The 2017 season has been one of trials and tribulations for BMW’s Augusto Farfus, who had to retire from the first race of the DTM race weekend, following an early off-track excursion at turn two, whilst battling Lucas Auer for position.
“That was not our day. I had to swerve to avoid a collision right at the start,” said the Brazilian, who was caught unaware by the Austrian’s movements behind Timo Glock towards the corner, following initial contact between the pair after the exit for the first corner.
As a result, the front end of Farfus’ car would bounce up and down through the gravel, forcing him to retire for the third time this year due to extensive underfloor damage.
“I am happy that nothing more serious happened in the incident. I was able to save a set of tyres today, so will attack again tomorrow,” admitted Farfus, who has only 29 points to his credit so far.
Team RMG boos Stefan Reinhold admitted that the team would have to happy with the results, despite their best efforts, with the outfit having to work hard to get the Shell Helix Ultra BMW M4 back out ready for Sunday.
“I will have to take another close look at the crash involving Augusto Farfus. In any case, we have a lot of work to do to repair his car,” he admitted, with Marco Wittmann being the best-placed of the BMW contingent down in fifth at the finish.
“We will try to improve tomorrow. We must first get to the front of the field in qualifying, and then fight to defend our positions in the race.”