On Saturday morning, the Cracovian awakened the hopes of fans, taking fourth place in the training series. It was not so good in qualifying and the Pole was 14th. Kubica presented himself well in the race, but the terrible pit-stop deprived him of any chances of getting a good result. – We were free, but I can see positive things – he said after the competition. – A mistake was made in the pit lane, the car did not “pick up”. At this level, such a standstill loss no longer offers a chance to race with others, he added. He finished fourteenth, only ahead of Sheldon van der Linde, who had problems in the initial stages of racing. The first race of the season was won by Nico Mueller (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline)
On Sunday, the drivers started qualifying again, in which the Pole obtained the 12th result. Right after the start of the race, Kubica recorded a decline, being in the fifteenth position, and for a moment even in the last position. On the third lap, Harrison Newey, who was overtaking our driver, received the penalty of driving through the pit lane and the Pole “jumped” over him. Earlier, however, it became apparent what Kubica had said the day before: “we are free on the straight”. The British simply drove away to the Pole on such an episode, showing that the car he has at his disposal still has a lot of modifications, which will give a chance to start a fight.
At the fore was the qualifying winner Rene Rast and Saturday’s winner Nico Mueller. Meanwhile, Kubica was overtaken by the faster Jonathan Aberdein and was again in 15th place. The Pole had slight problems reporting it to his technicians and on the 11th lap he went down to the pit lane. This time there were no major problems, although Kubica had a slight skid when leaving, fortunately he managed to “lead” the car to the track, but he was in the last 15th place, because Newey had to withdraw from the race, who had previously reported technical problems .
The Pole reported to his team that his car was also not behaving well. – It won’t work, something’s wrong. The front has no grip at all – he said via radio Behind Kubica, however, was Ferdinand Habsburg, who had to go to the second pit-stop and change tires.
Sunday’s race was more exciting when it comes to fighting for the top positions. On lap 21, he gathered to the attack on the Rast straight and thanks to the DRS system he managed to overtake the current leader, Mueller. This, however, did not give up and was right behind the back of the most dangerous rival.
The situation stabilized at the end of the rate. Kubica was driving on the 14th position, ahead of Habsburg by over 25 seconds, but also having a great, almost half-minute loss, Timo Glock’s 13th.
The fans, however, were excited about what they saw at the forefront. Mueller attacked Rast fiercely, but Rast stubbornly resisted. The last lap was the same every moment: Mueller was driving to Rast’s back, but he couldn’t find a place to pass the decisive charge and the winner of the qualification defended the victory.
After the first racing weekend, Mueller is the leader of the DTM series with 46 points, ahead of Rast (39) and Jamie Green (30). Kubica will have to wait at least two weeks for the first catch.
The next DTM struggles in the 2020 campaign on August 14-16 at the German Lausitzring Sprint track.
Results of the Sunday race:
1. Rene Rast (Audi Team Rosberg) 57: 17.254
2. Nico Mueller (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline) +0.483
3. Robin Frings (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline) +5.393
…
14. Robert Kubica (BMW Team ART) +1:30.445
Do you have an interesting topic? Write us a letter!
