Di Resta 14th on DTM comebackposted in DTM04 | 05 | 2014
BATHGATE'S PAUL DI RESTA finished 14th on his return to the DTM Championship at Hockenheim today as Mercedes struggled to match the pace of rivals BMW and Audi.
The 28-year-old Scot, driving his Mercedes C-class (pictured) for the first time since he won the championship in 2010, had started the 42-lap race from 18th on the 23-car grid.
But as the race unfolded, it was clear none of the seven Mercedes cars had the performance to fight for a top-10 finish and points, let alone a podium.
Di Resta was the third-highest Mercedes driver to finish the race, behind German Pascal Wehrlein and England's Gary Paffett in 11th and 12th respectively.
To highlight the challenge facing Mercedes, Wehrlein finished 53.857secs behind the BMW of race winner Marco Wittman. The German finished 12.869secs ahead of the Audi duo of Mattias Ekstrom and Adrien Tambay.
Related: Di Resta endures DTM quali misery
And while Di Resta was just six-seconds behind Wehrlein, Mercedes cars filled seven of the last 10 places.
The reality for Mercedes could have been worse, as two quicker Audis and one BMW retired during the race.
"This result highlights the hard work we need to put in to ensure the cars are more competitive as the season unfolds," a disappointed Di Resta admitted afterwards.
"It's a new car for Mercedes this season, so we knew we'd all have to pull together to help develop the car to make it more competitive against the other manufacturers.
"But it's clear from what we've seen today that we still have quite a bit of work to do.
"Personally, I'm relatively happy with my own performance in my first race back in DTM. To be just three-seconds behind Gary, who has been racing in DTM for the past four years, is a small positive.
"But I know we have a lot of work to do before the next round at Oscherslaben in a fortnight.
Related: Mercedes electric B-class on sale in 2015
Keep up-to-date with all the latest news by following us on twitter.com/scotcars
Jim McGill