The first chapter of Land-Motorsport’s DTM story has been written. On the weekend of 25 to 27 April, the Audi team made its debut in Germany’s leading GT series together with driver Ricardo Feller at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. The aim of the weekend was to simply gather as much data and experience as possible, but the team from Niederdreisbach made waves with some stand-out achievements.
“Our performance in qualifying was good, and we also demonstrated in the race that we are competitive with the Audi,” said team principal Christian Land. “Not everything was perfect. With so little time to prepare, mistakes are only natural, and they affected our results. For us it was a weekend of learning, and now we take those lessons from Oschersleben into the next round at the Lausitzring.”
With Feller qualifying his Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II in fifth position in the second qualifying session, the Swiss driver showed that he has the package to battle at the sharp end of the field. On Sunday, Feller was up with the leading pack for much of the race and picked up the first five points of the season by finishing eleventh. The 24-year-old also had a chance at some points on Saturday, but emerged empty-handed after a mistimed mandatory pit stop saw the car have to come into the pits a second time.
“It goes without saying that we are super ambitious and want to win every time we go racing,” Feller said. “But, given where we are starting from, I think what we achieved in Oschersleben was really promising. It’s great to know that we are in touch with the leaders, but we still have room for improvement when it comes to the pit stops and race strategy. Nevertheless, I am hugely grateful to the team for all their hard work so far.”
The team from the Westerwald region are back in action in four weeks’ time at the second round of the DTM at the Lausitzring from 23 to 25 May.
