Daniel Juncadella in the points as #Aston Martin Vantage #DTM makes its home debut – Paul Di Resta leads the race for 15 laps

First home outing for the Aston Martin Vantage DTM at Brands Hatch: Daniel Juncadella finishes tenth
Daniel Juncadella: “On the positive side, I had good pace. We’ve worked hard for that, and it’s a pity that we ultimately finished only tenth.”
Dr Florian Kamelger: “After two of our cars qualified fourth and seventh, we were looking to get much more out of the race than a P10 finish. All in all, it was a race with some high points, but unhappily also with a disappointing outcome.”

Eventful race at Brands Hatch: First points finish for the Aston Martin Vantage DTM on British soil.

At Brands Hatch, the home race of Aston Martin, three of the four R-Motorsport drivers qualified in the Top Ten – a first for the team in its as of yet young DTM history.

Daniel Juncadella (28, Spain) had an eventful race. He started among the Top Ten on the grid but was immediately involved in a collision with another car, for which he incurred a drive-through penalty. On Lap 17, Juncadella returned to the pits, this time for his mandatory tyre change. In the second half of the race, he clawed his way back through the field to secure P10.

Ferdinand von Habsburg (22, Austria) came in on lap nine as one of the first drivers to take an early mandatory pit stop. After 28 laps he made another pit stop. Shortly before the end of the race, he retired with a problem with a rear wheel but was still classified 15th.

Having started from fourth on the grid, Paul Di Resta (33, Great Britain) took the lead on the very first corner. He retained the lead until Lap 15 when he came in for his mandatory stop, during which he also served a five-second time penalty imposed by the stewards. When Di Resta returned to the track, he was no longer in the points. During the latter stage of the race, he steadily worked his way back up to seventh, but just before the end, he was forced to park his car in the garage with a technical problem.

Jake Dennis (24, Great Britain) qualified in seventh place for his home race. At the very start, however, he became the innocent victim of a chain reaction and was pushed into the pit wall by an opponent. His car was then too badly damaged to continue.

The second of two home races for R Motorsport at Brands Hatch takes place on Sunday. The proceedings begin at 10:00 BST (11:00 CEST) with the second qualifying session of the weekend. As on Saturday, the race itself gets underway at 13:30 BST (14:30 CEST).

Comments after the race

Daniel Juncadella
Qualifying: P10
Race: P10
Start number: 23
Car: Aston Martin Vantage DTM
“I had a very good start but then I received a drive-through penalty. This effectively ended my chances of scoring a decent result. On the positive side, I had good pace. We’ve worked hard for that, and it’s a pity that we ultimately finished only tenth. Without the penalty, I could definitely have got more out of this race, maybe even a place in the Top Five.”

Paul Di Resta
Qualifying: P04
Race: DNF (classified in P14)
Start number: 03
Car: Aston Martin Vantage DTM
“Sadly, today’s race was one in which various things went wrong. First of all, I’m convinced that I didn’t make a jump start. Anyway, it was a great feeling to be leading the first 15 laps of the race in an Aston Martin Vantage DTM in front of all the British fans. Unfortunately, I felt a total loss of power towards the end of the race. That’s why I parked the car in the garage to be on the safe side. Although we once again had a reliability problem here, we know that things are on the up. Every race is a test for us, and we have shown today that we are getting better and better and making progress step by step.”

Ferdinand von Habsburg
Qualifying: P16
Race: DNF (classified in P15)
Start number: 62
Car: Aston Martin Vantage DTM
“The pace was strong, and I was able to keep up with the lead group I came out of the pits behind. During the race, I even managed to overtake some of them. It demonstrated that we almost have what it takes in terms of speed. Unfortunately, there was a problem with an air jack on my first pit stop, but I’m sure we can fix that for tomorrow.”

Jake Dennis
Qualifying: P07
Race: DNF
Start number: 76
Car: Aston Martin Vantage DTM
“The race was over for me after only a few metres. I didn’t get off to the best of starts. My wheels spun and I got hit from the side by Timo Glock. I slammed into the wall, and the damage to the car was too severe to continue. Leaving that aside, though, the day had got off to a promising start, and our pace seems to be a lot better than in the last two races. But now we have to work through the night repairing the car and come back tomorrow stronger than before.”

Dr Florian Kamelger, Team Principal
“After two of our cars qualified fourth and seventh, we were looking to get much more out of the race than a P10 finish. Right at the start, Jake was pushed into the pit wall, which brought his race to a premature end. Paul had to serve a five-second penalty on his pit stop after leading the first 15 laps because the stewards had judged a jump start. Unfortunately, he experienced a dramatic loss of power two laps from the end and had to park the car. Despite serving a drive-through penalty as a result of the incident involving Jake, Dani still managed to salvage a championship point with P10. Unfortunately, Ferdinand’s pit stop went wrong because the air jack wasn’t working properly. All in all, it was a race with some high points, but unhappily also with a disappointing outcome.”

Foto
Daniel Juncadella took tenth place, Copy: R-Motorsport