Augusto Farfus is back: in the Zandvoort sand dunes, the BMW Team RBM driver claimed his best result of the 2015 DTM season. He finished today’s 40-minute sprint race in fourth position. However, the driver from Curitiba ends this Saturday with some mixed emotions. After claiming pole position with his Shell BMW M4 DTM, Farfus aimed for the podium – or even to replicate his 2013 result when he won in Zandvoort.
The iconic Dutch circuit has always been good ground for Farfus. This continued this weekend: setting a strong pace in the free practice sessions, he secured pole position with a brilliant lap in qualifying in the early afternoon. “It was a great qualifying. We have had a good car all weekend and a strong overall package,” a happy Farfus said after qualifying.
He aimed to make best use of his pole position, but dropped back to fourth after a difficult start behind his fellow BMW drivers Marco Wittmann, António Félix da Costa and Maxime Martin. “The clutch slipped a little bit at the start, so this is why I could not get off the line in the best way,” he explained. “In the beginning of the race I had a good pace, but then the safety car came out and so I could not use that advantage.”
For the rest of the race he went at a similar pace to his BMW colleagues in front of him. After the 40 minutes he finished fourth in a race that brought an historic result for BMW: the first seven positions went to BMW M4 DTM cars. Wittmann won, Félix da Costa was second and Martin third. Behind Farfus, Bruno Spengler, Timo Glock and Tom Blomqvist were fifth, sixth and seventh.
“This result is fantastic for BMW. After the disappointments of the first races, it brings important fresh momentum to all of us,” said Farfus. “For me personally, it unfortunately was not perfect, but tomorrow we have another chance. Today we left unfinished business and tomorrow we go for the big one!”
Qualifying for the eighth race of the season is tomorrow from 11.35 to 11.55 and the 60-minute race starts at 14.13 local time.
