Mika Häkkinen wins his second DTM race
For the second time in his DTM career, Mika Häkkinen
(Mercedes-Benz) was on the top step of the winners’
podium: after the third DTM season round at the EuroSpeedway
Lausitz, the Finn crossed the finish line as the winner with
his AMG Mercedes C-Class. Häkkinen had celebrated his
maiden DTM victory in 2005 at Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium).
Second place in a turbulent race with two safety car interventions
was occupied by his fellow Mercedes-Benz-driver Paul di Resta
with the 2005-spec AMG Mercedes C-Class. The success for Mercedes-Benz
was completed by Canadian Bruno Spengler, who came home third.
German Timo Scheider scored the best result for Audi with
his Audi A4 DTM by finishing fifth behind Bernd Schneider.
The remaining points’ scoring positions were occupied
by Jamie Green, Mathias Lauda and Gary Paffett (all Mercedes-Benz).
His second podium finish in his third DTM race allowed Paul
di Resta to take the lead in the drivers’ standings.
The Scotsman is now in front with 20 points ahead of Martin
Tomczyk (Audi), Gary Paffett (Mercedes-Benz) and Mattias Ekström
(Audi), who are all tied at twelve points. An extensive press
release with quotes from the drivers and motorsport directors
will follow shortly.
The race in detail
Spectators over the weekend: 77,500
Air temperature: 28.5 °C
Asphalt temperature: 40.4 °C
Start Spengler takes the lead from Hökkinen and Di Resta.
Prémat into fourth, Lauda stalls at the start. Häkkinen
into the lead at the first corner, Di Resta through into second,
Spengler is now third. Abt spins, Margaritis stalls and drops
back to last
Lap 1 Häkkinen is leading from Di Resta, Spengler, Schneider,
Prémat, Green, Paffett, Ekström, La Rosa and Tomczyk
Lap 2 Häkkinen is leading by 2.0 seconds over Spengler,
Di Resta is third
Lap 3 Spengler outbrakes Di Resta before the first corner
and takes second place
Lap 5 Bernd Schneider has overtaken Di Resta and is now third
Lap 6 Green is the first driver to come in for his first mandatory
pit stop, Carroll also into the pits
Lap 9 Spengler is closing up on Häkkinen, he is now 1.2
seconds down on the Finn. La Rosa into the pits
Lap 10 Abt into the pits. Drive through penalty for Mathias
Lauda
Lap 12 La Rosa and Winkelhock slightly collide, La Rosa gets
through. Lauda into the pits for his penalty
Lap 13 Tomczyk into the pits
Lap 14 Winkelhock into the tyre barrier coming into the oval
after contact with Lauda. Stoddart into the pits
Lap 16 Paffett, Rockenfeller into the pits.
Lap 17 Safety car. Ekström into the pits, pit lane is
closed, but he is being released once the field has gone past
Lap 18 Spengler, Prémat, Scheider, Green, La Rosa,
Lauda, Abt into the pits. Scheider and Prémat past
Spengler at the pit lane exit
Lap 19 Schneider, Paffett, Stoddart, Rockenfeller, Ickx into
the pits
Lap 20 Häkkinen, Di Resta, Tomczyk, Prémat into
the pits.
Lap 21 Spengler, Schneider, Ekström, Lauda into the pits
Lap 22 Häkkinen, Di Resta into the pits
Lap 23 Safety car in at the end of this lap. Luhr into the
pits
Lap 24 Restart. Häkkinen is leading from Di Resta and
Spengler. Prémat and Paffett tangle on the main straight,
Prémat straight at first corner, left front side of
his car heavily damaged
Lap 28 Scheider, Carroll and Ickx are the only drivers that
have not yet completed two pit stops. Carroll and Green collide,
Carroll spins
Lap 31 Safety car. Scheider, Carroll into the pits
Lap 34 Safety car into the pits at the end of this lap. Häkkinen
is leading from Di Resta, Spengler, Ekström, Schneider,
Lauda, Scheider, Green, La Rosa, Tomczyk. Ickx into the pits
Lap 35 Restart
Lap 37 Fourth-placed Ekström, who has already made two
mandatory stops, has to make one extra pit stop due to an
infringement of the pit stop regulations
Lap 40 Ekström into the pits for his penalty stop, during
which the four tyres are changed. He gets back into the field
in 13th
Lap 42 The current standings: Häkkinen is leading from
Di Resta, Spengler, Schneider, Scheider, Green, Lauda, La
Rosa, Tomczyk and Abt
Lap 44 Abt into the pits after clipping the tyre barrier -
retires
Lap 48 Final lap. Häkkinen scores his second DTM victory
from Di Resta, Spengler, Schneider, Scheider, Green, Lauda,
Paffett, Tomczyk and Ekström. La Rosa into the pits
The Finn is flying again: victory for Häkkinen
at Lausitz
Klettwitz. Finnish Mercedes-Benz driver Mika Häkkinen
claimed victory in a very turbulent DTM race at the EuroSpeedway
Lausitz, where he won with a great tactical performance. For
the former Formula 1 world champion, this success was his
second victory in the most popular international touring car
series. “I am feeling great. The performance of my new
C-Class was fantastic”, the 38-year old said after winning
the race. The “Flying Finn” celebrated his second
DTM success two years after his maiden win at Spa-Francorchamps
almost to the day. Second place went to Paul di Resta from
Scotland with the 2005-spec AMG Mercedes C-Class. With a total
of 20 points, the 21-year old newcomer is now leading the
points’ standings. The three-way success for Mercedes-Benz
on Sunday was completed by Canadian Bruno Spengler, who had
started from pole position. A total of 77,500 motorsport fans
attended the DTM racing weekend at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz.
