Audi locks out top three – victory for Ekstöm
Mattias Ekström (Audi) is the first winner of the 2008
DTM season. At the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg,
the reigning DTM champion came out on top in a triple victory
for Audi with his fellow Audi drivers Timo Scheider in second
and Tom Kristensen in third place. Ekström laid the foundation
for his victory at the start, taking over first place from
pole-sitter Scheider. Only during his two very quick pit stops,
the Swede briefly was out of the lead. For Ekström, who
had already won the season opener last year, it was the eleventh
victory of his DTM career. Bruno Spengler only just missed
out on a podium finish, coming home fourth with his AMG Mercedes
C-Class. Martin Tomczyk (Audi) was fifth after the 37 lap
race from Jamie Green, Gary Paffett and Bernd Schneider (all
Mercedes-Benz). Ralf Schumacher had a decent premiere in the
DTM: he ended 14h in his maiden DTM race.
The race at a glance
Air temperature: 15.7 ° C
Asphalt temperature: 22.3 °C
Before the start Susie Stoddart is starting from the pitlane
Start Ekström takes the lead from Scheider and Spengler.
Lap 1 Tomczyk dropped back massively and is now ninth, battling
with Bernd Schneider. Schumacher collides with Albers at the
hairpin.
Lap 2 Ekström is leading from Scheider, Spengler, di
Resta, Kristensen, Jarvis, Paffett, Green. Paffett attacks
Jarvis, but Jarvis retains his position. Albers into the pits,
tyre change
Lap 3 Tomczyk and Green past Jarvis. Albers into the pits
again - out.
Lap 5 Ekström is leading Scheider by 0.5 seconds, Spengler
is third from di Resta, Kristensen, Paffett, Tomczyk and Green.
Lap 6 Ekström laps 0.2 seconds faster than Scheider,
extending his lead to 0.7 seconds.
Lap 10 Tomczyk attacks Paffett for sixth place.
Lap 12 Ekström, Spengler, Paffett, Jarvis, Rockenfeller,
Schumacher into the pits
Lap 13 Scheider, di Resta, Tomczyk, Green, Prémat,
Lauda, Winkelhock, Engel, Legge into the pits.
Lap 14 Kristensen, Schneider, Stoddart into the pits. Now
all drivers have completed their first mandatory pit stops.
Lap 15 The order after the first round of pit stops: Ekström
is leading Scheider, di Resta, Spengler, Kristensen, Tomczyk,
Green, Paffett, Schneider and Jarvis.
Lap 16 Jarvis, Winkelhock into the pits.
Lap 17 Kristensen is attacking Spengler for fourth. Paffett,
Scheider, Prémat into the pits.
Lap 18 Ekström, Scheider, Spengler, Stoddart, Engel into
the pits
Lap 19 Di Resta, Kristensen, Green, Rockenfeller into the
pits. Problems for di Resta, his engine doesn't start.
Lap 20 Spengler attacks Kristensen, but the Dane retains his
position. Tomczyk and Legge are the only drivers who still
have to come in.
Lap 21 Di Resta has dropped back to 13th place after the problems
during his pit stop. Tomczyk, Legge into the pits.
Lap 22 Tomczyk rejoins in fifth place.
Lap 22 Ekström is leading Scheider by 0.8 seconds, Kristensen
is third from Spengler, Tomcyzk, Green, Paffett, Schneider.
Lap 23 Tomczyk in fifth place is closing up to fourth-placed
Spengler.
Lap 25 Winkelhock attacks Prémat for eleventh, but
to no avail.
Lap 26 Tomczyk is only 0.5 seconds behind fourth-placed Spengler.
Lap 29 Di Resta now right behind Winkelhock, who is right
behind Prémat. Winkelhock and Prémat slightly
collide
Lap 30 Warning for Winkelhock: pushing another car.
Lap 33 Di Resta attacks Winkelhock for 12th, Winkelhock remains
in front.
Lap 36 Tomczyk is right on the bootlid of Spengler' s car.
Under braking for the hairpin, he locks up and runs wide.
Final lap Ekström wins from Scheider, Kristensen, Spengler,
Tomczyk, Green, Paffett, Schneider.
Audi locks out top three in DTM season opener
The title defence has started. At the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg,
Swedish Audi driver, Mattias Ekström, won the first DTM
race of the year. After 169.238 kilometres, the 29-year old
was the first to cross the finish line. “My new A4 goes
like a rocket”, said the overjoyed winner of the season
opener about his car. For Ekström, it is the eleventh
DTM victory of his career. For Audi, it was the 43rd DTM race
win. Pole-sitter Timo Scheider came home second, 0.824 seconds
down on the winner. Danish driver, Tom Kristensen completed
Audi’s clean sweep of the podium by finishing third.
