Augusto Farfus says he has nothing to lose in DTM title fight

The Brazilian won last time out at Oschersleben, adding to his victory at the Hockenheim season-opener, to become the only man that can still deny championship leader Rockenfeller the crown.

Farfus is 33 points adrift of his Audi driver in the title race with eight of the DTM's 10 rounds gone.

With 50 points still available from the final two races, he must finish at least two places ahead of Rockenfeller this weekend to take the battle down to a final-round shootout.

Farfus, whose last championship crown came in Euro 3000 in 2004, said: "I have nothing to lose and come into the weekend fully motivated to win."

The RBM driver was the victim of a strategy miscue by his team that left him 20th on the grid at Zandvoort last year, but fought back to finish ninth in a rain-affected race.

He is certain of a stronger performance this year, but believes that making his tyres last will be key to securing a top result.

"Tyres have been a huge factor this year and how long each driver makes them last will be very important," Farfus said.

"Zandvoort is one of the most aggressive circuits on tyres, so you can only win if your race strategy is perfect."

BMW motorsport director Jens Marquardt praised Farfus's efforts so far, but is more concerned with ensuring that the manufacturer repeats its 2012 achievement of winning the manufacturers' title.

"It's fantastic that, in Augusto, we have the only driver who, along with Mike Rockenfeller, can still win the championship," Marquardt said.

"But we want to defend our manufacturers' title and we must make sure we get a better all-round result than at Oschersleben [where Farfus was the only BMW driver inside the top 12] to do this."

TITLE PERMUTATIONS

Farfus will take the title fight to the Hockenheim season finale on October 20 if:

• He wins with Rockenfeller no better than third
• He finishes second with Rockenfeller no better than fifth
• He finishes third with Rockenfeller no better than seventh
• He finishes fourth with Rockenfeller no better than eighth
• He finishes fifth with Rockenfeller no better than ninth
• He finishes sixth with Rockenfeller not scoring

AUTOSPORT will broadcast live video of both the race and qualifying from the Zandvoort DTM event this weekend. You can catch all the qualifying and race action from 1.30pm BST on Saturday and 12.30pm on Sunday.