Hello friends! That came to an end the season of 2018. And before starting the review I would like to remind a little of the changes that will occur with DTM in the new season. After this season, DTM says goodbye to the Mercedes team, as it is not sad, but the leadership of the racing series failed to persuade the team to stay. But you shouldn’t get upset about the replacement of the automaker from Stuttgart to DTM in 2019 when the R-Motorsport team comes to use Aston Martin Vantage cars. Two other German manufacturers Audi and BMW had previously announced that they were not going to leave the DTM.
Aston Martin's participation is ideal for promoting the DTM as the leading European racing series. Recently, DTM agreed on a long-term collaboration with the Japanese SUPER GT series. The leaders of the two racing series agreed on common technical regulations ("CLASS 1"). DTM and SUPER GT are planning two joint races in 2019, one in Japan, the other in Europe. The day after the announcement that R-Motorsport will join the DTM as a licensed Aston Martin team, the ITR organization announces collaboration with the newly created W-series. In this series only women will compete with each other, the W series will initially be held exclusively on the DTM platform.
Also yesterday, the calendar for the season of 219 was announced, it will include nine racing weekends. As usual, the season will start on 3-5 May 2019 in Hockenheimring, the season will also end there, this will happen in the final weekend of 4-6 October 2019. Also traditionally the race will be held at the Norisring, Lausitzring and Nürburgring. In addition, the DTM will make four trips to neighboring European countries. Like the 2018 season, DTM will travel to Misano (Italy) and Brands Hatch (United Kingdom), as well as the legendary TT Circuit of Assen, the Netherlands. In addition, Circuit Zolder will return to the DTM. On March 11, 1984, the Belgian racing track, rich in tradition, was the venue for the first race weekends in the history of the series.
Well, now go directly to the races. In Saturday qualifying heats the best was Lucas Auer. His time 1m 32.635c was out of reach for his rivals. His colleague Mercedes-AMG Gary Paffett turned out to be second with a time of 1m 32.737. Thus, the Briton has reduced the gap with the champion leader Paul Di Resta to two points. The Scotsman, in turn, was only ranked eighth with a time of 1m 32.925. The best of the BMW pilots was Timo Glock (1m 32.751), who became the third in the qualification. The winner of the four previous races Rene Rast finished fourth (1m 32.847). But the current champion DTM did not dwell on four wins in a row. In the Saturday race at Hockenheimring, the Audi pilot won his fifth consecutive DTM victory. Thanks to this historic achievement, Rast not only secured a place in history, but also retained chances of winning the championship. The question of who will become the champion DTM 2018, will be decided in the final race. Another Audi pilot Robin Frijns finished second in this race, BMW driver Timo Glock finished third. Gary Paffett finished fourth, the Mercedes-AMG pilot now has 239 points and is now 16 points ahead of his team-mate Paul Di Resta (223 points), who finished eighth in this race. For Di Resta, the penultimate race of the season was a disappointment. Arriving in Germany as a leader, he eventually had to be content with eighth place, and as a result, this not only dropped him from the top of the table, but also allowed Rene Rast to approach him to a distance of 9 points.
Marco Wittmann will start Sunday final race from the pole position. BMW driver became the leader of qualification with 1m32.683 seconds. However, much more interesting in the battle for the title was that the current champion Rene Rast was second (1m 32.737s), and Gary Paffett qualified third (1 m 32.846s). Paul Di Resta was again out of work. His time 1m 33.114 did not allow him to get into the top ten.
And this is the result of the season - Gary Paffett becomes the champion of the DTM 2018. Third place in the last race of the season to the pilot of the Mercedes-AMG was enough to ensure the second victory after 2005. The second place was won by the owner of pole position Marco Wittmann. Victory in the final race of the season went to Rene Rast, who thus continued his winning streak by winning the sixth consecutive victory. Thus, the brand from Stuttgart having won the titles of manufacturers and teams with Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS leaves DTM in the status of absolute winners. Along with the Mercedes brand DTM, next season, his new champion, Gary Paffett, leaves Formula E.
That was the season of 2018, we are already looking forward to the next one.
Photos taken from the official site of DTM - www.dtm.com
