How the decision in favour of the DTM at Spa is also related to Rene Rast’s plans for the future and why Nico Müller and Nick Cassidy are not driving WEC either
Before the 2022 DTM season, there was some speculation as to whether Rene Rast would give preference to the DTM on the Spa weekend or to the World Endurance Championship, which will be held simultaneously at Fuji on 11 September. The Japan entry list already gave a first clue, but now the Abt Audi driver is finally putting his money where his mouth is.
“Today we decided that I will concentrate 100 per cent on the fight for the DTM championship and will therefore miss the WEC round in Fuji, which takes place on the same weekend as the DTM in Spa,” Rast communicated on ‘Instagram’ on Thursday evening.
That makes sense, because while Rast is third in the DTM championship at the halfway point, just ten points away from leader Mirko Bortolotti in the Grasser Lamborghini, the WRT driver is 42 points behind the top in fifth place in the LMP2 standings with two weekends to go. This means his title chances are only theoretical.
Not only DTM title fight speaks against WRT and WEC
In addition, the WEC involvement had been intended as preparation for Audi’s LMDh project, but since then events have rolled over: no longer pursued as the budget is needed elsewhere due to the high cost of the Dakar project.
In addition, the WRT squad that was nominated as an entry team has since departed from Audi and will run BMW’s LMDh entry from 2023. And Rast’s Audi future is also uncertain due to the loss of the LMDh prospect: the works driver is considered a hot candidate for a McLaren cockpit in Formula E.
But before that, a fourth DTM title is still on Rast’s menu. “After the longest summer break I’ve ever had, I’m now slowly getting back into racing mode,” said the 35-year-old, who returns to action in a fortnight’ time at the Nürburgring after an eight-week DTM break. At the six hours of Fuji two weeks later, Rast will be replaced by Audi driver Dries Vanthoor.
Müller and Cassidy also drive DTM instead of WEC
Rast, by the way, is not the only driver to rely on the DTM for the WEC overlap: Audi works driver colleague Nico Müller, who is in the same situation as Rast and now has no LMDh prospects with the Ingolstadt-based company after all, will also not be competing for the Vector team in the LMP2 class on the Spa weekend, but for Rosberg in the DTM.
The team has not yet announced who will replace him in the WEC. The situation at AF Corse, on the other hand, is clear: Nick Cassidy, who has already had to be replaced twice this DTM season due to his Formula E commitments with Envision, will also give preference to the DTM this time – and will be replaced by Ferrari works driver Davide Rigon at the AF Corse GTE-Am event in Fuji.
The New Zealander is also not among the front runners in his class in the World Endurance Championship with eighth place and is no longer in the title race.
