And they’re off: The 2017 DTM season started with the Saturday race at the iconic Hockenheimring. The start did not go to plan for Augusto Farfus. Clutch issues denied the Brazilian a better result in the first race of the year. As the lights went out, the Shell BMW M4 DTM initially remained stationary in 15th place on the grid, putting the Brazilian at the very back of the field. “Unfortunately, I had an issue with the clutch at the start and did not get off the line. That is a shame, as it meant I had already lost the race before I even started. After that, I had very good pace and was able to complete an extremely long second stint,” he said.

Although Saturday, including the morning’s qualifying session, may not have been entirely to the Brazilian’s liking, he remains optimistic about race two on Sunday. “Unfortunately, we did not get it quite right in qualifying, but my speed gives me a lot of confidence ahead of tomorrow’s race. We are moving in the right direction. Congratulations to Timo Glock on his podium.” Farfus’ fellow BMW driver produced a strong drive to finish runner-up.

His team principal at BMW Team RMG, Stefan Reinhold, was also in a positive frame of mind following the opening race in Hockenheim. “I feel very sorry for Augusto,” he said. “He had an issue at the start. We will take a very close look to establish exactly what happened. On the whole, we are happy with the opening race and optimistic ahead of race two on Sunday.”

The action at the Hockenheimring continues tomorrow at 10:00 local time with the third free practice session of the weekend. Qualifying for the second race runs from 12:20 to 12:40. Tomorrow’s race is scheduled to start at 15:18.

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