Best-placed Mercedes-Benz driver was last year’s runner-up,
Bruno Spengler (CDN), in fourth place. Ralf Schumacher showed
a respectable performance by finishing 14th in his maiden
DTM-race. Over the weekend, a total of 93,000 spectators came
to witness the first of this year’s eleven DTM events.
A perfect start and two impeccable pit stops were the basis
for Ekström’s first victory of the season. At the
start, the Swede had the upper hand over Scheider and took
the lead. His mechanics were equally quick. Both his pit stops
were completed within only three seconds. His fellow Audi
drivers Kristensen and Tomczyk also benefited from their second
tyre change. Kristensen overtook Spengler with the AMG Mercedes
C-Class and continued the race in third. Tomczyk moved up
into fifth place. One lap after another, the Bavarian kept
the pressure on the Mercedes-Benz driver, but couldn’t
overtake him. On the final lap of the race, Tomczyk had a
moment. He locked up under braking, came off the track, but
continued and managed to defend his fifth place and four points.
He was followed by the Mercedes-Benz trio of Jamie Green (GB),
Gary Paffett (GB) with the best-placed year-old car and Bernd
Schneider (D). Scotsman Paul di Resta (Mercedes-Benz), who
started fourth, had problems with the clutch during his second
stop and dropped back to 13th. As a consolation, he set the
fastest lap time of the race in 1.34.104 minutes, a new DTM
lap record at Hockenheim. Lady racers Susie Stoddart (GB/Mercedes-Benz)
and Katherine Legge (GB/Audi) finished 16th and 18th. Former
F1 driver Christijan Albers (NED) had to park his car in the
pits on lap two after a collision and subsequent problems
with the suspension.
In the overall standings, reigning DTM champion Ekström
is leading with 10 points from fellow Audi drivers, Scheider
(8) and Kristensen (6). The second DTM round of the year is
already taking place next weekend (April 18th – 20th)
at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.
Mattias Ekström (winner, Audi Sport Team Abt
Sportsline): “From Friday onwards, our car
has been very good and I was confident that I would be able
to score a good result here. I had a very good start and the
pit stops were excellent. During the race, I lost some time
when I was stuck behind Bernd Schneider and Timo Scheider
put me under quite some pressure. Especially at the start
of the season, everybody wants to get a good result and so
I am very happy with my ten points and the 1-2-3 for Audi.
Such a start is beautiful.“
Timo Scheider (2nd place, Audi Sport Team Abt):
“It has been a remarkable weekend for us. Especially
as it was the first weekend of the season and as we managed
to come off with such a result. I lost first place at the
start, but I was very well able to keep up with Mattias Ekström
during the race. There were some possibilities to attack and
I put the pressure on. However, there was no real chance to
overtake. The car has been great from the word go, many thanks
to Audi and to Abt.”
Tom Kristensen (3rd place, Audi Sport Team Abt):
“Today, I started from the same position as in last
year’s season opener, in which I had my big accident.
I was happy that it all went well through the first few corners.
My car was great from the very beginning and during the race,
I had some fair fights with Paul di Resta and Bruno Spengler.
I am happy that I ended up where I am now.”
Bruno Spengler (4th place, Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG
Mercedes): “On one hand, I am a little bit
disappointed. But when you look at the past few years, I have
never been able to score points here in the first race at
Hockenheim. Now, I have at least five points and I am happy
with it, as every point counts in the end. It was the first
of eleven races and a lot of things can still happen in the
ten rounds to come. I am confident that I will be quick again
at Oschersleben.“
Audi motorsport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich:
“It went very well today. Not only the drivers were
quick, Abt did very good pit stops. It was clear to us that
Mercedes would be strong here as well. We have achieved the
maximum with three cars on the podium. That is great for the
team, that has been working very hard during the last few
weeks. Especially because of that, this victory is well deserved.”
Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug:
“It hasn’t been a very good weekend for us. In
the race, Paul di Resta was really quick. Too bad that his
clutch didn’t work properly during the pit stop. Otherwise,
he could have been further up front. All in all, it was a
good season opener with a good show for the spectators. Ralf
Schumacher has done well in his first race. He wasn’t
the slowest driver with a year-old car by far and his performance
is decent. I am especially happy with the fact that we have
seen a new Ralf here at Hockenheim.”
|
