Defending champion Marco Wittmann would have been a clear front runner for his first Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters victory this year at Moscow Raceway, but with factors including pitstop troubles and a five-place grid penalty, he was happy to get to the rostrum.
With a lot of changes being made after second practice for the Team RMG driver, the efforts were subsequently well-rewarded with the two-time champion going fastest of all in the first qualifying session of the weekend.
This was followed up in the race, as Wittmann was able to fight his way back to third.
“It was a great race and good to get pole, but to get on the podium was the maximum, particularly with the five place grid penalty,” admitted the 27-year-old at the post-race press conference.
“With the race itself, I was pretty happy. I had a good first lap and some nice fights with Timo [Glock] and Robert [Wickens], especially with Robert, who had the pace during the race where he was quicker.”
The Fürth-based driver also felt that he was able to manage his tyres better, which gave him the upper hand in the battle with Wickens, along with the Team RMG ranks helping with the set-up changes required.
“A few laps later, I was able to come back at him and overtake him after we had some good battles.
“I had a pretty good race car, I have to say, so my engineers and mechanics did a great job, especially after free practice to get the car in the right window for both qualifying and the race.”
Even with having taken another third place finish, Wittmann is still in the lower half of the top ten in the standings in eighth, with 64 points to his credit.
“And the end, the battles in the pit stop were costing us some time, especially to the two front runners, but that doesn’t matter for me,” stated the German.
“I’m really happy with P3, coming from P6 and taking pole today, which is something we may continue for tomorrow as well.”