Red Bull's Fraga admits speed on DTM debut came as relief

2016 Brazilian Stock Car champion and three-time Le Mans 24 Hours starter Fraga joined Red Bull's two-car DTM programme at the start of this year, effectively replacing 2021 runner-up Liam Lawson in the team's line-up.

Despite having some reservations after testing, the 26-year-old was up to pace straight away in the opening round of the season, qualifying a strong fourth in the AF Corse-run Ferrari 488 GT3. He was running a solid seventh in the race and had fresher tyres on his car to mount a late attack, but an incident at the restart forced him into retirement.

In Sunday's second leg of the weekend, Fraga upped his one-lap pace to qualify third behind Rosberg Audi's Nico Muller and Grasser Lamborghini driver Mirko Bortolotti. The Fraga eased past Bortolotti early into the race and then shadowed Muller for much of the race, finishing just over three seconds behind in second.

Speaking after his maiden podium finish in the DTM, Fraga said his performances over the weekend allayed any doubts he had about his pace in GT3 cars.

"I was really happy even with what happened [on Saturday]," the Brazilian driver told Motorsport.com's sister outlet Motorsport-Total.com. 

"I was happy because it was a question mark even for me if we could fight, if we could be there. And it was an answer more for myself. 

"In qualifying I was P4, I had room for more but I got traffic on the last corner. That made me 20-30kg lighter in the back. I saw that it is possible. If we work, we can put it together, we can be there."

Felipe Fraga, AF Corse

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Fraga said he went into the second race of the weekend with a conservative strategy, only to change his mind and make an early pass on Bortolotti on the second lap when he saw the Lamborghini driver struggling for traction.

The 26-year-old also felt at one point that he would be able to reel in polesitter Muller, but quickly realised that closing the gap to the race leader will take too much life out of his tyres.

"On Sunday we started the day with P3 in qualifying which was good," he recalled. "Maximum I could do was P2 as Nico was way too fast.

"Then in the race I was honestly not going to go crazy to win or [finish] P2. I was really relaxed. I wanted to finish the day with good points. 

"But then on the first lap the car was so good, I could put more temperature in. Then I saw that Mirko started to oversteer and to slide. And there was a little space in that corner. 

"I thought that 'I try now or never' because afterwards when the temperature [increases] he will [be able to] defend. And we could make [the move].

"Then Nico was a bit difficult, I was giving everything. At the middle of the race, I even had a thought 'oh, now maybe I will be able to attack'. But then it was 10 laps to go and the degradation was a bit too hard."