22.8.2019. The WRT Team Audi Sport is the first customer team for the new DTM Era and for many, one of the biggest Surprises of the year. The two DTM Rookies Jonathan but your (21) and Pietro Fittipaldi (23) to the ranks with their Audi RS 5 DTM regularly in the points.
In front of the two DTM races at the lausitzring (Saturday and Sunday from 13 p.m., live on SATELLITE.1) speaks to team boss Vincent Vosse on the premiere season of the Belgian Teams.
This Sunday celebrates the DTM at the lausitzring 500. Race. Can you still remember when you started to keep track of the DTM?
At the beginning of the 90s, I’ve seen some of the DTM race in Zolder. Above all, I remember the DTM in 1995. That was the time with Alfa Romeo, Mercedes and the Opel Calibra. I came out of the formula sports. Jason Watt and Jan Magnussen were good friends of mine. Both went straight into the DTM. The a in Alfa Romeo, and the other at Mercedes. It was overall a great year for the DTM.
Content
- Which DTM driver impressed you the most?
- Have you ever had the Chance, even a DTM car to drive?
- Would it irritate you, the new Audi RS 5 DTM a try?
- How do you like the DTM?
- The first DTM season for WRT soon come to an end. It was the right decision to venture out as a customer team in the DTM?
- Would you like to see in the future for more customer teams in the DTM?
- Apart from the Noris ring your Team has brought so far, every DTM weekend points. You are with the results so far satisfied?
- This is against the factory teams at all realistic?
- But Jonathan is already started twice from the front row. Surprised his Rookie season?
- What makes the DTM so difficult?
- What is the most this year on hard?
- This came as a surprise or were you expecting that?
- There is something, what would you change on the DTM?
- What is the relationship of the Audi factory teams?
- So next year WRT start in the DTM?
- What is one goal you have for the remaining six races of the season?
- You mentioned Brands Hatch, as they had in Qualifying time in two accidents …
Which DTM driver impressed you the most?
Clearly, Bernd Schneider, and he impressed me still.
Have you ever had the Chance, even a DTM car to drive?
Unfortunately, no.
Would it irritate you, the new Audi RS 5 DTM a try?
That would be interesting. Maybe I’ll ask Dieter (Gass). We also need a Deposit not a lot of Material for the seat …
How do you like the DTM?
The DTM is very impressive. The Racing is very good and the quality of the Teams and the driver just great. For me, this category has a great future, because the stage is simply fantastic.
The first DTM season for WRT soon come to an end. It was the right decision to venture out as a customer team in the DTM?
Yes, for sure. The environment is right. And the guys from Audi have helped us great. We are very happy to be a part of the DTM.
Would you like to see in the future for more customer teams in the DTM?
Yes. That is the goal, and that was the goal. It was agreed that BMW is a customer team would come, but in the end it did not. If it was in season 2019, a little Disappointing, then it what.
Apart from the Noris ring your Team has brought so far, every DTM weekend points. You are with the results so far satisfied?
It is always hard to tell. Internally, I would probably say: Yes, we are satisfied. We have shown good potential, and a fourth and a fifth place brought. But we have also seen that we have the potential to get a Podium and has not yet worked out. A Podium would be really great, and remains our goal for the remaining races of the season.
This is against the factory teams at all realistic?
To get In the DTM, a Podium is not easy. But with the potential of Jonathan (but your) and Pietro (Fittipaldi), it is definitely possible. Take the example of Brands Hatch: Three minutes before the end of the race Jonathan what went in seventh place just four seconds behind the leader and Pietro, the fastest lap. It shows how strong we were there. Yes: I’m with our previous performance satisfied. I could not expect so. To qualify just behind the six factory Audi, Yes. But not at one Time or another some of them behind us.
But Jonathan is already started twice from the front row. Surprised his Rookie season?
Both of us pleasantly surprised. Jonathan is more in the spotlight, because he was in Qualifying and twice Second in Assen less than the Pole Position has missed. But Pietro shows strong performance. At the end of two Rookies are for us the perfect scenario. It would have been more difficult to have two experienced pilots, who would have expected that we are up front. We learn and discover, the DTM still. We should not believe that we are already at the destination.
What makes the DTM so difficult?
For example, the pit-stops. So far, we were in every category in which we competed, the scale. In the DTM, we have to fight with the pit stops pretty to. It takes four people to make the permanent. The people on the impact wrench and the wheel are extremely important. Training is extremely important. For the pit stops in the GT-sports, first you need power. In the DTM, that is completely different. Because you have to train hard. Every millimetre counts, every Detail. It is not so difficult. To work because one of our goals for the Winter. In the DTM, each has the same Material, so it is up to us.
What is the most this year on hard?
This was not the Only one. To understand the DTM is the most difficult. Why holt (BMW-Pilot Marco) Wittmann on Saturday at Brands Hatch, Pole Position, and why is he on Sunday at the launch site twelve? In the DTM, strange things happen and you have to try to understand them. Otherwise, you get the feeling that you don’t have a grip on things, but only mitschwimmst.
This came as a surprise or were you expecting that?
I have expected it.
There is something, what would you change on the DTM?
Yes. Our position at the end of the race … What I hate, is all the money we have to spend for the radio, without him really use, since we only talk in the pit lane with the drivers. MotoGP has a great race without the radio. The formula 1 has a great race with radio.
What is the relationship of the Audi factory teams?
Great, and I could not expect. I knew Ernst Moser and Phoenix from the GT program, but I had never previously worked with ABT or Rosberg. We have to get all three Teams to help. So far, the atmosphere between all of us very well. They are very polite and helpful to us. This is a great feeling, a typical Audi feeling.
So next year WRT start in the DTM?
That was always our goal. As we reached the agreement, we assumed a minimum of three years. We want to make at the end of the year analysis, to see where we stand and whether the DTM commitment brings benefits to the Team as an addition. But my goal is quite clear that we are doing in the DTM in more.
What is one goal you have for the remaining six races of the season?
In Assen we have become the Fourth. But for me, Brands Hatch was the best team performance, as we were on Sunday, shortly before the end of the race in seventh place just four seconds behind the leader. That means more to me than to be with 20 seconds behind in Fourth. It was a great performance from all, that we were consistently fast. I hope that we are in the next race again in the Position. If a Podium is great. But we want to be happy, if we miss the Podium, but only just behind the winner into the goal.
You mentioned Brands Hatch, as they had in Qualifying time in two accidents …
With the two accidents in Qualifying on Saturday at Brands Hatch, what a dramatic weekend. We have built Pietro’s car over night again. With him he took seventh place and the fastest lap. This means that our boys have made at the judicial building in the night a great Job. We had no technical problem with our cars. There was nothing, which is why we had to skip a free practice, a Qualifying session or a race. The Audi RS 5 DTM is a great car, but we don’t have th Audi-people-in-the-Box, the look of our cars. We’ll do it ourselves. And that makes one very proud.
Pietro Fittipaldi, Vincent Vosse (Photo: Audi Communications Motorsport / Michael Kunkel)
