Rene Rast took his first DTM podium of 2022 at Lausitz: What he says about using the very chassis Sophia Flörsch complained about
It only took three races for ex-champion Rene Rast to make the breakthrough after his DTM comeback before he finished third in the GT3 cars at the Lausitzring on Sunday. “We turned the set-up upside down overnight and I feel much more comfortable now,” revealed Rast, who was thus clearly the best Abt driver.
An interesting fact: The 35-year-old is driving, of all things, the chassis of the Audi R8 LMS in which Sophia Flörsch competed in last year’s DTM season – and about which the Munich native had complained several times because of the 2017 model year.
“I had the oldest Audi R8 in the field and technical problems,” “You won’t win a pot in such a competitive racing series. “
Rast on Flörsch chassis: “Everything feels fine “
But now Rast confirms that there is nothing wrong with his car. “No, everything feels fine. If you look at the data, all the cars look identical. And also the comments from the drivers are definitely all identical.”
“Of course there are differences here and there because everyone drives a different set-up. Every car needs a bit of its own fine tuning.” But the man from Minden sees – apart from the set-up – “no differences” between the three cars of him, Kelvin van der Linde and Ricardo Feller.
That’s also what the Abt team is trying to do. “Mechanics and team really try to put all three cars in the same place,” says Rast. “There was always a lot of focus on that over the winter and also in the preparation. And I think now you can say they’ve done it. “
Kelvin van der Linde: Problems despite same chassis
Last year, Flörsch’s chassis had already been measured before and during the season – and there were no abnormalities in terms of cracks or a lack of stiffness. This year, a number of parts were changed around the chassis to bring the Audi R8 LMS up to date with the Evo package.
It consists of a new rear wing, a modified diffuser, an optimised engine upgrade and air conditioning.
Incidentally, Kelvin van der Linde, who didn’t get on at all at the Lausitzring and didn’t score any points, also uses exactly the same chassis with which he fought for the title last year and ended up third in the championship. Another sign that the chassis is not the decisive factor when it comes to performance.