Nico Müller sixth in changeable Ardennes weather

Nico Müller sixth in changeable Ardennes weather

The eleventh race of the 2022 DTM season was on the agenda at the 7.004 kilometers Circuit Spa-Francorchamps. Nico Müller, spearhead of Team Rosberg, started from eighth place on the grid and was able to move up two positions over the course of the 23 laps of the race. In difficult weather conditions with repeated rain on parts of the Belgian Formula 1 circuit, the Swiss driver was able to score eight points for his sixth place. In case of Dev Gore, Team Rosberg took a chance some minutes before the end of the race, when it began to rain heavily, by changing to rain tyres. But the rain did not last too long and it did not rain on the entire track, so the American could not benefit from this tyre choice. In the end, he saw the checkered flag in 21st place.

Nico Müller: My start was okay, I was even able to make up ground. The pace in the first stint was also good and the pit stop itself was great as well. Unfortunately, I had to wait a bit after the stop before I could make my way back into the pit lane and then I ended up in traffic on the track. Perhaps the timing of the pit stop was not ideal. Sixth place was basically okay, also because of the unfavorable balance of performance for us, but it could have been even better.”

Dev Gore: “To sum things up: I was just too slow here.”

Kimmo Liimatainen (team principal): “Qualifying was not easy: On one hand it was because of the changeable weather conditions and on the other hand due to an accident of a rival, yellow flags were shown instead of the session being briefly interrupted. No time improvements were possible in this period. Considering the circumstances, Nico was actually still doing quite well with tenth position and was even allowed to start from eighth place on the grid, since two of his opponents were moved down the field. But during the race, on a dry track, you could see straight away that the Balance of Performance was just not right today. Therefore, I believe his sixth place is a good result. But we also have to be honest: we were able to benefit from retirements in front of us. Dev had a hard time with the typical Ardennes rainy weather today.”