Double victory for Audi at Hockenheim DTM season opener
In bright sunshine in the Kurpfalz region, 101,000 spectators
enjoyed an action-packed DTM season opener at the Hockenheimring.
Mattias Ekström is the first winner of the 2007 season.
The Swedish Audi driver and 2004 DTM champion scored his tenth
victory in the DTM, the 40th win for Auzdi in the most popular
international touring car series. “My tenth victory
in the DTM certainly is a reason to celebrate tonight”,
Ekström said about his first place. Audi won a DTM race
at the Hockenheimring for the first time since April 2002.
Exactly 3.826 seconds behind Ekström, German Martin Tomczyk
crossed the finish line and completed the double victory for
Audi. Daniel La Rosa claimed the third and final slot on the
podium with his AMG Mercedes C-Class. La Rosa moved up one
place after having finished fourth. The stewards judged a
collision on the final lap between pole-sitter Bruno Spengler
(Mercedes-Benz) in third and fourth-placed Audi driver Timo
Scheider as avoidable. Spengler was given a 50 seconds’
time penalty and thus was classified 14th.
Just after the start into the first season round of the DTM,
all spectators held their breath. Seven times’ record
Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen spun with his Audi A4 DTM after
tangling with fellow Audi driver Timo Scheider. Alexandre
Prémat approached at high speed and couldn’t
avoid the collision, hitting Kristensen’s car on the
driver’s side. Both drivers were conscious and able
to talk, but were still taken to the medical centre for observation.
There, Prémat was diagnosed to have a cracked lumber
vertebra, which, according to information of the doctors,
will not cause any remaining injuries. Tom Kristensen remained
unscathed. Their fellow Audi driver Adam Carroll and Scottish
lady racer Susie Stoddart (Mercedes-Benz) were also involved
in the accident and retired. The race continued after an interruption.
After the restart, there were several position changes in
the lead. The eventual winner, Mattias Ekström, benefited
from an optimal pit stop stragey. The Swede opted for two
very early stops and thus laid the foundation for his success.
After racing had resumed, Bruno Spengler was second for a
long time, but then had a technical problem and had to let
Tomczyk past. On the final lap, Spengler got involved in the
aforementioned collision.
Driving his AMG Mercedes C-Class, newcomer Paul di Resta
caused a positive surprise. With his two-year old car, the
Scot came home fifth in his maiden DTM race, following home
his fellow Mercedes drivers Daniel La Rosa and Alexandros
Margaritis. After the restart, the 21-year old even was in
the lead, but he lost valuable positions following problems
with his pit stops. Reigning DTM champion Bernd Schneider
(Mercedes-Benz) finished seventh, fellow Mercedes-driver Mika
Häkkinen came tenth. Thus, there were seven Mercedes-Benz
cars in the top ten.
In the point standings, Mattias Ekström is leading with
ten points from Martin Tomczyk (8) and Daniel La Rosa (6).
The second DTM race of the year will take place at the Motorsport
Arena Oschersleben on May 6.
Mattias Ekström (winner, Audi Sport Team Abt
Sportsline): “My tenth victory in the DTM certainly
is a reason to celebrate tonight. Today, everything was just
perfect: a perfect car, a perfect strategy, perfect pit stops,
a perfect day. It can continue like this. With all pleasure,
I hope that Tom and Alex are well, too.”
Martin Tomczyk (2nd place, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline):
“The qualifying result already showed that we can be
among the front runners. That it even was a double win at
Hockenheim, is just great. Tonight, we will have a decent
party.”
Daniel La Rosa (3rd place, TrekStor AMG-Mercedes):
“Actually, fourth place was already a massive
success for me and a reason to celebrate. Too bad for Bruno
that he had his third place taken away. It means one extra
point for me, but I don’t really like getting points
attributed to me afterwards.”
Audi-Motorsportchef Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich:
”According to the regulations, the DTM cars are at a
very high safety standard. Still, it is always bad when we
have to prove that. I have been speeking to both of the drivers.
It is usual that they are being taken to hospital for further
checks in a case like that and I hope that we will be back
for the next race with the entire crew. This victory has been
a long time coming. Mercedes-Benz has been very strong with
the new C-Class. Nevertheless, we have managed to win here
with the A4. I am all the more happy that it was a double
win. At Hockenheim, we always have been struggling and in
fact, I don’t know why. Maybe this is a good omen that
it will work for us at the Norisring, too. I am not surprised
by the fact that Mattias Ekström and Martin Tomczyk are
on top. Both are well motivated and went to great length in
their preparations. There is no way to be fitter and more
motivated before a season.”
Mercedes-Benz-Motorsportchef Norbert Haug:
„First of all congratulations to Audi for this double
win, that is very much the result of strategy. The most important
thing, however, is that Tom Kristensen and Alexandre Prémat
will be all right. The first indications for a good outcome
are there. Surely, it was a heavy impact and an accident that
nobody wants to see happening. The cars are very safe, but
when the impact happens from the side, the forces are just
incredible. According to me, the drivers that came up from
behind had no way to avoid the collision and thus it was a
racing accident. Audi’s strategy was very good, but
it is always a little bit easier when you are attacking. We
were running comfortably and at a good speed and when Martin
Tomczyk locked up, we took the lead. However, in traffic,
we couldn’t keep the pace up and on top of that, making
pit stops wouldn’t have made sense. We were a little
bit unfortunate. All in all, the field was very well balanced.
Third to ninth place is a result I can live with. We have
won here nine times, we didn’t manage a tenth time.”
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