Two safety car interventions made the third DTM round of
the year to a race that was dominated by tactics. The ideal
pit stop strategy of Häkkinen’s team eventually
contributed to the 137th victory for Mercedes-Benz in the
DTM. Paul di Resta had an equally good strategy that allowed
him to score points for the third time in a row. Bruno Spengler
was beaten at the start and dropped two places.
Fifth place in the Lausitz behind DTM record champion and
last year’s winner Bernd Schneider went to Timo Scheider.
The best-placed Audi driver of the day benefited from the
safety car interventions and climbed up from tenth on the
grid to finish fifth. He was followed by a Mercedes-Benz-trio
with Jamie Green (GB), Matthias Lauda (A) and Gary Paffett
(GB). The top ten was completed by the two Audi A4 DTMs of
Martin Tomczyk and Mattias Ekström. The Swede came in
for his first mandatory pit stop while running fourth. Exacrly
at that time, the pit lane exit was closed because the safety
car was deployed, so that the 28-year old had to wait at the
end of the pit lane until the entire field had gone past.
New points’ leader, Paul di Resta (20 points) is followed
by Ekström, Paffet and Tomczyk , all tied at twelve points.
The fourth DTM round of the season is taking place at Brands
Hatch (GB) on June 10th.
Mika Häkkinen (winner, AMG Mercedes):
“I am feeling great. It was a very interesting weekend.
The performance of my new C-Class was fantastic. Being in
the middle of the podium surrounded by my team mates is wonderful.”
Paul di Resta (2nd place, JAWA4U.de AMG Mercedes):
“I had an extraordinary race. Especially in qualifying,
my car was excellent. In the race, I had a few minor problems,
but the result is absolutely okay. Now I am leading the points’
standings coming to Brands Hatch. I would never ever have
dreamt about that. I hope that there will be many British
fans out there to support me in my home race.”
Bruno Spengler (3rd place, DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG
Mercedes): “That is a good result after a difficult
race. During the turbulent phases of the race, my team has
been doing a tremendous job and always kept a clear view of
what was going on. Now I am back in the race for the title.”
Timo Scheider (5th place, Audi Sport Team Abt):
“My race was okay. There was a lot of radio contact
and at certain times, I didn’t know what was going on
myself. But obviously we have made the right decisions. Our
lack of speed in yesterday’s qualifying didn’t
come as a surprise to us and our strategy for the race was
to keep the damage as limited as possible. In the end, we
succeeded quite well in doing so by finishing fifth. We can
be happy with that. Eventually, every point counts.”
Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug:
“Surely, it was an action-packed race. Nobody can complain
about that. Victory for Mika Häkkinen is well desverved.
It is nice that he has won again after two years almost to
the day. He is in a very good shape. Bruno Spengler was in
contention for victory as well. But mainly I would like to
emphasise on the performance by the team. That the older cars
are still working perfectly has been proven in an impressive
way by Paul di Resta. He is a little bit like Lewis Hamilton
in Formula 1 and now also leading the points’ standings
in the DTM. But you have to score as many points as possible
after a grid line-up like we had today and here, we have succeeded
in doing so after two races in which things didn’t go
that well for us. Audi could have been better when they would
have had the same weight. But the season is still long and
I think that it will remain exciting for quite a long time,
too.”
Audi motorsport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich:
“First of all, my sincere congratulations to Mika Häkkinen,
Mercedes-Benz has just shown a great performance here. But
I also like to make a compliment to our team, our cars got
some more speed compared to qualifying. All in all, it was
a turbulent race. In the next season round, our cars from
this year will be lighter, so we are looking forward. The
decision that Mattias Ekström had to come in for another
pit stop is right according to the regulations. Throughout
the race, we were having technical problems during radio contact
with Mattias. That is also why he came into the pits although
the pit lane was closed.”
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