With hard work and team spirit, ABT Sportsline and René Rast scored the first podium in the 2022 DTM at the Lausitzring. The three-time DTM champion scored points with eighth place in Saturday’s first race and thus achieved the first personal goal of his comeback season. But Rast was anything but satisfied with his ABT Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II on Saturday. His two team-mates Kelvin van der Linde and Ricardo Feller also reported that their cars were extremely nervous on the undulating Lausitzring.
The ABT Sportsline engineers put their heads together and searched for solutions until late in the evening. On Sunday, the three ABT drivers started with different set-up philosophies. René Rast’s car was modified particularly radically, which is why even the crews of the other two cars helped out.
The night shift was rewarded: René Rast took second place on the grid on Sunday and was able to fight in the leading group right from the start of the second race. The ABT driver crossed the finish line in third place just 1.187 seconds behind double winner Sheldon van der Linde – in a BMW which was dominating at the Lausitzring – and Maro Engel’s Mercedes plus the certainty of having definitely arrived back in the DTM. With 21 points, Rast is now the best-placed ABT driver in the drivers’ championship.
DTM rookie Ricardo Feller again put in a strong performance: The Swiss was the fastest Audi driver in qualifying on Saturday and was also fast in the first race until he suffered a puncture. It is not yet clear why the right rear tyre suddenly lost pressure.
On Sunday, Feller achieved the best qualifying result of his still young DTM career with fifth place on the grid. After a not perfect pit stop and some fierce battles on the track, the Swiss finished seventh and scored points for the third time in four DTM races.
Kelvin van der Linde, who narrowly missed out on victory at the Lausitzring last year, had a weekend to forget. The South African struggled with the handling of his R8 and found himself in grid positions 19 and 15, which were completely unusual for him. This time, he did not manage to fight back as he was able in the first race at Portimão.