Bathgate’s Paul Di Resta moved to fourth in the German Touring Car Championship (DTM), just three points behind the Audi of leader Timo Scheider, after finishing fourth in the latest round at the EuroSpeedway in Lausitz.
The 22-year-old Mercedes ace, who started from second on the grid and won the corresponding race last year, lost out when the German manufacturer used a different strategy for his English team-mate Gary Paffett.
“Gary’s crew called him in late for both his compulsory pitstops and that worked out perfectly for him,” Di Resta, who hounded the Audi of polesitter Mattias Ekstrom for the duration of the 52-lap, 112-mile race, explained today.
“I’m disappointed because we had a car fast enough to win here today, but I was seriously hampered by backmarkers in the second half of the race as I battled with Ekstrom.
“We’ve a four-week break now before the next race at the Norisring, and if we continue to make the improvements at the rate we have over the past two weeks I’m confident the first win of the season is just round the corner.
“Consistency throughout the season is crucial to winning the championship and to be lying fourth, just three points behind the leader is a good enough position to be in because traditionally we’re stronger in the second half of the season.”
Paffett held off late-race pressure from his Mercedes team-mate, Canadian Bruno Spengler, to take his 11th DTM win of his career and first for two years by 1.115s. Ekstrom held on to third, just 0.906s ahead of Di Resta.
JM