Rast may shift attention to DTM next season

1.929193-1106266483 — Rene Rast of Germany seals his place as 2011 champion in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup at the Yas Marina Circuit yesterday after going into the penultimate round of the championship with 141 points. Image Credit: Supplied

Abu Dhabi: Rene Rast of Germany may turn his attention to the more challenging Deutsche Tourenwagen-Meisterschaft (DTM) or German Touring Car Championship after sealing his place as 2011 champion in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup here yesterday.

"It looks like the DTM is my calling for next season," Rast told Gulf News after coming in second place to earn enough points and seal the overall title in yesterday's first of two races of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Though it was Rast winning the championship, the penultimate race honours belonged to British driver Nick Tandy who took his Konrad Motorsport car in the lead by the seventh spot and never looked behind after that.

Rast went into the penultimate round of the championship with 141 points, just 17 off second-placed Kuba Giermaziak of Verva Racing Team (124 points) and Veltins Lechner Racing team-mate Norbert Siedler (122 points). But yesterday, after starting at the top of the grid, Rast kept his cool and ran a perfectly tactical race to finish in second and along with it take the overall title with one race still remaining. "There was a lot of pressure and, honestly, I am finding it so difficult to express my feelings at this stage," Rast admitted.

Born in 1986, Rast started competing in karting championship and then migrated to bigger races like the Porsche Supercup and Formula BMW ADAC where he went on to win the ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup in 2005 for Volkswagen Motorsport.

Considered a trademark of Europe's most popular touring car race series that began in 1984 with production-based cars that peaked in 1996 with a worldwide series for high-tech touring cars, the DTM is today considered the "top class of touring cars" while also being one of Europe's largest sporting events.

"The GP2 Series or Formula One is not appealing to me simply due to the costs involved. My choice is going to be between DTM and the Porsche Works for next season," he added.

Prior to coming to Abu Dhabi, Rast went and did some tests with BMW and is expecting some sort of confirmation from the car manufacturer regarding his immediate future by the end of this month. "The sooner the better, but I really cannot force the issue. I will have to wait for word from them," Rast said.

"It would also be nice if I get the chance to do some GT1 races in Germany. If none of this happens or I do not win the drivers' title, then maybe I will stick around with the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup," the 25-year-old added.

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