Instructive race weekend in the Eifel: R-Motorsport continue to gain valuable experience with the Aston Martin Vantage DTM.
Two weeks after winning the Blancpain GT3 race at the Nürburgring, R-Motorsport were back in action in the Eifel for the penultimate race weekend of the 2019 DTM. For the new Aston Martin Vantage DTM, it was the first outing on the iconic circuit overlooked by the medieval Nürburg castle.
In the first race on Saturday, the team and car had put in an encouraging performance, which was rewarded with a championship point. Despite a valiant all-round effort in the second race on Sunday, the drivers this time finished outside the points.
Daniel Juncadella (28, Spain), who was tenth on Saturday, finished the 16th race of the season on Sunday as the team’s best driver in 12th. He was followed across the line by Jake Dennis (24, Great Britain) and Ferdinand von Habsburg (22, Austria) in P14 and P15 respectively.
The team left all three drivers out on track for a long first stint, with Juncadella coming in for his mandatory stop on Lap 26 as the last driver in the field. Paul Di Resta (33, Great Britain) was unable to start due to an engine failure and joined the crew in the garage for the duration of the race.
With the race weekend in the Eifel now complete, the team have one more engagement on their calendar, namely the grand finale at Hockenheim (4th – 6th October), which will mark the end of R-Motorsport’s debut season in the DTM.
Comments after the race
Daniel Juncadella
Qualifying: P16
Race: P12
Pit Stop: L26
Start number: 23
Car: Aston Martin Vantage DTM
“I drove a strong race. There was a major complication at the start: I was up against my team-mates and didn’t want to take any risks, which is why I backed off and tried to look after the tyres. That paid off towards the end of the first stint, when I was able to go at a decent pace. I stopped very late, which enabled me to achieve very good speed again in the second stint. I’d like to thank my team-mates for giving me the chance to take a crack at the points. I was able to close the gap on the group in front of me, but overtaking was difficult and so I only managed to get past one car. Twelfth place is not a bad result under the circumstances.”
Jake Dennis
Qualifying: P17
Race: P14
Pit Stop: L21
Start number: 76
Car: Aston Martin Vantage DTM
“That was a tough race. The tyre degradation was relatively rapid, which is why I had to concentrate very hard on the problem. The rear tyres overheated really quickly, which made life quite difficult for me. I pitted before my team-mates and the undercut brought me out in front of them. Towards the end, though, the tyres were completely gone, so I finished in P14.”
Ferdinand von Habsburg
Qualifying: P15
Race: P15
Pit Stop: L24
Start number: 62
Car: Aston Martin Vantage DTM
“We all did our absolute best to keep alive the faint hope of scoring points. We can be proud of our performance. The drivers and the entire team have shown their full commitment to making as few mistakes as possible. Ultimately, though, the package is not good enough at the moment, but we will carry on working as a team to hopefully finish in the points at Hockenheim.”
Paul Di Resta
Qualifying: DSQ
Race: DNS
Start number: 03
Car: Aston Martin Vantage DTM
“I drove only one lap today and was unable to line up on the grid because of a problem with the car. Consequently, there wasn’t really a lot for me to do today. It’s always frustrating if you’re not able to even start a race. I feel very sorry for the whole team, because they work so incredibly hard on the car every weekend. Anyway, on Friday and Saturday we identified some positive ideas that we can take to the final race weekend in Hockenheim.”
Dr Florian Kamelger, Team Principal
“The result is a fair reflection of our current level of performance. Although we have gradually been closing the gap on our nearest opponents, this has not pushed us any further up in the race result. Our drivers got the maximum out of the technology package available, but there were no results to show for it this time around. Dani was again very good and drove a steady race. Ferdinand and Jake were once again impressive in their rookie year. Unfortunately, Paul was unable to start after an engine failure in qualifying.”