Robin Frijns claimed his maiden DTM victory in the first race at Assen on his home soil. Polesitter Loic Duval finished second ahead of Nico Mueller. Jonathan Aberdein best-placed BMW in sixth.
A difficult start to the race as Jamie Green failed to pull away from the line. After the stricken Audi was pushed back to the pits, the race could finally begin. The drivers were greeted with a drying track as a result of the rain that fell after qualifying.
Polesitter Duval kept the lead at the start of the race. Frijns, also starting from the front row of the grid, dropped back to third after losing out to WRT’s Ferdinand Habsburg, who had a great start from fourth. However, one lap later Frijns fought back and regained second. After making a rocket start, Habsburg couldn’t keep up the drive and was overtaken by Rene Rast, Nico Mueller and Mike Rockenfeller. The top six – all Audi drivers – stay fairly close together, with the gap between Duval and Frijns hovering around one second.
BMW’s Philipp Eng, Lucas Auer, Timo Glock and WRT’s Harrison Newey were the first ones to pit on lap 14. Of the leading pack, it was Duval who pitted first on lap 16 with Mueller, Rast and Habsburg following suit one lap later. Rast lost three seconds during his stop due to an issue with his front-right tyre. At the same time, the rain returned, but it wasn’t enough to force the switch to wet tyres. On lap 18 of the race, Frijns pitted to change to fresh tyres, rejoining just behind Duval, meaning the Phoenix driver was back in the lead.
Frijns, Mueller and Rast started to close in on Duval in the final stages of the race. The top four were just two seconds apart, with Rockenfeller close as well, just six seconds further behind. The team Phoenix driver managed to close the gap rapidly due to a late pitstop and having the freshest tyres. Duval’s tyres began to drop off, bringing his pace down with them and by lap 30 Frijns passed Duval for the lead into turn six. At the same time, Rast lost ground to the leading trio and eventually lost fourth place to Rockenfeller.
This is Frijns’ third year in the series and his first-ever victory. He started from pole position four times this season but hasn’t managed to convert those into wins. So, to do so in his home country and in front of fans for the first time this season is very fitting. After the thrilling battle with Frijns, Duval had to settle for second. Championship leader Mueller ended on the podium as well in third place.
‘I had to wait almost three years for this moment’, the Dutchman commented. ‘I came close very often, but something always happened. I’ve been on the podium in the DTM a couple of times, but never at the top. It’s fantastic that it happened here at Assen where fans were allowed back in for the first time. There really couldn’t have been a better place for my first DTM victory.’
Rockenfeller came close to the podium today thanks to a late pitstop, but in the end, just missed out and finished fourth. He’s happy but disappointed at the same time. ‘It was enough for Rene [Rast], but the gap to the first three was a bit too big after the first stint.’ Reigning champion Rast said it was a difficult day for him, finishing fifth. ‘In qualifying, I made a mistake on my fastest lap. From sixth on the grid, I had a good start, but in the end, the tyres just gave up, even though I had been saving them.’
Image Credit: DTM Media
Jonathan Aberdein finished sixth as best of the BMW’s, after starting from ninth. The South African racer said it was his best result of the year, but ‘we can’t really be pleased with the result, particularly with our deficit to Audi.’ He continues ‘We need to put our heads together and work hard on closing the gap.’ Fellow South African Sheldon van der Linde finished behind him in seventh.
Even though Habsburg had a good start, and was second after the first few corners, in the end, he crossed the line in eighth. Completing the top ten are BMW’s factory driver Timo Glock and BMW ART’s Robert Kubica. The latter scored his first-ever point in the series. The ex-Formula 1 driver made his debut this year but revealed that he has been struggling so far in the first couple of races.
Lausitzring race two winner Lucas Auer only managed to finish 11th, followed by rookie Harrison Newey in 12th. BMW’s Marco Wittmann crossed the line in 14th place after being spun around by Fabio Scherer – something the WRT rookie received a drive-through penalty for.
Tomorrow’s action will resume with qualifying at 10.45 local time (09.45 UK time). The second race of the weekend will start at 13.30 local time (12.30 UK time).
