After victory at the Nürburgring, Mattias Ekström kept his good DTM form going with second place in an Audi 1–2–3 at a wet and wild Brands Hatch.
Welcome to Britain… Guess what? It’s raining! There were plenty of people saying this at Brands Hatch last weekend, and I’ve got to say it’s a little bit unfair – I think the DTM has been going to Brands for six years and this is the first time it’s rained, and I don’t think I’ve ever driven a wet lap of the circuit before this weekend. Well, I have now.
I was starting fifth on the grid and it was really wet, so I’d decided that, whatever happened, off the line I was going to treat the car like a grandmother was driving it. I saw a couple of guys in front spinning their wheels and I thought I’d make up at least a place – as it happened I managed to get all the way up to second.
'What goes around comes around in this world, so we all acted like grown-ups'
The only place for me to go was around the outside on Paddock Hill Bend, and around the outside at Druids, those really aren’t the lines you want to be taking and it’s a little bit worrying – but ultimately it comes down to the fact I trusted the guys around me: Gary Paffett and Mike Rockenfeller know what they are doing, and sure, they could have dumped me off if they wanted to – but then one day I’ll dump them off. What goes around comes around in this world, so we all acted like grown-ups.
I was pretty sure I was going to finish second when Martin Tomczyk went past me, and we both went past Rocky – I knew I didn’t have the car to catch Martin. Obviously it’s always possible that something happens to change that, there’s always the chance for stupid stuff to happen, but I thought I was fighting for second, and finishing second would be a victory of sorts. It was clear to me that I had a lot of oversteer in Paddock Hill Bend and the other aero corners and lacked pace there. It’s what happens when you have no time to fine-tune a set up for the conditions: you get what you get and you drive what you have. The rest of the track was OK and I was quick enough on the other parts to hold my place.
Audi Motorsport
At one stage it was starting to dry up and I was thinking maybe the character of the race would change, but then buckets of rain started to fall again which maintained the status quo. We did the pitstops at the right time, when the tyre performance was dropping, and after this the car was good again and it was actually pretty easy to drive, despite the track being so wet. I got into a rhythm and just kept rolling. It was like an oval race.
Oddly, I really enjoy driving the car when it has a bit of oversteer – it’s great fun – but in terms of performance a little bit of understeer would have been better, but I’m happy with the result and scoring good points that have moved me up to third in the Championship. That’s the key to success in DTM: get to the finish, score heavily and score consistently. We had four horrible races in the first half of the year and now we’ve had a couple of good ones. When things run right, we’re competing at the front. That’s very reassuring for a driver.
'Patience is definitely a virtue for a racing driver, and I’m trying to be a more patient person'
If you saw the race you might have heard me on the radio sounding… shall we say a little bit irate? I came out of the pits and was stuck behind Jaime Green. He was a lap down and really should have moved out of my way, instead he held me up for three or four laps. We’ll be talking about that! Brands Hatch isn’t the sort of place where you want that to happen because there isn’t really an obvious passing place.
Patience is definitely a virtue for a racing driver, and I’m trying to be a more patient person – but when ridiculous stuff like that happens my tolerance tends to go through the floor. Still, I think I managed to stay calm quite well under the circumstances – but I know it’s still something I’m going to have to work on!
Cheerio
Mattias
Audi Motorsport
Audi Motorsport
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