Mercedes’ Daniel Juncadella says that he is pleased with his best result of the season after finishing fifth in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters race at the Nürburgring, calling it a ‘flawless’ race.
Spaniard Juncadella made it through to Q3 for the first time of the season on Saturday, putting his car in seventh on the grid as the top Mercedes driver.
In the race the 23-year-old was beaten by stable-mate Paul di Resta, but nevertheless finished in fifth position and scored his best result of the season – crucially taking his first points of the year.
“At last, a good result for me this season,” said a relieved Juncadella. “I drove a flawless race. I took a bit of risk at the start of the race by taking an outside line, but that paid off.”
Juncadella explained that he felt he could have scored a podium, but was held up by Audi’s Edoardo Mortara when trying to pass, allowing di Resta to catch and pass him.
“I enjoyed the overtaking here, because it’s not very easy to do on this track. Edoardo Mortara held Paul and me up, which cost us any chance of a podium. But fifth place is good anyway – it’s my second-best result to date in the DTM.”
Mercedes-Benz Head of Motorsport Marketing and Communication Wolfgang Schattling adds that the results of the race were pleasing for the manufacturer, who finished with five cars in the points for the first time this season.
“Five cars in the top ten, that’s good team result for us, especially considering our grid positions,” said Schattling. “Of course, we were hoping in the end for a podium finish, but unfortunately, it wasn’t quite meant to be.
“We had an idea before the weekend that the Nürburgring would not play to our cars’ strengths. Taken from that viewpoint, we can be satisfied with the progress we’ve made and with the overall result.”
As a result of Juncadella’s points he moves up to 18th in the championship on ten points, meaning that only Vitaly Petrov has failed to score any points this season.