René Rast is one of the proper names of the last decade of the DTM. The German driver was the most outstanding actor of the ‘Class 1’ era of the contest, achieving three titles between 2017 and 2020 before landing in Formula E at the hands of Audi. Closed the signature project of the four rings in the electric series, Rast has returned to the DTM grid with the help of the Abt Sportsline team. Of course, the German has had to deal with the change in regulations, since now the category is disputed with GT3 vehicles.
Although Rast had some previous experience at the controls of the Audi R8 LMS GT3, the particular adjustments of the GT3s that compete in the DTM -and of the Evo II version of the model- have forced René to catch up. In Portimao things did not go too well for him, as he closed the Portuguese event with zero points in his locker. Nevertheless, at Lausitzring everything has gone much better. In fact, René Rast climbed to the podium of the second race of the weekendadding his first success in this new personal stage in the DTM under GT3 regulations.
The key to this podium was in the radical change in the ‘set up’ made by the Abt Sportsline mechanics between Saturday and Sunday. This has been recognized by himself Rene Rastgiving much of the credit for third place at the Lausitzring: «I am happy with the podium and the points, but I am much happier with what has been achieved between Saturday and Sunday.. The car was quite difficult to drive on Saturday, I had a lot of problems. However, on Sunday everything was much easier. The car was better, the guys worked through the night and completely changed the setup. They took a big step.”
When explaining these changes in the settings of the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, Rast explains: «The philosophy of the car became completely different and I think we have a solid foundation for the next couple of weekends. I feel more comfortable in the car, although there are still a few things to fine-tune here and there. We saw that this was the right direction and that is very positive. After Portimao he was not very confident. Now I am much more motivated to score points and hopefully more podium finishes.».
Thomas Biermaierhead of Abt, has pointed out in this regard: “We still have work to do to fully understand the Evo II version of the car. Still, I’m incredibly happy for René. He got his first podium with hard work, but also the whole team did a great job. We also have to improve with the rest of the riders. We are going to boost Kelvin Van der Linde again after this difficult weekend. We will do everything possible to make him strong again in Imola ».
Photos: DTM