The 31-year-old German from Audi Sport Team Rosberg is the man of the moment in the DTM. With his four straight wins recently, he thwarted an early title decision. At the finale in Hockenheim, he could still overtake the two Mercedes-Benz pilots Paul Di Resta and Gary Paffett on the final stretch of the championship. “Okay, I’m an outsider and it’s extremely unlikely that we’ll take the title,” says Rast, “but really, anything can happen in the DTM, especially at the final round. We’ve already achieved our aim for the season and we’ve got nothing to lose. The pressure is definitely on Paul and Gary.”
At the previous nine races, Rast earned an average of 19.5 points per race, slashing the gap in the overall classification to 30 points. 56 points are still up for grabs at Hockenheim: 25 for each win, three for each pole position. If Rast collects full points on Saturday, the title will only be decided on Sunday – regardless of his title rivals’ results. If Di Resta and Paffett go home empty-handed, Rast has to earn at least two points on Saturday.
A look in the DTM history books shows that Rast holds good cards. Since 2014, Audi achieved five of the six possible wins on the final weekends at the Hockenheimring. An Audi driver has claimed the DTM title at the last round of the season six times – last year it was René Rast. The last successful title defence in the DTM was ten years ago with the former Audi driver Timo Scheider.
“After our difficult start to the season we didn’t expect to be fighting for the championship at the end,” says Head of Audi Motorsport Dieter Gass. “It’s thanks to René and especially to our team that we’re still in the running. They never gave up. We have continued to improve the Audi RS 5 DTM within the limited parameters of the regulations. Our motto for the finale can only be: all in! If René’s winning streak continues, anything is possible. Many forget that he was on the first grid row at the opening round in Hockenheim. And at that time we were not optimally positioned after the rule changes.”