Farfus’ great drive from 20th on the grid to ninth

In what proved to be another exciting DTM race, Augusto Farfus put in an impressive drive to fight his way from 20th on the grid to ninth when the chequered flag came out. This weekend the Dutch seas side resort of Zandvoort on the North Sea was the venue for the seventh round of the series.

The 28-year-old driver from Curitiba was on the move as soon as the starting lights went out. Despite an Audi that stalled on the front

row of the grid and carnage that resulted in four cars retiring, by the end of lap one he was up five places. The next three laps were run under the Safety Car while the damaged were taken away, and once racing resumed at the end of lap four he was on the move again. By the end of lap five he was up to 12th.

However, racing was only able to resume for two laps before the Safety Car came out again, this time to pick up the debris from bodywork that was all over the start/finish straight. What followed for him was some hard driving and some tough battles. This went on to the very last lap with Augusto having to fight hard in his Castrol EDGE BMW M3 DTM with Mercedes drivers Gary Paffett and Ralf Schumacher.

The conditions certainly kept all the teams on their toes. While the cars left the grid on slick tyres, the conditions were far from ideal. Some drizzle in the minutes leading up to the start made the track incredibly slippery. At times during the race it seemed the heavens would open again, but they didn’t and the few rain showers were fairly light and in some times localised to just one part of the track.

His explanation of what went on was short and to the point: “I had a brilliant race in difficult conditions so I think we had a victory just keeping the car on the road. I had a good pace and believe we could have had an even better result, but then I had the battles with Ralf (Schumacher) and Gary (Paffett) and there was nothing more I could do.”

As usual BMW Team RBM made all the right calls and when Augusto pitted at the end of laps 13 and 22 the stops were slick and extremely quick. “The guys really worked well today in the pits and certainly the conditions were never easy. Strategy wise the calls were spot on. As usual the team did me proud,” he said.

The teams now have a three week break until the eighth round of the series that is back in Germany at the Oschersleben track. This is a race Augusto is particularly looking forward to having won there in his World Touring Car Championship days.

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.