After a promising start for Mercedes-Benz in this year’s Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) championship, the Stuttgart outfit is looking ahead to further successes at the Lausitzring, where the brand has been hitting the top step the past two seasons.
Despite BMW Motorsport winning there back in 2012 with Bruno Spengler, both Gary Paffett and record breaker Pascal Wehrlein took the win on separate occasions.
It saw Mercedes increase their tally to eight victories over the past decade, which also compliments their success at the Norisring, as well as making history in the process with Wehrlein’s efforts last year.
Daniel Juncadella, who also competed at the recent 24 Hours of Nürburgring and the Blancpain Endurance Series at Silverstone, is looking to make his way to the podium this coming weekend.
“Last year’s race at the Lausitzring was an emotional rollercoaster for me,” said the 24-year-old Spaniard, who lost out on a podium finish that time, due to a drive-through penalty.
“I also believe that we have a strong car this season, and with two races on the programme, we have twice the chance of a good result. In any case, I’m looking forward to the race weekend.”
Mercedes has shown its strengths as the faster of the trio of manufacturers, when it comes to circuits with long straights, which could also play to the new 2015-specification C63 AMG that has shown promise at Hockenheim.
Mercedes’ Head of DTM, Ulrich Fritz, said that they are looking forward to getting a hat-trick of wins on a track that has served them well so far.
” Of course, it would be nice to make it a hat-trick after Gary and Pascal won here in the last two years, but it’s difficult to make any sort of forecast with the strength of competition that we’re up against in the DTM,” he explained.
“Nevertheless, the whole team is aware that much work still lies ahead if we are to finish among the top places in the DTM on a regular basis. We also realise that success in the past is never a guarantee of successful weekends in the future.”