Thierry in top ten at DTM Nerburgring: 'Proud of ourselves'

Published on 08 August 2023 by Niels Hendrix

Verstappen.com Racing is represented in the DTM by Thierry Vermeulen, who drives a Ferrari 296 GT3 of Emil Frey Racing. The 21-year-old Dutchman made his appearance last weekend during the fourth round of the DTM championship, at the Nürburgring in Germany.

“We had a very solid weekend”, says Thierry. “I am quite happy with the final result: two times top ten and in race 2 coming from P23 to P8 is a good result. Of course we have to see how I can improve the qualifying pace as in qualifying 2 I really struggled to get the tyre temperatures in. The weather conditions this weekend were very mixed and you need to put in a lap in changing and tricky conditions in the right moment. I think I could have done that better and we need to see how we can improve that next time.”

“But you have to take these positive weekends, solid points after some difficult rounds where we struggled to put it all together. The team did a mega job during both my races, they did an amazing job on strategy, pitstops and the car felt good. It is important to have the confidence in these conditions. It makes you quick in the first few laps, so if you’re qualifying isn’t great, that’s exactly what you need. The start was good and we managed to come to the front, a lot of good battles with different drivers. I think overall it was a great learning experience for me, battling tricky conditions, set-up, all new for us with this car.”

Thierry adds: “I think we can be proud of ourselves. Now it’s straight to Lausitzring for me, where I will have a test together with Jack Aitken. We’ll keep the momentum going, keep working on the car and hopefully we find some good things. Then a weekend off and then back to the DTM in Lausitzring. So feeling really positive, it's really coming together now with four race finishes in the top ten. For sure we can be higher up, but we’ll keep working on it!”