Bruno Spengler wins DTM race at the Norisring
 The
season highlight of the DTM at the Norisring in Nuremberg
saw Bruno Spengler claiming his first win of the season with
his AMG Mercedes C-Class. After 74 laps at the 2.3 kilometres
short street circuit, the 23-year old crossed the line in
first place ahead of his team-mate Bernd Schneider. The success
at the Norisring is the fifth DTM career win for Spengler,
who clinched his maiden victory in the series at the same
venue one year ago. The podium was completed by Swede, Mattias
Ekström with the Audi A4 DTM. Since the start of the
DTM in 1984, 333 races have been held including today’s
round at Norisring. By finishing second, Bernd Schneider took
over the lead in the championship standings of the DTM at
the halfway point of the season. After five of ten rounds,
the reigning champion is in first place with 25.5 points.
Mattias Ekström is second with 24 points from Martin
Tomczyk (20 points).
The race in detail
Spectators during the weekend: 141,000
Weather conditions: sunny
Air temperature: 25.3 °C
Track temperature: 34.3 °C
Start Spengler takes the lead from Häkkinen, Paffett
inside from Schneider in third place, Lauda, Tomczyk, Stoddart
and di Resta collide at Grundig hairpin. Rockenfeller through
the grass at first corner. Di Resta spins coming out of the
corner.
Lap 1 Tomczyk has dropped down the order, comes into the pits
with damage to the right front part of his car.
Lap 2 Tomczyk retires.
Lap 3 Spengler is leading from Häkkinen, Schneider, Paffett,
Ekström, Scheider, Abt and Kristensen.
Lap 6 Ekström into the pits for his first mandatory stop.
Lap 7 Schneider, Kristensen into the pits, Susie Stoddart's
car is driving without the bonnett after a collsion with Vanina
Ickx at Dutzendteichkehre.
Lap 8 Prémat and Stoddart into the pits.
Lap 9 Green and Carroll into the pits. Stoddart gets a drive-throuh
because of the collsion with Vanina Ickx.
Lap 11 Abt into the pits. Stoddart comes in for her penalty.
Lap 14 Bruno Spengler is two seconds clear from Mika Häkkinen.
Paffett is third from Scheider, La Rosa, Margaritis.
Lap 15 Kristensen and Abt collide at Grundigkehre, both continue.
Paffett into the pits.
Lap 17 Lauda into the pits.
Lap 18 Margaritis into the pits.
Lap 19 Timo Scheider into the pits. Ekström and Paffett
battling for ninth place.
Lap 21 Prémat, Margaritis and Carroll in a three-way
fight, Margaritis overtakes both on the inside. La Rosa into
the pits.
Lap 22 Ickx hits the barriers in the run-up to Grundigkehre
after being hit by Lauda. Race leader Spengler into the pits.
Lap 23 Safety car is deployed, in the field in front of Lauda.
The pitlane is closed.
Lap 24 Luhr into the pits - although the pitlane is closed.
Lap 27 Kristensen and Green into the pits.
Lap 28 Restart. Häkkinen is leading from di Resta, Rockenfeller,
Spengler. Di Resta, Schneider, Ekström, Prémat
into the pits. Ekström re-joins between Schneider and
di Resta.
Lap 29 Paffett and Rockenfeller into the pits. For Paffett,
it is his second pit stop.
Lap 30 Abt into the pits. Drive through penalty for Carroll
because of ignoring blue flags.
Lap 31 La Rosa, Carroll into the pits.
Lap 32 Häkkinen into the pits.
Lap 33 Lauda into the pits. The Austrian is under investigation
by the stewards.
Lap 34 Scheider, Luhr into the pits.
Lap 35 Spengler is leading from Margaritis, Häkkinen,
Schneider, Ekström. Di Resta into the pits.
Lap 37 Halfway through the race, Spengler comes in for his
second pit stop.
Lap 38 Spengler rejoins behind Häkkinen, well ahead of
Bernd Schneider. Warning for Mathias Lauda.
Lap 40 Margaritis leading from Häkkinen, but both still
have to come in for a second stop. Puncture right front for
Timo Scheider.
Lap 44 Di Resta spins at the Grundigkehre after trying to
overtake Carroll. Stoddart into the pits.
Lap 45 Luhr is coming in for his second stop. Now, only Margaritis
and Häkkinen have to make a second stop.
Lap 46 Spengler in third is three seconds clear of Bernd Schneider
in fourth.
Lap 50 Häkkinen into the pits, rejoins in eleventh behind
Lauda.
Lap 52 Margaritis into the pits, rejoins behind la Rosa in
ninth.
Lap 54 Bruno Spengler is leading from Schneider, Ekström,
Paffett, Kristensen, Green, Prémat and Margaritis.
Lap 58 Häkkinen in eleventh place is attacking Christian
Abt for tenth and gets past at Dutzendteich.
Lap 59 Luhr spins at the chicane after being hit by la Rosa,
following a four-way fight with la Rosa, Margaritis, Prémat
and Luhr, although Luhr was one lap down.
Lap 62 La Rosa gets a drive-through penalty because of the
collision with Luhr and comes in. Luhr also in the pits –
retires.
