Bruno Spengler has played down his chances of winning the DTM title this year, despite increasing his championship advantage with a runner-up spot at the Nurburgring last weekend.
The HWA Mercedes driver opened up a seven-point series lead over Audi man Martin Tomczyk with his second-place finish, and has just four races in which to defend his lead.
Spengler, however, was in an even stronger position last year, and still ended up finishing behind his team-mates Paul di Resta and Gary Paffett in the final reckoning. He is keeping a lid on his expectations for now.
"I don't feel any different, I'm not thinking about last year," he told AUTOSPORT. "To be honest, I don't remember how it was at this point last year, how I was thinking at this point or how confident I was.
"I feel we have a chance to win, but there is still a long way to go. Four races is 40 points and that requires a lot of hard work. I just have to keep my feet on the ground at every race and do my best."
Spengler spent 47 laps behind Mike Rockenfeller's Abt Audi at the Nurburgring, but inherited second place when his rival locked up and ran wide on the penultimate lap at Turn 1.
"That was a bit of a surprise," he added. "Rocky doesn't normally do mistakes, so it was unexpected. It didn't take me long to think about how good it was for me with the points.
"I think I had the pace to win [at the Nurburgring] and if I'd been able to pass Rocky, I could have been closer to [winner] Mattias [Ekstrom], but it is very difficult to overtake. It's a good result."
