Aston Martin title contender Nicki Thiim was fully beside himself after ending eleventh in Saturday’s DTM race on the Nurburgring – and lashed out on the sequence and at Mercedes-AMG. “I believed Oschersleben was dangerous, however that is completely subsequent stage. I am tremendous upset. What’s going on right here proper now could be merely a shame,” the Dane raged.
Above all, the battle with Landgraf Mercedes driver Tom Kalender for ninth place and the penalty-lap sanction despatched him over the sting. He stated it was “ridiculous what’s going on right here. With Tom, it’s clear to see what his job was: to not let me previous at any value!” he accused Mercedes-AMG of getting instructed Kalender to assist Thiim’s model colleagues Maro Engel and Lucas Auer, who’re preventing for the title.
“That was completely clear on the primary lap. Utterly shoved into the dust – exit of Flip 5,” Thiim stated, referring to the incident wherein Luca Engstler slipped by means of. On the third lap, he then tried to overhaul Kalender within the chicane.
“I am already noticing how this works right here within the DTM”
“And he strikes fully throughout within the braking zone,” though within the DTM there’s “the good rule” you can “belief one another. However sure, as I stated: that was his absolute intention, to not allow us to previous so he may assist his beautiful colleagues.”
However the first day of racing, with eleventh on the grid and eleventh place within the race, had additionally been irritating in different respects. “It is merely unbelievable. As if I have been preventing with a stick – and the others with a gun,” he stated. “Zero tempo, zero likelihood. However I am already noticing how this works right here within the DTM,” Thiim stated, getting labored up once more.
And he recommended that the completely different producers within the DTM usually are not handled equally. “The opposite producers get these glory moments – Norisring, Lausitzring. After which we get turned down fully,” the midway champion feels he has been unfairly handled by the Steadiness of Efficiency (BoP) after his two sturdy weekends.
Kalender on Thiim assault: “Then he nonetheless sends it in”
“And now Ferrari will get a second right here – after which it continues like this tomorrow. That is why it is tough to take what’s going on proper now critically, as a result of there isn’t any consistency in it. It’s merely a shame.”
Nicki Thiim forward of Tom Kalender in DTM’s first race on the Nurburgring
Foto: ADAC Motorsport
Within the general standings, Thiim is now fourth, 30 factors behind DTM chief Engel. However what does Engel’s Mercedes-AMG colleague Kalender truly say in regards to the controversial battle with the Dane?
“I feel it was very apparent – I intentionally appeared within the mirror,” he stated of the transfer on the third lap, when Thiim tried to go up the within within the chicane from a great distance again. “I drove down the straight and determined to not block, as a result of it merely wasn’t potential – after which he nonetheless sends it in.”
Why Thiim obtained a penalty-lap sanction
“It isn’t the primary time – in Oschersleben he already took me out as soon as. It wasn’t as consequential as now, however I truthfully do not assume it’s totally sporting,” the 18-year-old stated in clear phrases.
Consequential as a result of Kalender then got here into the pits and parked his Landgraf Mercedes, because the exhaust tailpipe had been fully bent shut by the contact.
That was additionally why the matter was clear for race director Sven Stoppe: Thiim had hit Kalender’s exhaust, positioned forward of the rear wheel, together with his proper entrance, so he was nowhere close to alongside – and obtained a penalty-lap sanction for forcing him off, equal to 5 seconds.
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