Tomczyk leading Audi-quartet to victory at Zandvoort
Zandvoort. For the second time in his DTM-career, Martin
Tomczyk (Audi) crossed the finish line as a race winner. The
German, having started from third position, won the seventh
DTM round at Zandvoort in The Netherlands after 38 laps from
his fellow Audi drivers, Alexandre Prémat, Mattias
Ekström and Timo Scheider. Bruno Spengler was the best-placed
driver with an AMG Mercedes C-Class in fifth place. Six points
for third place allowed Ekström to extend his lead in
the championship standings. Tomczyk now moved up into second
(30 points) ahead of Spengler (26 points). Bernd Schneider
(25.5 points), who was second in the points coming to Zandvoort,
failed to score any points after finishing twelfth and dropped
back to fourth in the championship standings. An extensive
press release with quotes from the drivers and the motorsport
directors will follow shortly.
The race in detail
Weather conditons: bright to overcast
Air temperature: 17.0 °C
Track temperature: 17.3 °C
12.59 Daniel la Rosa is not on the grid. After a technical
problem, the German is starting from the pit lane. Markus
Winkelhock's car is being pushed from the grid into the pit
lane
Start Kristensen has problems getting away, Scheider is taking
the lead but Ekström goes through on the inside through
Tarzan.
Lap 1 Di Resta spins after a collision with Kristensen at
Tarzan. Ekström is leading from Scheider, Tomczyk, Prémat,
Rockenfeller and Spengler
Lap 2 Tom Kristensen has dropped back to twelfth while Markus
Winkelhock has made up a lot of places and is already eleventh
after having started last on the grid. Kristensen overtakes
Winkelhock and is now eleventh
Lap 5 Lucas Luhr runs wide at Gerlach and loses 16th place
to Jamie Green
Lap 6 Ekström is leading by 0.5 seconds from Scheider,
Tomczyk, Prémat, Rockenfeller, Spengler, Abt, Margaritis,
Paffett and Häkkinen. Spengler, Abt, Margaritis, Winkelhock
and Luhr are the first drivers coming in for their first mandatory
pit stops
Lap 7 Abt and Spengler leave the pit lane side by side, Abt
goes through. Tomczyk, Prémat, Paffett, Häkkinen
into the pits
Lap 8 Häkkinen leaves the pitlane just ahead of Paffett
and gains one position
Lap 9 Timo Scheider into the pits. Warning for Christian Abt
because of dangerous manoeuvre
Lap 11 Tomczyk and Di Resta side by side, but the Scot stays
in front
Lap 12 Di Resta is holding up Tomczyk, Prémat and Scheider,
who are much faster, but can't get past. Prémat comes
in for his second stop
Lap 13 Tomczyk into the pits for his second stop. Also pit
stops for Spengler and Häkkinen. For the two Mercedes-Benz
drivers, it is also their second stop
Lap 14 Race leader Ekström into the pits, Schneider,
Abt and Di Resta into the pits as well.
Lap 15 Ekström's pit stop takes 9.6 seconds
Lap 16 Kristensen and Rockenfeller into the pits. Christian
Abt is under investigation by the stewards
Lap 16 Green, Scheider into the pits
Lap 17 Ekström locks up under braking while trying to
overtake Susie Stoddart. Ekström into the pits for his
second stop.
Lap 18 Lauda and Stoddart are now first and second, but they
still have to come in for their first stop. Margaritis, Rockenfeller,
Winkelhock into the pits
Lap 19 Paffett, Schneider and Luhr into the pits
Lap 20 Kristensen into the pits
Lap 21 Kristensen and Schneider side by side, the two tangle,
Schneider loses his outside rearview mirror
Lap 22 Lauda into the pits
Lap 23 Margaritis and Winkelhock under investigation. Di Resta
and Stoddart into the pits
Lap 24 There is a massive problem with the left rear wheel
during Susie Stoddart's pit stop
Lap 25 Green is leading, but he has made just one pit stop
so far. Behind him are Tomczyk, Prémat, Spengler, Scheider,
Abt, Häkkinen, Ekström, Margaritis and Paffett all
with two stops
Lap 27 Green into the pits
Lap 28 Green rejoins in 13th place behind Schneider
Lap 29 Tomczyk is leading from Prémat, Spengler, Scheider,
Abt, Häkkinen, Ekström and Margaritis
Lap 30 Green overtakes Schneider under braking for Tarzan
and gets past. Lauda into the pits
Lap 32 Fourth-placed Timo Scheider is right on the tail of
Bruno Spengler's car. Prémat and Tomczyk briefly swap
positions, but Tomczyk stays in front
Lap 33 Prémat overtakes Tomczyk at Scheivlak, leading
the race. Kristensen into the pits, retires after earlier
contact with Schneider. Ekström has overtaken Häkkinen
and is now sixth
Lap 34 Scheider attacking Spengler for third. Abt lets Ekström
through, the Swede is now fifth
Lap 36 Scheider has overtaken Spengler at Hunserug after several
attempts and a lot of wheelbanging. The German is now third
Lap 37 Ekström has closed the gap to fourth-placed Spengler
Lap 38 Final lap. Ekström overtakes Spengler at the Masters
corner and takes fourth place. Tomczyk takes victory from
Prémat, Ekström, Scheider, Spengler, Abt, Häkkinen,
Margaritis
Final on the main straight: Tomczyk wins DTM thriller
Zandvoort. A heart-stopping final in front of 74,500 spectators
in the seventh DTM race of the season at Zandvoort in The
Netherlands. After exciting duels between the two Audi drivers
Alexandre Prémat with his year-old car and Martin Tomczyk,
Prémat looked on course for victory. But only a few
yards before crossing the finish line, his German fellow Audi
driver Tomczyk still found a way past the 25-year old and
thus claimed his first DTM victory of the season. “I
dedicate this win to my late grandfather”, Tomczyk said,
moved by the second victory of his DTM career.
