After beginnings in the Volkswagen Polo Cup, many races in Porsche one-make cups and the WEC, you are now celebrating your greatest success in the DTM. How do you look back on the years preceding your most recent title win?
René Rast: “Every year had its purpose and probably made me a better race driver. All this has helped me clinch the title now. Every series had its unique facets: In the one-make cups, I learned how to contest sprint races. In endurance racing, be it GT3 or WEC, I primarily learned how important it is to form a unit – not only with the other drivers but, above all, with the engineers. In prototype racing, I gained a lot of knowledge about the set-up of a race car. That wasn’t possible to the same extent in the one-make cups. But in LMP1 or LMP2, the right set-up is crucial. So, I first had to familiarize myself with the subject and today I’m benefiting from it in the DTM as well.”
Let’s take a look at the final race day of the 2017 DTM season. Following a few problems in practice, the interruption in qualifying and a moment of shock on the first race lap – how did you manage to keep up your concentration?
“It’s true that things went less than perfectly. Practice already got off to a poor start. We’d still made a few adjustments from Saturday to Sunday, but the set-up went completely in the wrong direction. We weren’t happy with practice at all and I already thought: ‘Okay, you’ve missed your chance. Up until the qualifying session we didn’t bring the car up to the level we needed.’ But, once again, we managed making the right steps to be in contention. The interruption didn’t really cause me to lose my cool. But then, the LED display for the clutch flying toward me did throw me off initially. I lost three positions on lap one. Instead of being able to concentrate on the race I had to first deal with the lose technology because whenever I was steering or braking the display was dangling from left to right in front of my field of view or was wrapping itself around my hands or the steering wheel.”
In the race, did you actually feel more like the hunter or the hunted?
“I went on to feel like the hunter. I knew that I’d have to arrive on podium to make it somehow. That was clearly my focus. When Mattias (Ekström) was in fifth at some point in the race things weren’t looking good initially. But I tried to keep a cool head. Afterwards, I was able to make up position after position and in the end it was actually enough. But at no point I did I feel like the hunted.”
At what point did you know that you were sure to clinch the title?
“After the end of the race in turn one. My team broke out in cheers on the radio only when Mattias crossed the finish line. Obviously, I looked at the monitors during the race as well to see where Mattias, Jamie (Green) and Mike (Rockenfeller) were at the moment. During the pit stop, my engineer provided me with an update, saying that none of my competitors was in the points. At that time, though, nearly half the race was yet to be completed and a lot could still happen. Ultimately, all three of them still made up a few places. I knew that Mattias would have to take sixth place to become champion, but on the monitors he was always listed in positions below sixth. Still, even after crossing the finish line, I wasn’t sure because my team initially congratulated me only on my race result.”
In your first full DTM season, you prevailed against some of your idols on the race track. How do you rate that today?
“That hasn’t really sunk in yet. You realize a new aspect every day, every hour. It’s a little like being a child at Christmas unwrapping a gift and receiving another one immediately afterwards. What I’m trying to say is that it’s happening step by step. There isn’t a specific moment when you can say you’ve digested it all because it’s happening little by little.”
At night, the occasion was appropriately celebrated. Were you surprised to receive congratulations by two Formula 1 World Champions at the venue?
“For me, that came as a total surprise. Honestly, I had not expected Keke (Rosberg), as well as Nico (Rosberg), to personally congratulate me. It was a great honor that both of them came to Hockenheim and joined our celebration – in spite of a hectic arrival, as I was told. The opportunity to have a party with a former and a reigning Formula 1 World Champion arguably does not present itself very often. In any event, it was a huge pleasure for me.”