Lap 66 Schneider is closing up on race leader Bruno Spengler,
the gap is only 0.9 seconds, while Ekström is only 1.8
seconds behind Schneider. Carroll into the pits.
Lap 68 Drive through for Daniel la Rosa.
Lap 72 Spengler is leading Schneider by 1.1 seconds, then
another 1.4 seconds down is Ekström in third.
Lap 74 Final lap.
Finish Bruno Spengler claims his first victory of the season
from Schneider, Ekström, Paffett, Kristensen, Green,
Margaritis, Prémat, Häkkinen and Abt.
Spengler celebrating first season victory at Norisring
Bruno Spengler is the winner of the fifth DTM round of the
season. After 74 laps at the Norisring street circuit in Nuremberg,
the Canadian Mercedes-Benz driver was the first driver to
take the chequered flag, waved by former 007-agent Roger Moore.
“This is my first victory this year. I am happy and
I will celebrate today”, the 23-year old said after
opening his winning account for this season. Last year, Spengler
scored a total of four victories after having notched up his
maiden win in the “German Monaco”. Thus, the DTM
fans saw a different winner in each one of the five DTM rounds
held so far this season. Second place went to the winner of
the previous round at Brands Hatch, Bernd Schneider, who was
1.803 seconds down on his fellow-Mercedes-Benz driver at the
finish line. This allowed the record DTM champion to take
the lead in the championship standings for the first time
this season. The winners’ podium was completed by Swedish
Audi driver, Mattias Ekström, who scored six points for
finishing third and is now battling for the title in runner-up
spot behind Schneider. Martin Tomczyk, who had been leading
in the championship before the Norisring round, had to park
his car with damage in the pit box following a collision with
Susie Stoddart and Paul di Resta (both Mercedes-Benz) on the
opening lap.
After heavy rain on Saturday at the Norisring, that is celebrating
its 60th anniversary this year, the second shortest circuit
on the DTM calendar with only 2.3 kilometres presented itself
from the sunny side. 141,000 fans witnessed the fifth DTM
round of the season and saw a race that was largely dominated
by pit stop strategy. The safety car was deployed following
a collision involving Mathias Lauda (Mercedes-Benz) and Vanina
Ickx (Audi) on lap 22. This forced the teams to adapt their
planned strategies to the situation. The victim of this was
crowd favourite Mika Häkkinen with the AMG Mercedes C-Class,
who lost valuable positions after his pit stop because the
field was so closely together. Having started second, Häkkinen
crossed the finish line in ninth place. Gary Paffett benefited
and finished fourth. Paffett already won at the Norisring
in 2004 and 2005.
Second-best Audi driver in the 333rd race of DTM and ITC
was Tom Kristensn in fifth place. The popular Dane made his
comeback in the DTM this weekend after his serious accident
in the Hockenheim season opener. Behind sixth-placed Jamie
Green (Mercedes-Benz), Greek Alexandros Margaritis was delighted
with his seventh place. The Mercedes-Benz driver showed a
good performance, making up eleven positions after having
started 18th. He was followed by Alexandre Prémat (Audi),
Mika Häkkinen and Christian Abt (Audi), who announced
his retirement at the end of the season at the Norisring.
Thus, the lead in the championship is changing again. Bernd
Schneider has 25.5 points ahead of Ekström (24) and Tomczyk
(20). The next DTM racing weekend is taking place in Mugello,
Italy, from July 13th till 15th.
Bruno Spengler (winner, DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG
Mercedes): “This victory was very important.
Now, I am back in the race for the title and I am very happy
with that. In the first four races, I was always close, but
never made it to victory. Today, everything was all right.“
Bernd Schneider (2nd place, Original-Teile AMG Mercedes):
“The outcome of the race is fair, Bruno was simply the
quickest man of the weekend. My car was perfect and towards
the end of the race I could close up to Bruno, but closing
up is one thing, getting past is something different.“
Mattias Ekström (3rd place, Audi Sport Team
Abt Sportsline): “Finishing third after having
started seventh is a good performance. But today, my set-up
was so good that I could even have won. Unfortunately, I was
having problems with the brakes and a few other small things,
so that I am generally happy with the result.“
Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug:
“It was a great, but also a very hard race. With Bruno
Spengler and Bernd Schneider, we have scored a double win,
which is always good. I am especially happy with this win
for Bruno. He is now back in the race for the title in a very
strong way. Congratulations also to Mattias Ekström and
Audi. Now, there are five or six drivers being able to fight
for the title, that is good for the sport. Unfortunately,
Mika Häkkinen became victim of the safety car phase and
thus wasn’t able to use his advantage for a pit stop.
I feel sorry for him because of this. In the race result and
the championship, he isn’t were he could have been,
the performance is there.”
Audi motorsport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich: “Once
again, the Norisring has been a great backdrop for the DTM.
Every year, the atmosphere is impressive. I am really happy
with Mattias Ekström’s good result. Throughout
the race, he had a good pace and a good pit stop strategy.
It is too bad that points leader Martin Tomczyk was out of
the race on the first lap already. Now, we are focussing on
the remainder of the season, that will surely remain exciting.”
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