DTM – Mercedes wants to save honor at Hockenheim

The season which is ending will not have been a great success for Mercedes, which has only had two successes so far: at the Lausitzring for Gary Paffett, and at the Nürburgring thanks to Robert Wickens. Although weaned from victory, the German Christian Vietoris, third in the championship with 71 points on the clock, is the best representative of the Etoile with one point ahead of the Canadian and four over Paffett, quadruple winner at Hockenheim. Vietoris intends to maintain his place on the final podium despite recent disappointing results: “ Our latest results did not allow me to achieve the objectives set (two finishes outside the points at Oschersleben and Zandvoort. Editor’s note), but I'm sure we can pull ourselves together and get back to the front at Hockenheim. This weekend will be particularly interesting in terms of the strategies of the different teams because, for the first time, race data on the new soft tires will be available to us. This could lead to some interesting bets on race strategy."

Robert Wickens, for his part, would like to forget his last performance at Hockenheim, when he dismounted after only a few laps of the first event of the season: “ My goal was to finish regularly in the points, or even get a podium. I achieved this with three Top 3s, including my first victory in DTM at the Nürburgring. I now want to end the season with a new convincing result in the final."

Finally, Paffett also has reasons to be motivated to do well: “ My tenth DTM season didn't take me where I wanted. I really want to finish the year at Hockenheim with a positive result, before focusing fully on next season. » At Mercedes, the young German Pascal Wehrlein celebrates his birthday this Friday and remembers having led at Hockenheim at the start of the season for 18 laps. But the young prodigy promised, the celebrations will wait until the end of the weekend...