“When it is not meant to happen, it doesn’t happen“ – this is Augusto Farfus’ philosophical summary of the seventh round of the 2016 DTM season at the Nürburgring. After a difficult sprint race on Saturday, the driver from Curitiba was on his way to making a good haul of points in Sunday’s one-hour race. However, a penalty prevented the BMW Team MTEK driver from transferring the strong race pace of his Shell BMW M4 DTM into a strong result.
The Sunday in the Eifel mountains started well for Augusto. The hard work by BMW Team MTEK paid off, and in qualifying he stormed to fifth on the grid in his Shell BMW M4 DTM. He succesfully defended this position over the whole first stint. At the 20-minute mark it became hectic in the pit lane, with several drivers entering for their mandatory stops, including Augusto. It was a bit too hectic as race control decided he had an unsafe release and Augusto was given a ten-second stop-and-go penalty. This cost him precious time and positions, and after one hour he crossed the line in 21st.
“With the penalty, all chances for a good result were gone,” a disappointed Augusto said after the race. “When things don’t work, they just don’t work. It was a difficult weekend. Yesterday we did not have a good balance for the car. For today the balance was better, but then we got the penalty. The pace we showed in today’s qualifying was encouraging. We always have a point at the weekend when we make a huge step forward, but our goal needs to be to start the weekend with a better base for the car. This will enable us to fight for better positions. We will keep our heads down, work hard and focus on the next round at Budapest.”
Augusto will stay at the Nürburgring for another day and go onto the famous Nordschleife tomorrow (Monday). He will drive the winner of a Shell fan promotion around the Nordschleife in a DTM taxi car. Next week, Augusto will then travel to Hungary. The penultimate round of the 2016 DTM season will be held on 24th and 25th September at the Hungaroring near Budapest.
