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(Motorsport-Total.com) – By far the best DTM season of his career was not enough for Nico Müller. At least not to prevail against his brand partner Rene Rast in the fight for the 2020 DTM title. He closed the bag in the last race of the season on Sunday with pole and victory and at the end of the championship he had a lead of 23 points on Müller.
© Audi
Müller had to admit defeat to Rast in the fight for the DTM title Focus
The Swiss presented himself as a good loser after the race and was the first to congratulate Rast on winning the third title. However, the disappointment over the defeat in the Müller title fight was clearly noticeable. “We don’t stop dreaming. We don’t stop fighting until the end. We continue to believe in it,” says Müller. “When the checkered flag is waved and you realize that it is definitely over, disappointment hits.”
“It will take us a night or two to digest this. We fought very hard and we not only worked very hard this season. To get that close and really be in a position to win the championship … if it slips out of hand in four or five weeks. It hurts, “continues the Swiss.
Everything went according to plan until the Nürburgring
One thing is certain for Müller heading into the season finale: “We didn’t lose him here. We won yesterday and finished second today. I think we shouldn’t be ashamed of that.” For Müller’s team boss Thomas Biermaier, it is clear: “We have clearly lost everything at Zolder.”
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For much of the 2020 DTM season, it seemed like Müller was unstoppable on his way to the title. He started the season in August with three wins in a row, and in the first half of the season he only came off the podium in one race.
This winning streak was only broken in the second race of the double event at the Nürburgring, without Müller being able to help. “Our performance at the Nürburgring was excellent, we led the race, but we lost 15 points due to this sensor defect,” recalls Biermaier. “Someone turned us around the day before,” he says, recalling Müller’s collision with Rosberg Audi driver Jamie Green.
Zolder as the crux of the matter
Müller himself says: “At the Nürburgring we had the pace and the car to fight for victory in all four races. On two occasions we had bad luck or a problem.” However, things were still looking good for Müller after the Nürburgring races. His lead over Rast was a whopping 47 points before the final six races of the season.
Then came the double event at Zolder and the tide turned. While Rast managed to march with four wins in four races, Müller did not get going in Belgium, especially in qualifying, and thus fought a losing battle in the race.
Rast got 109 out of 112 possible points in Zolder, Müller, on the other hand, got angry in duels with his fellow brand Harrison Newey and again with Green, had bad luck with a safety car phase (triggered by his teammate Robin Frijns, of all things) and lost with a sixth and ninth place the decisive points on the break.
Müller: “We too would have deserved it”
Before the final in Hockenheim, 47 points became 19 points behind. Too much, even if Müller found his way back to his old form on the Motordrom. However, Rast also did not show nudity. And so Müller can not help but recognize the performance of his rival. “I congratulate him on this great performance. Winning three titles in such a strong championship is very impressive,” said the Swiss, but firmly. “We deserve it too.”
An assessment that Maestro Rast also confirms: “Fighting Nico throughout the year was also an honor. He is a great driver. He also deserves the title. He is super fast and also a very nice guy,” he says. Rest on your rival. “In the end we made a little less mistakes and had a very good car in the last six races. But congratulations to Nico and Team Abt, they deserved it too.”
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“If someone is ahead in the championship after 18 races, then they deserve it in a way,” says team boss Biermaier Rast respectfully. “This year is particularly difficult because everyone has done a great job with us. We won the team championship earlier than ever,” he says.
“And our two drivers would have deserved the title because we had a great season,” said the team chief, referring to his drivers Müller and Frijns, who also had a mathematical chance of taking the title before the weekend. “So there are two great champions by my side, even if we didn’t win the big trophy. They did a great job. Now we have to look at that, but we lost it at Zolder, both weekends.”
