– Aston Martin title contender Nicki Thiim is completely beside himself after finishing eleventh in the DTM Saturday race at the Nürburgring (race report) – and lashes out at the series and Mercedes-AMG. “I thought Oschersleben was bad, but this is absolutely next level. I am super disappointed. This is simply an outrage that is happening here,” rages the Dane.
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Above all, the duel with Landgraf-Mercedes driver Tom Kalender for ninth place and the penalty lap penalty drove him up the wall. It is “ridiculous what is going on here. With Tom, it is clearly visible what his task was: Not to let me pass at all costs!”, he accuses Mercedes-AMG of instructing Kalender to help Thiim’s brand colleagues Maro Engel and Lucas Auer, who are fighting for the title.
“That was very clear in the first lap. Completely pushed into the dirt – exit of turn 5,” Thiim refers to the action where Luca Engstler slipped through. In the third lap, he then tried to overtake Kalender in the chicane.
“I can already tell how this works here in the DTM”
“And he moves completely across in the braking zone,” although in the DTM there is “the nice rule” that you “can trust each other. But yes, as I said: That was his absolute goal, not to let us pass so he can help his nice colleague.”
But otherwise, the first race day with starting position eleven and finishing eleventh in the race was frustrating. “It’s just incredible. Like I’m fighting with a stick – and the others with a weapon,” he says. “Zero pace, zero chance. But I can already tell how this works here in the DTM,” Thiim gets going again.
And he hints that the different manufacturers in the DTM are not treated equally. “The other manufacturers get glory moments – Norisring, Lausitzring. And then we get completely shut down,” the mid-season champion feels unfairly treated after his two strong weekends due to the Balance of Performance (BoP).
Kalender on Thiim attack: “He still holds in”
“And now Ferrari gets a moment here – and then it continues like this tomorrow. That’s why it’s difficult to take seriously what’s going on right now because there is no consistency. This is simply an outrage.”
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In the overall standings, Thiim is now 30 points behind DTM leader Engel in fourth place. But what does Engel’s Mercedes-AMG colleague Kalender say about the controversial duel with the Dane?
“I think it was very obvious – I deliberately looked in the mirror,” he says about the maneuver in the third lap when Thiim wanted to pass inside from far behind in the chicane. “I drove down the straight and decided not to block because it simply wasn’t feasible – and then he still holds in.”
Why Thiim received a penalty lap penalty
“It’s not the first time – in Oschersleben he already took me out once. It wasn’t as consequential as now, but honestly, I don’t find it very sporting,” the 18-year-old finds clear words.
Consequential because Kalender then came to the pits and stopped his Landgraf Mercedes because the exhaust pipe was completely bent due to the contact.
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That was also the reason why the matter was clear for race director Sven Stoppe: Thiim had hit Kalender’s exhaust positioned in front of the rear wheel with his right front, so he was not even close to being level – and received a penalty lap penalty equivalent to five seconds for pushing him off.
