Rast Questions Driving Standards Following Early Sunday Exit

A frustrated Rene Rast criticized the driving standards from some of his DTM competitors after he was eliminated as a result of early contact.

Rast was one of several drivers taken out of Sunday’s second race at the Nürburgring following contact, with the three-time champion’s collision with David Schumacher triggering the race’s sole safety car.

Similarly, Nick Cassidy and Maro Engel were both eliminated after contact, while Philipp Eng, Clemens Schmid and Mirko Bortolotti also all failed to reach the checkered flag after incidents.

Rast, who came into the weekend third in the championship but has seen his title hopes take a knock after only scoring two points across the entire weekend, openly pulled the driving standards in the series into question following his retirement.

“I got hit by Schumacher,” Rast said on the official DTM broadcast. “First he hit me in the chicane and I had a bad exit, and then again he tried to pass me and hit me again in the rear and spun me in the gravel.

“Unacceptable. Driving standards this year in DTM are unacceptable.

“They drive like little kids, they have no experience and it’s really no fun to drive anymore.

“They don’t behave. I think some of them have to go back to their support series, get some experience and then can come back to DTM.

“Like that, it’s not fun to race anymore.”

Rast expressed hope at stricter punishments for some of the infringing drivers, saying it has become more difficult to race fair.

“I hope so,” he responded when asked if he think Schumacher should receive a penalty for the incident.

“Not only for him, but also for other drivers. You can not race anymore. It is just a gamble.

“Some of them leave you space, some others don’t. You can’t go side-by-side through a corner anymore. They push you on the grass, hit you in the rear, spin you around.

“It’s just a gamble and for sure we have to do something against that.”

Ricardo Feller and Dev Gore, who much like Rast also retired from Sunday’s contest, agreed with Rast’s position.

“I think the driving styles are very low,” Feller also spoke on the official broadcast. “I also took out one car, which was not on purpose, so sorry for that.

“I think we lost quite some professionalism in terms of fighting.

“At the moment, it’s like bumping cars away and it is not fair side-by-side racing, which we normally would like to have.”

Gore added: “We like DTM because you can race hard and you can have contact, but people are getting a bit too carried away.

“Everyone wants to go for a position, so you can not think that it is malintent or that they are doing it on purpose.

“But at some point you need to be realistic with the opportunities you take and some drivers are just not.”