R-Motorsport’s Jake Dennis was left thinking what might have been after retiring from the DTM race one at Zolder with an unknown issue.
The 23 year old was entering pit lane as his Aston Martin Vantage DTM car ground to a halt, triggering the safety car as teammate Daniel Juncadella had also stopped out on track.
“All the power just shut down for me,” reported Dennis, “we have no idea what the issue is.”
After qualifying 13th, Dennis was hoping to move forward and score his first points of the season.
Had Dennis been able to make his stop, the resultant safety car would have left him on a strategy similar to race winning BMW Team RMR driver Philipp Eng.
“It’s a bit unfortunate because my teammate also had an issue which caused the safety car, which was perfect timing for me.
“As I entered the pits we had the issue.
“It’s really frustrating as we looked like we would have benefitted massively from it.”
Teammates Paul Di Resta and Ferdinand von Habsburg went on to finish eighth and ninth respectively, executing an early pitstop strategy like Dennis.
The Aston Martin Vantage DTM car is improving in its pace, as the R-Motorsport team work tirelessly to get the new car up to speed.
“I have no idea what the issue is but we will analyse it tonight and start again tomorrow.”