René Rast will race in this weekend’s DTM races on the Hungaroring in his regular race car, after his RS5 was repaired following a huge shunt in the previous round at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz.

Rast was involved in a spectacular end-over-end roll in the first race in Lausitz, ruling him out for the remainder of the weekend and leaving many questioning whether the car could be repaired.

Audi has inspected the carbon fibre monocoque, which remained intact in the shunt. The component is the same for all DTM cars, irrespective of manufacturer.

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The car has been reassembled around the monocoque, with Audi Sport Team Rosberg beginning the process on Wednesday 23 May in preparation for the event in Budapest on 1 – 3 June.

Rast himself is looking forward to the Hungaroring, where he took pole position in both races in 2017 and claimed victory in the second race.

“A race car cannot be any safer than this,” said Rast, who wants to emulate his 2017 form. “The Hungaroring in Budapest has been one of my favourite tracks not only since my first DTM victory in 2017.

“I enjoyed racing in Hungary even before then because it’s a difficult and very challenging track that is always tremendous fun for me.”

Head of Audi Motorsport Dieter Gass is expecting a difficult event in Hungary, with the marque having so far been most impacted by changes to reduce the downforce of DTM cars for 2018.

“Unfortunately, we lost a lot of performance in the areas of aerodynamics and the suspension due to the new regulations,” said Gass. “At Hockenheim and at the Lausitzring, we were struggling as the lap times clearly showed.

“We’re leaving no stone unturned to continuously improve our understanding of the car and to extract the maximum from it. I’m sure it’s also in the fans’ interest if we turn the duel between BMW and Mercedes-Benz back into a three-way battle.”