Farfus has a short race in Norisring

A field of cars separated by times measured by hundredths of a second, lots of rain and a street circuit would usually be a recipe for excitement, and today in the Norisring was no exception. Sadly though for Augusto Farfus it was also a recipe for disaster. As the cars rushed down into the first corner of the 2.3 kilometre street circuit a domino effect started with cars at the front end of the grid crashing into each other. The front right side of his Castrol EDGE BMW M3 DTM came off badly and, despite continuing for 15 laps, eventually BMW Team RBM realised he was just going backwards and not forwards and so retired the car. 

The trouble started for the race round the streets of Nuremberg in Bavaria when the hot sweltering weather conditions of Friday and Saturday – air 35° Celsius and track 50° Celsius – were swapped for heavy rain and a drop of over 15° Celsius in air temperature and over 30 in track. In the warm-up the rain was torrential, and definitely would have been impossible for racing. However, three hours later things were a little better – the rain was a bit lighter but the track was still sodden. 

There was not much to report from the 28-year-old Brazilian and his comment after he retired was simply: “About what happened in the first corner where my car was damaged, I think you would blame the whole group because when everyone brakes there is a domino effect. You get a little push here, a little push there, I was completely locked up and couldn’t stop the car. It is difficult to blame anyone.” 

This was a shame as he had started from third on the grid and had shown good speed all weekend. However, he was philosophical about this and knows just how competitive his car can be. “I was able to watch the race, although sitting in the garage with my engineer is not my favourite place to watch it. It was pretty exciting and it was great to see several BMW M3 DTM cars at the front. Such races can turn into a complete lottery and I feel for Martin (Tomczyk) and Bruno (Spengler). It was such a shame, but I suppose we should all be happy to have the second double podium of the year for BMW.” 

What Augusto was talking about was that for most of the race Tomczyk and Spengler were running first and second for BMW. However, in the closing stages Jamie Green in his Mercedes was hunting them down. He got by Spengler on lap 76 and then on the very last lap with just seconds to go before the chequered flag he deposed Tomczyk to second. 

The next event on the agenda is in two weeks. However, this is a very different matter for all the drivers as it is the DTM show event in Munich’s Olympic Stadium and is for glory and not for points! 

For further information on Augusto Farfus, please visit his website at www.farfus.com. There you will find all news and background information on the racing driver from Curitiba.