Häkkinen flies from 15th on the grid to DTM victory
at Mugello
The asphalt was glowing at Mugello during the sixth DTM
round of the season. With air temperatures of almost 40 degrees,
the spectators got to see a turbulent race with an overjoyed
Mika Häkkinen (FIN), who went on to win the race after
a great recovery from 15th place on the grid. It was the second
victory of the season for the Mercedes-Benz driver. “It
was a fantastic race and it was great fun”, the 38-year
old Finn said, delighted but visibly affected by the heat.
Second place went to Mattias Ekström (S) with the Audi
A4 DTM, who started from pole position. At the finish line,
he was 0.371 seconds down on Häkkinen. The Swede scored
eight championship points for his race result and thus took
over the lead in the drivers’ standings. Third place
in the race at the longest circuit on the DTM calendar (5.245
kilometres) was occupied by Paul di Resta. With his 2005-spec
AMG Mercedes C-Class, the Scot climbed up from twelfth on
the grid to finish on the podium.
An early second pit stop and a safety car phase at the right
time brought valuable points in the championship for Häkkinen
at Mugello. Shortly after his fellow Mercedes-Benz driver,
Alexandros Margaritis, had slid off the track into the gravel
trap, the former Formula 1 world champion made his second
mandatory pit stop on lap 13. The safety car was deployed
and led the field for three laps on the Autodromo Internazionale
del Mugello. During this time, on lap 15, all other drivers
came in for their second pit stop. Häkkinen, who had
already completed his two mandatory stops, stayed on the track,
overtook the entire field and took the lead that he wasn’t
to lose anymore until the 33 lap race was over.
For Audi, the race didn’t go as planned. Having started
from first through fifth place, only the new points leader
Ekström was able to use his favourable grid position.
Problems during the pit stop made Tom Kristensen (DK), who
had started second, drop back to eighth. Martin Tomczyk (D)
and Timo Scheider (D), who had started from third and fourth
place respectively, were early retirements. The three Audi
drivers Christian Abt (D), Mike Rockenfeller (D) and Alexandre
Prémat (F) set their fastest sector times under yellow
and were given a drive-through-penalty as a result. Behind
the Mercedes-Benz duo of Bruno Spengler (C) and Daniel la
Rosa (D), Rockenfeller finished sixth while fellow Audi-driver
Prémat was seventh. Abt retired after a collision.
Markus Winkelhock finished a considerable ninth. The son
of Manfred Winkelhock only took over the cockpit previously
occupied by Adam Carroll at Audi’s customer team, Futurecom
TME. Susie Stoddart was also happy with her result: for the
Mercedes-Benz lady racer, tenth place was her best finish
of the season so far.
In the battle for the title, Ekström is leading with
32 points. His closest rivals are Schneider at 25.5 and Spengler
at 22 points. After his victory, Häkkinen is fifth with
20 points, just behind his fellow Mercedes-Benz driver, Di
Resta. The seventh DTM round of the season will be taking
place at Zandvoort in The Netherlands from July 27th till
29th.
Mika Häkkinen (winner, AMG Mercedes C-Class):
“It was a fantastic race and it was great fun. Before
the race, I told an acquaintance: You know, I see a chance
of winning today. And now look: here I am on the top step
of the podium. Life is just amazing. Anyone who doesn’t
give up, gets the reward.”
Mattias Ekström (2nd place, Audi Sport Team
Abt Sportsline): “I am very happy with my performance
and my car. I had a good start and good pit stops, but I was
unlucky with the safety car phase. I didn’t risk everything
to attack Mika, as the track was very slippery and dirty off
the ideal line. The points for the title and the lead in the
championship were important.”
Paul di Resta (3rd place, JAWA4U.de AMG Mercedes
C-Class): “When anyone would have told me before
today’s race that I would finish third, surely I wouldn’t
have believed it. The safety car phase helped me a lot to
get up to the front. My team has done a perfect job during
the pit stops. Three podium finishes from six races are almost
too good to believe.“
Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug: “This
really was a crazy race. I had never expected Mika Häkkinen
being able to win from 15th place on the grid. He has shown
a fantastic performance. At the Norisring, he was the loser
of the safety car phase, here he is the winner. He really
has deserved this win. I feel sorry for Audi as they would
have deserved a better result, because in fact, they were
superior. Only Mattias Ekström can be happy. He is now
leading the championship by six and a half points. That is
a comfortable margin in the DTM.”
Audi motorsport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich:
“I am happy that Mattias Ekström finished second,
has scored points and is leading the championship. Of course,
I am not really happy with the race result in general. Although
we still were having a good speed, we just weren’t good
enough. We have made too many little errors. But now, this
day is behind us and we are looking ahead.”
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