Rene Rast took his Audi RS 5 DTM to the top of the podium at the 2nd DTM race at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria to win Audi’s 100th DTM race. Nico Müller finished 2nd in his Audi RS 5 DTM and Gary Paffett rounded out the podium in his Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM. The weekend-dominating Audi RS 5 DTM’s took the top three spots in race 1 with René Rast, Mike Rockenfeller and Nico Müller sweeping the podium.

“What a weekend for Audi!” said Dieter Gass, Head of Audi Motorsport. “No-one had expected what we achieved here: both races won and five of six possible podiums clinched – that’s incredible. On Saturday, we received a few gifts from our competitors, but the 100th Audi victory on Sunday is clearly credited to performance. Nico (Müller) and René (Rast) were simply the fastest. The pit stops, too, were top and perfectly timed. Mike (Rockenfeller) did a strong job in difficult conditions on Saturday. On the whole, we saw fantastic teamwork by our drivers and plenty of action on track. That René, following the difficult start of the season, is going into the finale with title chances is an incredible story. The DTM fans can look forward to a thrilling showdown at Hockenheim in which René has nothing to lose but everything to gain.”

By clinching his 4th consecutive victory, René Rast keeps his DTM title hopes alive. Mercedes-Benz has clinched the manufacturers championship. The drivers championship won’t be decided until the final race weekend at the Hockenheimring on October 13 and 14. Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM driver Paul Di Resta leds the championship with 229 points followed by Gary Paffett with 225 points in his Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM and René Rast with 199 points in his Audi RS 5 DTM.

“An incredible weekend,” said René Rast, driver of the No. 33 Audi Sport RS 5 DTM. “After two poor qualifying sessions, we managed to score two brilliant victories. Although, in Saturday’s race, a lot of teamwork helped us achieve victory. Being able to help your teammates without a lot of coordination is a hallmark of teamwork. This is what we accomplished. The race on Sunday was a race driver’s dream: a perfect start, a good first lap, a perfect strategy, fantastic stops and no mistakes. Everything went according to plan. Before the season finale, we further reduced our gaps to the two championship leaders. Anything can happen at Hockenheim.”

“I’m very happy with the whole weekend,” said Nico Müller, driver of the No. 51 Castrol EDGE Audi RS 5 DTM. “My team did a superb job and prepared a very fast car for me. To convert that into two podium finishes and to help René (Rast) keep the championship open was a big plus. You have to take your hat off to the people at home in Neuburg and Neckarsulm who didn’t give up and put us in the position of putting pressure on Mercedes once again before the season finale. I had a top performance in qualifying and was always fast in the race. Scoring these important points feels good. We’ll try that again at Hockenheim – or maybe even a little better.”

“A mega weekend for Audi,” said Mike Rockenfeller, driver of the No. 99 Schaeffler Audi RS 5 DTM. “For me, personally, Saturday, when I nearly won the race, wasn’t bad. On Sunday, in qualifying, Marco Wittmann blocked me on my last and decisive lap. He didn’t do that on purpose, but it was unfortunate. I was so close that I had to stop my trial and returned to the pits. As a result, I was only in 13th on the grid, which is not enough because everyone knows how hard it is to advance. In the race, I was fast and we had a good strategy. Eighth position is okay.”