The reasons behind Rast losing the DTM championship lead

Having dominated the opening DTM race on Saturday at the Red Bull Ring, Rene Rast endured a nightmare Sunday with two penalty laps and lost the championship lead ahead of the season finale.

In Sunday’s race, Rast crossed the finish line in 13th and lost his overall lead back to Landgraf Mercedes driver Lucas Auer.

The Schubert BMW driver’s race was undone in the second pitstop, as the three-time champion received two penalty laps: the first for crossing the white line at pitlane entry, the second for being released directly in front of HRT Ford driver Arjun Maini and then didn’t yield which the Indian driver slammed as “completely unfair”.

The race stewards penalised Rast for an unsafe release because he obstructed Maini, something Rast could have avoided if he had braked and dropped back behind the HRT Ford driver.

“[At the second pitstop] so many cars come in at once,” Rast explained. “It’s difficult to estimate what the traffic in the fast lane will be like when you start off with cold tyres. I was a bit ahead, but I think the unsafe release had already happened by the time I drove out. So there wasn’t much I could do.

“Of course, the second penalty [crossing the white line at pit entry] was unnecessary. Normally there’s a bollard there, but it was gone. And of course I relied on the bollard that wasn’t there, looked for it and drove over the white line. But that’s no excuse, it was just a stupid mistake.”

However, Rast hasn’t given up on his title hopes at the Hockenheim finale.

“We’re still in the game. We’ve closed the gap to the front,’ he said, pointing out he is now 11 points behind leader Auer.

“There are a lot of cars still fighting for the championship. I think there are probably nine of them. You just have to keep a cool head and pick up points.”