Christian Vietoris‘ maiden victory in the wet at Oschersleben this afternoon amidst the chaos is one that will be savoured by Mercedes-Benz Motorsport after a lull in success terms when it comes to continuing their legacy in the DTM.
Even with Daniel Juncadella, Pascal Wehrlein and Robert Wickens retiring by the half-way stage, three of the four remaining cars ended up in the top ten, showing that a twist of fate can sometimes spring a lot of surprises.
Nevertheless, Head of DTM Management Wolfgang Schattling is being very much a realist when it comes to to the work that is still ahead for Stuttgart: “We must not forget that we are still down in normal conditions and must catch up bit by bit. . We’re enjoying today’s success, but we will continue to work to reduce the gap on our competitors, starting immediately tomorrow.”
The show must go on when it comes to racing, especially as HWA have now had to deal with the amicable departure of Gerhard Unger. It is a tall mountain to climb, which will not be easy. Rest assured that this feeling is shared throughout the drivers and teams, especially when Vietoris talked about the win: “A wet weather race was our only chance of challenging for the win today, and we exploited this opportunity to the full. My team did a fantastic job today with the pit stops and strategy – this victory belongs to everyone in the crew.
“All the same, we need to keep our feet firmly planted on the ground. We are fully aware that we have to raise our performance under normal race conditions, and we’ll be going about that very systematically in the coming weeks.”
There may be another two weeks until racing at Hungary, but the head scratching continues for Stuttgart. One win may not be enough to help towards title glory, but it is a start.
