I reckon we deserved this win."

For Eng’s squad, BMW Team RBM, victory in the third race of the current DTM season was also a much-celebrated home win. The team, run by Bart Mampaey, is based in Mechelen, only 72 kilometers from Zolder.

After a lengthy battle to fend off the advances of Mueller, runner-up Eriksson commented: “That was one of the most difficult races of my life. I didn’t make any mistakes, but, towards the end, Nico put me under massive pressure. Luckily, I was able to keep him at bay – even though, towards the end, my tires were worn considerably."

Mueller added: “Overtaking around here is really difficult. I tried to keep the pressure up until the end, but I was struggling with tire degradation myself in the closing stages. Still, we can be really happy with the result."

Behind BMW’s Eng and Eriksson, Audi’s Nico Muller (SUI) came third, while Aston Martin scored points with eighth and ninth place for Paul Di Resta (GBR) and Ferdinand von Habsburg (AUT).

Race 1 Results

POS DRIVER TEAM CAR LAPS GAP
1 Philipp Eng RMR BMW 39 59m34.758s
2 Joel Eriksson RBM BMW 39 8.645s
3 Nico Muller Abt Audi 39 8.829s
4 Loic Duval Phoenix Audi 39 18.159s
5 Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi 39 24.502s
6 Jamie Green Rosberg Audi 39 32.318s
7 Marco Wittmann RMG BMW 39 32.746s
8 Paul Di Resta R-Motorsport Aston Martin 39 35.875s
9 Ferdinand Habsburg R-Motorsport Aston Martin 39 38.858s
10 Bruno Spengler RMG BMW 39 39.874s
11 Sheldon van der Linde RBM BMW 39 40.571s
12 Robin Frijns Abt Audi 39 42.721s
13 Timo Glock RMR BMW 39 45.672s
14 Pietro Fittipaldi WRT Audi 39 1m09.779s
15 Jonathan Aberdein WRT Audi 27 12 Laps
16 Rene Rast Rosberg Audi 27 12 Laps
Daniel Juncadella R-Motorsport Aston Martin 12 Retirement
Jake Dennis R-Motorsport Aston Martin 12 Retirement

Race 2 Results

POS DRIVER TEAM CAR LAPS GAP
1 Rene Rast Rosberg Audi 39 59m24.539s
2 Philipp Eng RMR BMW 39 9.845s
3 Jamie Green Rosberg Audi 39 11.791s
4 Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi 39 12.601s
5 Sheldon van der Linde RBM BMW 39 13.195s
6 Jake Dennis R-Motorsport Aston Martin 39 19.825s
7 Bruno Spengler RMG BMW 39 20.468s
8 Nico Muller Abt Audi 39 21.563s
9 Pietro Fittipaldi WRT Audi 39 22.661s
10 Joel Eriksson RBM BMW 39 23.550s
11 Loic Duval Phoenix Audi 39 23.648s
12 Jonathan Aberdein WRT Audi 39 26.793s
13 Marco Wittmann RMG BMW 39 39.780s
14 Timo Glock RMR BMW 38 1 Lap
Daniel Juncadella R-Motorsport Aston Martin 27 Retirement
Robin Frijns Abt Audi 21 Retirement
Ferdinand Habsburg R-Motorsport Aston Martin 17 Retirement
Paul Di Resta R-Motorsport Aston Martin 0 Not started

Driver Standings

POS DRIVER POINTS
1 Philipp Eng 59
2 Rene Rast 54
3 Marco Wittmann 43
4 Mike Rockenfeller 42
5 Nico Muller 41
6 Robin Frijns 31
7 Jamie Green 25
8 Bruno Spengler 24
9 Loic Duval 22
10 Sheldon van der Linde 21
11 Joel Eriksson 20
12 Timo Glock 20
13 Paul Di Resta 11
14 Jake Dennis 8
15 Pietro Fittipaldi 3
16 Ferdinand Habsburg 2
17 Daniel Juncadella 2
18 Jonathan Aberdein 0