DTM returnee Gary Paffett wins at Oschersleben
Gary Paffett (Mercedes-Benz) is back: the 2005 DTM champion
scored his first win of the season in the Motorsport Arena
Oschersleben. With his 2006-spec AMG Mercedes C-Class, the
Brit crossed the line after 44 laps ahead of his fellow Mercedes-Benz
driver Paul Di Resta. Mike Rockenfeller completed the podium
in third place with his 2006-spec Audi A4 DTM. “Rocky”
claimed third place on the penultimate lap as he overtook
Mika Häkkinen, who was third up to that point. After
the collision with Rockenfeller, the Finn dropped back to
17th. Best-placed driver with a current Audi model was Timo
Scheider in fourth while Bernd Schneider was sixth with the
fastest new C-Class. In the drivers’ standings, there
are three drivers jointly in the lead after two of ten rounds:
Martin Tomczyk (Audi), Paul Di Resta (Mercedes-Benz) and Mattias
Ekström (Audi) each have 12 points.
The race in detail
Spectators over the weekend: 63,000
Air temperature: 25.0 °C
Asphalt temperature: 34.7 °C
Start Schneider stalls due to clutch problem. Rockenfeller
takes the lead from Ekström, Häkkinen, Spengler
and Paffett, who has caught up from eighth.
Lap 1 Drive through penalty for Mattias Ekström for jump
start. Häkkinen attacks Ekström for second, but
runs wide and remains third. Ekström into the pits for
his penalty.
Lap 4 Rockenfeller is leading with 1.6 seconds over Häkkinen.
Spengler is third from Paffett, Scheider, Abt, Green, Di Resta,
Margaritis and Tomczyk.
Lap 6 Paffett, Green, Tomczyk, Carroll and Schneider are coming
in for their first pit stop. Häkkinen is making up 0.5
second per lap on Rockenfeller.
Lap 8 Rockenfeller's margin over Häkkinen is only 0.4
seconds.
Lap 9 Scheider into the pits.
Lap 11 La Rosa and Luhr battling for eighth place, La Rosa
gets past. Häkkinen into the pits. Rejoins in 15th behind
Paffett.
Lap 12 Spengler into the pits, rejoins in 18th behind Tomczyk.
Lap 13 Rockenfeller into the pits, rejoins in 14th behind
Häkkinen.
Lap 14 Ekström into the pits.
Lap 15 Green and Ickx collide while Green tries to overtake
the Belgian coming out of the first corner. Abt, Luhr, Häkkinen
into the pits. For Häkkinen, it is his second pit stop.
Spengler into the pits, retires
Lap 16 Di Resta, Schneider into the pits.
Lap 17 Paffett and Werner battling for sixth, Paffett goes
through. Reason for retirement Spengler is a problem with
the power steering.
Lap 18 Margaritis, Biela into the pits.
Lap 19 Drive through penalty for Jamie Green for pushing another
car (Vanina Ickx). Werner, Tomczyk into the pits.
Lap 20 Stoddart, Green into the pits.
Lap 21 Rockenfeller into the pits, rejoins just behind Häkkinen.
Lap 22 Lauda, Green into the pits.
Lap 23 La Rosa into the pits.
Lap 26 Margaritis into the pits.
Lap 27 Ekström and Abt into the pits.
Lap 28 Carroll, Luhr, La Rosa into the pits.
Lap 29 Paffett into the pits, 4.8 seconds. Retains the lead
ahead of Häkkinen, Rockenfeller, Scheider. Stoddart into
the box.
Lap 32 Lauda into the pits.
Lap 33 Biela into the pits.
Lap 34 Di Resta into the pits, rejoins in second behind Paffett,
ahead of Häkkinen
Lap 35 Order after the pit stops: Paffett is leading from
Di Resta, Häkkinen, Rockenfeller, Scheider, Tomczyk.
Lap 36 Werner into the pits.
Lap 40 Paffett's margin over Di Resta is 5.7 seconds, Rockenfeller
is 0.7 seconds behind third-placed Häkkinen.
Lap 41 Stoddart spins, off the track, continues.
Lap 42 Biela off the track, continues.
Lap 43 Rockenfeller attacks Häkkinen for third and overtakes
him, but loses a rear bodywork part of his Audi. Häkkinen
has a puncture right rear. Häkkinen into the pits.
