Audi Sport Team Rosberg driver René Rast stormed to his second race win of the year in a hectic race two at Zolder. The 2017 champion passed BMW Team RBM’s Sheldon van der Linde to lead and remained unchallenged for over 20 laps.
The Audi driver had to gap the field again after a mid-race safety car brought his lead under threat, however Rast demonstrated he was in complete control to lead by ten seconds at the checkered flag.
Despite looking in control, Rast believes that he needs to improve consistency if he is to challenge for his second DTM title.
“We had some bad luck on Saturday’s, and I think for the championship it is way too early.
“We still need to maximise every race weekend and today we did that.”
Rast has retired from both Saturday races so far this season, and his Audi Sport Team Rosberg team worked hard overnight to get his Audi RS5 Turbo DTM on the grid.
“I have to thank my team big time,” Rast explained, “because they worked all night long and I think they deserved that win today.”
Rast briefly dropped to third after making a poor start, allowing BMW Team RMR’s Philipp Eng through before the Austrian made a mistake at the second turn.
“It’s very difficult, we have a lot of power and we cannot preload the car.
“You have to get a feeling for the clutch which is not easy.
“It’s a guessing game.”
Rast then set about challenging Van der Linde for the lead, making the race-winning pass on lap eleven.
“His tyres were going off more than mine,” the Audi driver reported, “then I took the opportunity on start/finish, activated DRS and push-to-pass.
“I had a good run out of the last corner and passed before turn one.”
Rast climbs to second in the drivers standings with 54 points, five behind Eng who scored a win and a second place at Zolder.