Paul Di Resta finishes fourth at Hockenheim in home race for Mercedes-Benz

The 30th anniversary DTM season ended with a home race for Mercedes-Benz on Sunday at Hockenheim in front of 155,000 spectators, who came through the gates during the weekend. At the end-of–season finale of the internationally popular touring car series, Mercedes-Benz driver Paul Di Resta (DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé) crossed the finish line in P4 with a deficit of two tenths of a second on Jamie Green (Audi) in third place. During the race, he moved six positions up the field from tenth on the grid to finish fourth. Audi’s Mattias Ekström won the race.

We can go into the winter break with a positive result, but the new season actually starts tomorrow for us.

Paul Di Resta

Robert Wickens (FREE MAN’S WORLD Mercedes AMG C-Coupé) booked P8. Gary Paffett (EURONICS Mercedes AMG C-Coupé) placed eleventh in the final race of the season. Christian Vietoris (Original-Teile Mercedes AMG C-Coupé) was 15th.

Daniel Juncadella (Petronas Mercedes AMG C-Coupé), Pascal Wehrlein (gooix Mercedes AMG C-Coupé) and Vitaly Petrov (DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé) retired just before the end of the race. They were placed 18th, 20th and 21st respectively.

Comments after the Race

Paul Di Resta - 4th (28, Scotland, DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé): “That was a positive day for me. We had a decent weekend and didn’t make any mistakes except in qualifying. I gained a few places at the start but lost some time at the beginning of the race. Perhaps what I lost would have been enough to see me overtake Jamie at the end. When you think how we were doing at the start of the season, we’ve improved considerably. All the guys have done a brilliant job, for which I would like to especially thank them. The long nights spent working have paid off. We can go into the winter break with a positive result, but the new season actually starts tomorrow for us.”

Robert Wickens - 8th (25, Canada, FREE MAN’S WORLD Mercedes AMG C-Coupé): “I got off to a good start and was up to P8 by the end of the first lap. I think I was third best of all the people starting on primes. So, everything was going well but unfortunately I wasn’t really happy with the car. I had a lot of understeer after struggling with the same issue in qualifying. Unfortunately, under parc fermé conditions, you have to race the car you had in qualifying. It was a tough race. But Paul did a good job finishing in P4. I'm reasonably happy to finish in the points. It’s not too bad rounding off the year with another points finish. Hopefully we can have a strong season in 2015.”

Gary Paffett - 11th (33, England, EURONICS Mercedes AMG C-Coupé): “Obviously disappointing to miss out on getting some points today. I made a great start and gained a few positions. Then I got hit off the track three times on the first lap which put me at the back of the field. I was having a good battle through the race but I lost two places at the pit stop because we pitted one lap later than the other guys. In the end, all the places we lost on the first lap cost us some points. Apart from the first lap, racing was okay today.”

Christian Vietoris - 15th (25, Germany, Original-Teile Mercedes AMG C-Coupé): “That was a tough weekend. We took Edoardo Mortara as our benchmark. Things didn’t go well for him either – we both failed to finish in the points. Mike Rockenfeller ultimately caught us in the overall standings. Too bad!”

Vitaly Petrov - Retired, classified 18th (30, Russia, DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé): “Unfortunately, it just wasn’t our day. We have to spend more time tuning and balancing the car. We’ve definitely improved it since the first race of the season. It runs a lot better now, but we still need to play around with the setup. We didn’t have the pace today to challenge the front-runners. So we’ve got a lot of hard work to do in that department.”

Pascal Wehrlein - Retired, classified 20th (19, Germany, gooix Mercedes AMG C-Coupé): “Up to my pit stop, I was having a good race. I got off to a great start and was incredibly fast on the option tyres. Later on, my tyres started to degrade faster than those of race leader Jamie Green, but at least I managed to defend my second position. If it hadn’t been for the drive-through penalty, I would have been in with a chance of a podium. Unfortunately, I got spun round after the restart and was forced to return to the pits.”

Daniel Juncadella - retired, classified 21th (23, Spain, Petronas Mercedes AMG C-Coupé): “Things were looking good at the start of the race. I thought I could finish in the points. Unfortunately, my pace subsequently dropped off when I tried to overtake Bruno. It was a little too late and we made contact. After that, he braked in front of me going down the straight. I think something broke on my car after the contact. I spun off on the next lap. That wasn’t a nice way to end the season, but the first stint of the race was decent.”

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “Our congratulations to Audi on their strong team showing. I’m not all that pleased with our result. It was a small step in the right direction but not yet quite enough. Still, we can build on today’s performance. I was particularly pleased to see that so many spectators had come to the home race of Mercedes-Benz this Sunday. They created a fantastic atmosphere at the season finale. We have mixed feelings as we look back over the season. We’ll now have to get to grips more with our car over the winter, and preparations for the new season will begin tomorrow. We intend to attack again from the front next season.”

Mercedes-Benz