Lap 44 Finish. Gary Paffett wins from Paul di Resta and Mike
Rockenfeller. Timo Scheider is fourth, Martin Tomczyk fifth,
Bernd Schneider sixth. Ekström overtakes Margaritis for
seventh on the final lap.
Heartbeat final in Oschersleben DTM round
Oschersleben. 63,000 spectators watched an action-packed
racing weekend in the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. With
his 2006-spec AMG Mercedes C-Class, Briton Gary Paffett won
as the result of an optimal pit stop strategy in the region
near Magdeburg. Thus, Paffett won in his second DTM round
after returning from Formula 1, his tenth victory in the most
popular international touring car series. “Just great.
Today, I had an excellent start, a brilliant strategy, perfect
pit stops and a clear run almost all the time”, the
26-year old explained. The drivers in second and third place
were both on the DTM podium for the first time. Paul di Resta
(Mercedes-Benz) from Scotland confirmed his strong performance
from the Hockenheim season opener by finishing second with
his two-year old car. Third place went to German Mike Rockenfeller
with his year-old Audi A4 DTM.
The second DTM round of the season ended with a bang. Behind
winner Gary Paffett and Paul di Resta, there was a fierce
battle for third place going on for many laps between Mika
Häkkinen with the AMG Mercedes C-Class and newcomer Mike
Rockenfeller. Until lap 43, the former Formula 1 world champion
kept 23-year old Rockenfeller at bay. On the penultimate lap,
“Rocky” started an attack and managed to get past
Häkkinen. The two slightly tangled and the right rear
tyre of the Finn’s car got damaged, so that he had to
come in for an additional pit stop. Häkkinen dropped
back to 17th and thus lost valuable points for the championship
standings.
The two German Audi drivers Timo Scheider and Martin Tomczyk
came home in fourth and fifth place. Reigning DTM champion
Bernd Schneider had clutch problems at the start and dropped
back to the end of the field. Eventually, the Mercedes-Benz
driver still scored three championship points. For the winner
of the opening round at Hockenheim, the race at Oschersleben
also got off to a bad start. Mattias Ekström jumped the
start with his Audi A4 DTM and was given a drive-through penalty.
The Swede still made it home in seventh place. Alexandros
Margaritis scored one point in eighth place with the AMG Mercedes
C-Class. Fellow Mercedes-Benz driver Jamie Green was also
given a drive-through penalty after a collision with Vanina
Ickx and came home eleventh. Canadian Bruno Spengler got a
severe setback, having had to retire after only 15 laps due
to problems with the power steering.
In the championship standings, three drivers are tied in
the lead after the second round of the season. Mattias Ekström,
Paul di Resta and Martin Tomczyk all have twelve points. Today’s
winner Paffett is fourth with eleven points. The next DTM
race is taking place at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz on May 20.
Gary Paffett (winner, Laureus AMG Mercedes):
“Just great. Today, I had an excellent start, a brilliant
strategy, perfect pit stops and a clear run almost all the
time I knew that we could win when we would have a perfect
day and today it was.”
Paul di Resta (2nd place, Jawa4u.de AMG Mercedes):
“Being second in the second race is just incredible.
Already now, I have achieved more than I would even have dreamt
of. In the first race, I could already have been on the podium,
but back then, it didn’t work out. Today, it did.”
Mike Rockenfeller (3rd place, Audi Sport Team Rosberg):
“This is just a dream, I am overjoyed. The race was
great fun. Throughout the race, I had a great battle that
was hard, but fair. Too bad that Mika had a puncture in the
end. There will be a party tonight.”
Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug:
“I am very happy with this race. The drivers have shown
here what they can do. Now, just like in Formula 1, we have
three drivers leading the championship with 12 points each.
That shows that we are on the right way. However, I have to
say that I don’t really understand the penalties that
were given today. I don’t want to criticise Mike Rockenfeller,
that was a normal overtaking manoeuvre in a race. But either
there are the same penalties for everybody or none at all.
I am a little bit uncertain about this, because such penalties
can have a big effect at the end of the day. But eventually,
the joy about our performance, about the great race and the
equal level in the championship prevails.”
Audi-Motorsportchef Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich:
“It was a great and fair race throughout. Things were
working out well for us, the pace and strategy dominated in
the race. We have created regulations that allowed for today’s
result and the current situation in the championship, we are
on the right way. Of course, I would like to emphasize Mike
Rockenfeller’s performance. He did a great race without
any mistakes. His speed was great and he showed a competitive
spirit until the end. We will see an interesting and exciting
championship with many different winners in the races to come.”
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