After being one of the main players in qualifying for the first race earlier today, Team RMG’s Augusto Farfus showed that he still has the skill set to rank as one of the best drivers in the DTM currently, having shown a good turn of form to start from fourth in today’s race.
The Brazilian was able to launch his M4 DTM to the front of the pack off the start, comfortably extending his lead to over 7.5 seconds from pole setter Lucas Auer.
This was before everything went awry after his pitstop, having opted to pit for slicks on lap 19.
“I had a perfect start and a perfect first stint. The opportunity to win here was in our hands,” said the Brazilian, who eventually finished eighth, ahead of defending champion Marco Wittmann.
“It started to rain when I was in the pits for a tyre change. From that point onwards, we had lost the race. However, we did manage to come back and score some points.
“My pace was very good. But it is a real shame when you can see yourself winning and then have this torn away from you. The weather in the Eifel mountains scotched our hopes today.”
Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt admitted that BMW were caught out by the changeable weather post-qualifying, stating that the Munich-based brand would have to “get the set-up right for tomorrow,” after only two of their cars finished in the top ten.
“We did not expect the second rain shower to be so heavy, or we would have left the cars out. It is disappointing to finish with just two cars in the top ten from our promising starting position.
“At least Augusto scored some points after doing a great job right from the start, and he could have won. Now we have to analyse why we got it so wrong today.”