– It seemed as if Matteo Cairoli had the situation under control behind the wheel of his Emil-Frey Ferrari, but the 29-year-old Italian still had to nervously hold on to his debut victory in the final laps of the first DTM race in Zandvoort (here for the race report)! “It was not easy at all,” says Cairoli.
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The path to his first win in the DTM was “not really” easy, reports the Ferrari driver and adds: “As long as the tires are still fresh, it’s okay. But once the wear sets in, it becomes extremely difficult to manage. The last four laps were really brutal.”
“I talked to the car, prayed and said: ‘Please just hold on for a few more laps.’ Because at some point I thought the left rear tire would collapse,” reveals Cairoli. “All the better that we made it to the checkered flag.”
The Italian celebrates his first win in only his third DTM race. “I am speechless,” says the Emil-Frey driver, who has climbed to third place in the overall DTM standings. “I am simply enjoying this moment to the fullest.”
“When we came here to Zandvoort, we knew we had a competitive car – or at least the chance to be strong. And that was exactly confirmed,” says Cairoli, who already secured the fastest time in practice on Friday and also took pole position on Saturday morning.
Why Vermeulen fell back behind Auer at the start
It could have gone even better for the Emil-Frey team if teammate Thierry Vermeulen had secured second place and thus the double victory. The Dutchman started from second position but had to give way to Lucas Auer (Landgraf-Mercedes) on the way to the first corner.
“It was a shame that I lost my position at the start,” admits Vermeulen, who then got stuck behind the moving “shoe box” of the Austrian. “Track position is quite important when you are behind. I just wasn’t fast enough.”
But how did it come about that the Ferrari driver fell back? “I simply activated the traction control too much at the start, which is quite unusual because we normally don’t have enough power to spin the wheels during a rolling start,” explains Vermeulen.
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“It’s the first time I’ve had this problem at the start,” adds the Dutchman, who wants to investigate the causes before the second race on Sunday (here in the livestream!). “I will watch the video to see if I or we can improve something in the systems.”
“This hasn’t happened to me in the last three years normally. So I’m not sure what caused it. Either I did something wrong or the settings were not right; of course, you lose all momentum and I lost my position. It was a bit annoying, but that’s how it is.”
Thierry Vermeulen admits: “It was really fun”
Already in the first corner, the possible double victory for Emil Frey was practically gone. “I think even if our pace had been a bit better, it would have been hard to overtake,” admits the third-placed Vermeulen. “After the stop, I gave everything to reduce the gap to Luggi as much as possible.”
“But it wasn’t enough today.” The Dutchman also has to admit that the race at least at the front “might have looked a bit boring from the outside,” “but every lap was really at the limit. You had to use the grip optimally, especially in the middle sector.”
“And you couldn’t make any mistakes.” The temperatures were very high, which meant you had to concentrate fully in the cockpit and drive extremely precisely. “Looking back, it was really fun,” says Vermeulen with a grin.
Lucas Auer confirms: “Tire wear was a challenge”
And what does Lucas Auer say about the race on Saturday? “Yes, first of all congratulations to Matteo,” praises the AMG driver. “We drove a car together last year, and I am really proud of him and very happy for him. He showed a fantastic performance.”
“And for us, it was a really good race: a good start, a good strategy, and a decisive pit stop,” sums up the Austrian, who has now even taken the lead in the standings. “As Matteo already said, tire wear was a challenge, so it was very eventful in the car.”
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