The battle for third place brought thrilling position fights
between various drivers as well. Mattias Ekström from
Sweden, the leader in the points’ standings, first overtook
Mercedes-Benz driver Bruno Spengler for fourth on the last
two laps and then went on to claim what would have been the
maiden podium finish for fellow Audi driver Timo Scheider
(D), also just before the finish. Thus, the 29-year old maintained
the lead in the points’ standings with 38 points. Because
of his success of today, Tomczyk is now his main rival in
the battle for the title, eight points down. Spengler is third
with 26 points.
40-year old Christian Abt (D) finished sixth with his Audi
A4 DTM on his final DTM appearance at Zandvoort. The driver
from Kempten will end his DTM-career at the end of this season.
Finnish Mercedes-Benz driver Mika Häkkinen failed to
repeat his success from the previous race in Mugello, Italy.
The former Formula 1 world champion had a hot fight with Ekström
but had to let the Swede past on lap 33. Häkkinen finished
seventh. The crowd’s favourite was followed home by
fellow Mercedes-Benz driver Alexandros Margaritis (GRE), who
scored one more championship point by finishing eighth. The
winner of 2005, Gary Paffett (GB) and Mike Rockenfeller (D)
completed the top ten. The race on the North Sea coast ran
over a distance of 38 laps, equalling 163.666 kilometres.
The eighth DTM round of the season will be taking part at
the Nürburgring in the Eifel from August 31st till September
2nd.
Martin Tomczyk (winner, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline):
“A great car, a great strategy and good teamwork, that
was the key to success today. Great thanks to Alexandre Prémat
who let me pass at the end, allowing me to score important
points in the battle for the title.”
Alexandre Prémat (2nd place, Audi Sport Team
Phoenix): “Today, it was a very hard race.
The strategy was the decisive factor. The decision to let
Martin win was made all my myself as he is needing the points
more than I and I don’t have any chance of winning the
title. That was classic team work.”
Mattias Ekström (3rd place, Audi Sport Team
Abt Sportsline): “I had a very good race today
with a constantly good car. It was real fun. I had nice fights
with Mika Häkkinen and Bruno Spengler that I managed
to decide in my favour.”
Bruno Spengler (5th place, DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG
Mercedes): “My team has dome a tremendous job.
Very quick pit stop and a good strategy brought me all the
way up to third place in the race. At the pit lane exit, I
was pushed towards the pit wall by Christian Abt, that was
a very dangerous situation for the marshals standing there.
Later omin the race Timo Scheider drove into my car a couple
of times, damaging the aerodynamics on the left rear. He just
kept pushing me until he could overtake me. Generally, this
race wasn’t fair. Of course it is helpful that we will
have ten kilograms less on board at the Nürburgring.
And eventually, we will see what the situation will be like
in the championship.”
Audi motorsport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich: “Once
again, it was an impressive race weekend at Zandvoort. In
spite of the weather, that wasn’t too good, many spectators
came to watch. Yesterday in qualifying we have shown a very
good team performance and we were able to repeat that today
in the race. It was a hard and exciting race that ended with
a very good result for us. The fact that Alexandre Prémat
and Timo Scheider decided by themselves to let Martin Tomczyk
and Mattias Ekström through was also part of the team
work. This was no decision made by us. Even though the Nürburgring
is not exactly an Audi circuit, I am now looking forward to
the next round in Germany because in fact, Hockenheim wasn’t
an Audi circuit either, and we still won the season opener
there.”
Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug:
“Surely it will not come as a surprise that my impression
of the race is much different than Dr. Ullrich’s. Bruno
Spengler was well underway towards second place. But firstly
Christian Abt ran into his car in the pit lane and later on
in the race, it was Timo Scheider. I totally accept tough
races. But what we have seen on the track here today certainly
wasn’t what we at Mercedes-Benz want. This behaviour
wasn’t correct and in fact we do not want to be forced
to take revenge in the same way. Of course, we like to win,
but we are also good losers at the same time. After all, we
have seen how a large share of the spectators has reacted
during the prize-giving ceremony. My verdict about the race
is that it was too much and therefore not right. I am happy
with the lap times in the race as they were absolutely competitive.
Our speed was good, too.”
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