Dear fans, the conclusion after the second DTM weekend of the year for me is very positive. It was certainly not easy this weekend at the EuroSpeedway, but my team handled the constantly changing weather conditions very well and gave me a great car. Already in free practice things started well: It was really wet at first, so we tried different setups for the rain. Later, when it was dry, I achieved really good lap times. However, we did not have the chance to run new tires, therefore I was very satisfied with my 9th place. With fresh tires, I would certainly have improved a lot and been even higher up.

In qualifying we took the decision to start on slicks. That was definitely the right call, as it started to rain on my first flying lap already. Therefore my first flying lap gave me the chance to make it into Q2 already. On the wet track it was really not easy to keep my GQ AMG Mercedes C-Class on the racing line. The track was extremely slippery. We made it into Q3 once again, which was a great effort from all the team! Unfortunately it was not possible for me to improve my position any further, but under these circumstances I was very satisfied with my 8th place on the starting grid. In dry conditions we might have been able to qualify even higher.

Unfortunately we were not able to take our good balance from Saturday free practice into Sunday. In the warm-up I suddenly had quite a lot of oversteer. Together we tried to improve the suspension settings, but the balance from Saturday was lost. In the coming days we will have to analyze this.

We decided to start with a used set of slicks. I had a really good start and managed to pass Jamie Green on the outside of the first corner into the infield, so I was 7th. As a result, I had a good fight with the Brit, but I could keep him behind me and after a few laps a little gap was between Jamie and me.

My crew supported me with a fantastic first pit stop. The team changed the tire extremely quickly and sent me off again with a personal pit stop record. Unfortunately when I exited the pits I got straight into traffic which allowed Jamie Green to catch me again. Also on the second set of tires I had much more trouble with the balance of my car, because there was a bit more Oversteer. I managed to hold my gap to Green, but I could not pull away anymore. Jamie gave me a few pushes and slightly damaged my rear diffuser. Therefore we decided to stop very early for our second pitstop.

We had hoped that the third set of tires would be better again. At the beginning of my last stint it was the case. I had very good times and I managed to drive the fastest lap for a moment. But I had over 30 laps to go with this last set of tires. Towards the end of the race, I was struggling a lot with my rear tires, so I had to concentrate on managing my tires.

All in all, I am still very satisfied. By now I have four points in the championship where I am currently in 9th position. My team has once again done an outstanding job, thank you very much indeed.

After the Formula 1 race in Istanbul, together we will prepare for the highlight of the season, the race at the Norisring. I'm always happy to be in Nuernberg, where I've scored the best result last year. I like the city course and hope to collect more points there. I hope you are coming to Nuernberg and support me there.

Keep racing, Maro