Mercedes’ best-placed driver in the championship, Lucas Auer, says he is looking forward to “getting stuck in” as the second half of the DTM season begins at Zandvoort this weekend.
Auer is currently third overall in the standings, 14 points adrift of the leading Audi of Mattias Ekström.
Having taken two wins early on in the season, the Austrian’s season has, aside from a podium at the Norisring, been lukewarm since then, with a pair of retirements and lower-half top ten finishes.
Auer has been recently involved in testing for the Formula One Force India Team at the Hungaroring, keeping the 22-year-old busy since the last DTM round at the Moscow Raceway.
“A lot has happened since the previous race weekend in Moscow,” said Auer, “but I’m looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of a DTM car again and getting stuck in to the second half of the season.
“The Zandvoort circuit is a lot of fun, and I’ll be interested to see what the new track surface is like. I’m aiming to finish in the Top 18!”
Ulrich Fritz, Head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport in the DTM, insists the team’s motivation for helping Auer to take the title remains high, despite the event marking the first race meeting since Mercedes’ unexpected announcement about withdrawing from the DTM at the end of next season.
“The first half of the season showed just how tight this year’s DTM is turning out to be and, moreover, that absolutely anything can happen in a race,” said Fritz. “The best example of that must surely be Maro’s sensational victory in Moscow.
“For us, Zandvoort is now race number one after we announced our exit from the DTM, and although the news was anything but pleasing for the team, our motivation still remains incredibly high.
“Although on paper, Audi look best placed in the battle for the championship right now, we are firmly convinced that we are still in with a shout.
“In Zandvoort, we now have the track that is the most challenging in terms of tyre wear. Proper tyre management is therefore going to be the key to success.”
First practice takes place at 17:00 CEST (16:00 BST) on Friday 18 August.