Thanks to Nico Muller: Audi wins again

Playboy Audi Audi RS 5 DTM #51 (Audi Sport Team Abt), Nico Muller
Playboy Audi Audi RS 5 DTM #51 (Audi Sport Team Abt), Nico Muller

Audi has another DTM winner: youngster Nico Muller (24) won a turbulent DTM race at the Norisring on Sunday, causing Audi to triumph twice within the space of 24 hours in its “home round" in Nuremberg.

Following “Forza Italia" with Edoardo Mortara’s victory on Saturday, it was “Hopp, Schwiiz!" on Sunday. In his 36th DTM race, the youngest Audi factory driver celebrated his first ever victory in the DTM. In front of an impressive crowd of 123,500 spectators (throughout the weekend), the Swiss at the wheel of his Playboy Audi RS 5 DTM delivered an impeccable performance on Sunday. Having started the race from grid position three, he improved to second place right in turn one. Subsequently, Muller put pressure on pole sitter Tom Blomqvist and overtook the BMW also thanks to a quicker pit stop. In the final stage, Muller controlled the pace and kept his cool even when a safety car period shortly before the finish ruined his advantage of 2.5 seconds.

“Winning my first DTM race for Audi here at the Norisring of all places is simply an incredible feeling," said Muller, for whom two Bunnies of his sponsor, Playboy, kept their fingers crossed on Sunday as well. “Following the disappointing result yesterday, we made the right changes to the car. My RS 5 DTM was fantastic today and my pit stop was super-fast. Thank you to Audi Sport, thank you to Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline and thank you to everyone who believed in me – first and foremost Dieter Gass! I’m overjoyed!"

Dieter Gass, Head of DTM at Audi Sport, was happy for his protege as well: “Nico (Muller) drove like an old hand today and showed why we took him on board at Audi. Nico has had a strong season so far and has now crowned it with his first victory in the DTM. That we’ve been able to win both races at the Norisring following a 14-year barren spell is fantastic. Obviously, it’s a shame that we lost a few points today. But we’re not going to let this spoil our partying mood in any way."

Results

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Nico Muller Abt Audi 0.000s
2 Tom Blomqvist RBM BMW 0.670s
3 Maxime Martin RBM BMW 1.543s
4 Paul Di Resta HWA Mercedes 4.701s
5 Lucas Auer Mucke Mercedes 4.950s
6 Marco Wittmann RMG BMW 5.197s
7 Bruno Spengler MTEK BMW 5.907s
8 Edoardo Mortara Abt Audi 6.228s
9 Timo Glock RMG BMW 6.981s
10 Martin Tomczyk Schnitzer BMW 7.224s
11 Robert Wickens HWA Mercedes 10.510s
12 Maximilian Gotz HWA Mercedes 10.906s
13 Esteban Ocon ART Mercedes 11.543s
14 Miguel Molina Abt Audi 13.013s
15 Christian Vietoris Mucke Mercedes 14.094s
16 Timo Scheider Phoenix Audi 20.885s
17 Jamie Green Rosberg Audi 14 Laps
Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi Disqualified
Adrien Tambay Rosberg Audi Disqualified
Daniel Juncadella HWA Mercedes Disqualified
Antonio Felix da Costa Schnitzer BMW Disqualified
Gary Paffett ART Mercedes Disqualified
Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi Retirement
Augusto Farfus MTEK BMW Retirement