Pascal Wehrlein became the youngest DTM Champion on record on Saturday and presented himself with a wonderful gift one day before his 21st birthday.
At the penultimate race of the season on Saturday, the German clinched eighth place, putting him out of reach of his pursuers in the drivers’ classification with a margin of 40 points heading to the final round on Sunday. His closest rival Edoardo Mortara (Audi) was unable to finish the race, with Mattias Ekström in third-overall earning just two points for ninth place.
Nevertheless, Timo Scheider, as the former two-time DTM Champion, had reason to rejoice. After 26 laps, he crossed the finish line first in his Audi RS5 DTM and celebrated his first victory in five years. His brand colleague Jamie Green followed him over the line in second, with BMW pilot Maxime Martin finishing the race on position three. The best Mercedes-Benz driver was Paul di Resta, who narrowly missed out on a podium spot with fourth place.
“As in qualifying, it’s decisive with a track temperature of 13 degrees (Celsius) to find the correct air pressure to get the Hankook race tires to work optimally. The teams managed this well. Right to the flag the drivers could push and the Ventus Race tire proved incredibly consistent. We congratulate Mercedes-Benz on claiming the drivers’ championship,” said Hankook’s DTM race engineer Thomas Baltes.
Pascal Wehrlein (Mercedes-Benz): “Looking back on the whole season I give Hankook race tire an A+ grade. I experienced no problems whatsoever and from the middle of the year I was totally happy with the tire. They proved extremely consistent and never broke down and, of course, they contributed to my championship victory.”
