11 Sep Not the best Sunday for Team Rosberg
Team Rosberg has experienced better days of racing than on the 7.004 kilometers long Circuit Spa-Francorchamps. Already the qualifying for the 12th race of the DTM season was rather unfortunate on a drying track with positions 17 for Nico Müller and 24 for Dev Gore. During the race, the Swiss was involved in an accident in the first corner and fell back to the end of the field. A full course yellow phase was followed by a restart with one lap to go, which led to further collisions. Among those affected were Müller and Gore, who finished finally on positions 22 (Müller) and 25 (Gore). Müller is now eighth in the drivers’ standings and Team Rosberg sixth in the team standings.
Nico Müller: “In the first corner I was already pushed into the gravel by Marius Zug and was last. After that, I was able to gain a few positions before a full course yellow neutralized the race after René Rast stopped. The race was restarted again with one lap to go. Maxi Götz went off the track during this lap and hit me when he came back. After that, my car was affected and my right rear wheel broke.”
Dev Gore: “The qualifying was unfavorable because my fastest lap was canceled since I slightly drove over the track limit line. That was extremely annoying because I had to start from the back of the field. I had to slow down a little at the start because Nico, among others, slipped into the gravel just right in front of me. After the restart during the last lap I was driving close together with a few opponents, when the car behind me crashed into my car. After that, my Audi was so damaged that I had to give up.”
Kimmo Liimatainen (team principal): “Unfortunately, qualifying did not go as we hoped for. The track dried more and more as the session progressed, so it took a bit of luck to be in front at the end. And that we did not have, especially not with Nico. Qualifying was also unfortunate for Dev, who went next to the track limits on his fastest lap. Without that mistake, he would have ended up around 10th place. It was a race to forget for us after both drivers had fallen back to the end of the field as a result of incidents on the first lap. And just before the finish line, both were involved in unnecessary accidents.”