Di Resta shrugs off first lap incidents

The Mercedes driver appeared to be in contention for the DTM title in a two-year-old car in the early part of the year, but three first lap collisions in the last four races have dropped him down the championship standings.

However, di Resta has taken the positives from the last few races, which included his top three pace at the Norisring, and a podium finish at Mugello where he was able to get through the first lap cleanly.

"It's been a shame, but what can you do?" di Resta told autosport.com. "The important thing for me is that the speed is still there.

"We were very quick at Norisring after the first lap incident, and I was happy with my pace at Zandvoort too."

The reigning Formula Three Euro Series champion was caught up in an incident with Tom Kristensen at Zandvoort, and the Dane was hit by Bruno Spengler while di Resta was on the outside.

"The problem was that my start was almost too good," di Resta added. "I ended up going for fifth position, but I couldn't find a gap to get to the inside, so I was stuck.

"As long as we remember that we're still doing a good job, then there's no reason to start getting too upset."