Nico Müller put on a dominant display to win the second race of the DTM season opener at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão. The Team Rosberg driver controlled the race from pole, winning by just over three seconds from Felipe Fraga.
The 30-year-old Swiss decisively fended off Mirko Bortolotti into turn 1 on the opening lap, the closest he came to being challenged over the 33-lap race distance.
Fraga did put up the fastest lap with a lap time of 1:41.681 seconds, more than four-tenths faster than the winner.
An impressive weekend for Fraga, who was making his DTM debut at Portimão.
Having to fight past Mirko Bortolotti, who started second, prevented Fraga from catching Müller in the Audi R8 LMS GT3.
Müller hadn’t won a DTM race since November 2020. He said post-race: ‘I am just very happy, we have worked so hard for this. We know how tough this championship is this year, so that is making us even happier for having achieved this victory’.
Both front-running drivers had retired in race 1. So, another third-place finish for Mirko Bortolotti pushed the Italian into the championship lead.
‘For me, a top result had absolute priority and we achieved that with this podium. We had a good start to the season and the championship lead is the deserved reward’, said Bortolotti post-race.
Team Principal at Grasser Racing, Gottfried Grasser said: ‘It was a fantastic start for us in the DTM. I think our position in the championship shows that we got many things right’.
Race 1 winner, Lucas Auer, had his race come to a premature end after a wheel problem forced him into retirement following his pitstop.
David Schumacher, son of Ralf Schumacher-former F1 driver- shortly took the lead on lap 27, having not yet completed his pit stop. He eventually finished fifteenth, moving up nine places in the race.
DTM will head to the Lausitzring in Germany from 20-22 May for the next round of the season.
