1-2 for Mercedes-Benz in Nuremberg city race
Nuremberg. For the sixth time in a row, Mercedes-Benz claimed
victory in the DTM season highlight at the Norisring in Nuremberg.
After 74 laps, Brit Jamie Green won the race at the 2.3 kilometres
short street circuit from his fellow Mercedes driver, Bruno
Spengler. For Green, it was the fourth win of his DTM career
and the 145th victory for Mercedes-Benz. The podium in Nuremberg
was completed b Audi driver Timo Scheider, who only inherited
third place after Mattias Ekström locked up under braking
before the final corner. The 2005 DTM champion, Gary Paffett
(Mercedes-Benz) was the best-placed driver with a year-old
car, finishing fifth in the fifth DTM round of the season.
The final points-scoring positions were taken by Paul di Resta,
Bernd Schneider (both Mercedes-Benz) and Tom Kristensen (Audi).
Ralf Schumacher (Mercedes-Benz), who had started from eleventh
place, retired with five laps to go after an excellent race
due to a technical problem. In the drivers’ standings
after five of eleven races, Timo Scheider (32 points) remains
in first place. Right behind him is Jamie Green with 31 points
in second place. Paul di Resta is third with 26 points.
The race in detail
Spectators at the race weekend: 140,000
Air temperature: 29.2 °C
Asphalt temperature: 36.1 °C
Start Spengler takes the lead while Schumacher has problems
getting away. Green in front out of the first corner.
Lap 1 Green is leading from Spengler, Di Resta, Tomczyk, Kristensen,
Ekström, Scheider, Schneider, Paffett and Prémat.
Schumacher is 17th.
Lap 2 Albers and Stoddart tangle coming out of the Grundig
hairpin.
Lap 5 Kristensen attacks Tomczyk and takes fourth place.
Lap 6 Green is leading by 1.1 seconds from Spengler, who,
in turn, is 0.5 seconds clear of Di Resta. Behind the three
Mercedes-Benz drivers, all drivers with the 2008-spec Audis
are fourth to seventh.
Lap 10 Di Resta and Spengler side by side through the Grundig
corner. Ekström overtakes Tomczyk and is now fifth.
Lap 12 Scheider past Tomczyk for sixth. Paffett takes eighth
from Schneider coming out of the Schöller-S.
Lap 13 Paffett past Tomczyk for seventh.
Lap 14 Tomczyk battles with Schneider, but defends his ninth
place.
Lap 16 Green has extended his lead over Spengler to 3.1 seconds.
Lap 17 Schneider has overtaken Tomczyk as the Audi driver
locked up under braking for the Grundig hairpin.
Lap 19 Kristensen is attacking Di Resta for third place.
Lap 21 Di Resta spins all by himself under braking for the
Grundig hairpin and loses third place to Kristensen., The
Scot drops back to seventh. Ekström past Kristensen for
third.
Lap 24 Tomczyk out before the Schöller-S –technical
failure. Spengler, Ekström Winkelhock into the pits.
Lap 25 Green, Kristensen, Paffett, Jarvis into the pits.
Lap 26 Di Resta, Stoddart into the pits.
Lap 27 Scheider, Prémat, Albers, Schneider into the
pits.
Lap 28 Lauda into the pits.
Lap 29 Engel, Legge into the pits.
Lap 30 Schumacher, Rockenfeller into the pits.
Lap 31 All drivers have completed their first stops. Green
is leading from Spengler, Ekström, Scheider, Kristensen,
Paffett. Albers into the pits - he retires due to steering
problems.
Lap 32 Winkelhock into the pits. Blue flag for Legge.
Lap 34 Paffett, Schneider into the pits.
Lap 36 Kristensen, Di Resta , Jarvis into the pits. Blue flag
for Prémat.
Lap 38 Paffett attacks Kristensen, but the Dane stays in front.
Ekström , Prémat into the pits.
Lap 39 Spengler, Stoddart into the pits.
Lap 40 Green into the pits. Tank can is stuck in his car,
it falls off under braking for the Grundig hairpin.
Lap 44 Scheider, Rockenfeller into the pits.
Lap 45 Lauda, Legge into the pits.
Lap 46 Engel into the pits.
Lap 47 Schumacher into the pits. Tomczyk reported a problem
with the throttle likeage as the reason for his retirement.
Lap 48 All drivers have completed two stops. Green is leading
Spengler by 0.6 seconds, then Ekström, Scheider, Kristensen,
Paffett, Di Resta, Schneider.
Lap 54 Spengler attacks Green.
Lap 55 Paffett overtakes Kristensen under braking for Dutzendteichkehre
and is now fifth.
Lap 57 Kristensen locks up under braking, runs wide and loses
sixth place to Di Resta.
Lap 59 Kristensen loses another place to Schneider as he runs
wide under braking for the Dutzendteichkehre.
Lap 61 Schumacher overtakes Engel and is now ninth. Engel
loses another place to Lauda.
Lap 70 Schumacher spins under braking for the Grundigkehre
and gets out of the car.
Lap 71 Scheider attacks Ekström for third, but the Swede
remains in front.
Lap 74 Final lap. Green wins from Spengler and Scheider, who
takes third place in the final corner from Ekström, who
comes fourth. The following points scoring positions: Paffett,
Di Resta, Schneider, Kristensen.
Green wins hot battle at the Norisring
Nuremberg. Jamie Green is the winner of the DTM jubilee race
at the Norisring. During the 30th appearance of the most popular
international touring car series in Nuremberg, the Mercedes-Benz
driver was the first to cross the finish line. For the Brit,
this was his second victory of the season after Mugello. “I
am proud that I now have the strength to get it all right.
I have probably beaten my demons and have won four of the
seven races”, said the winner, who was presented with
the trophy by the prime minister of Bavaria, Günther
Beckstein. Second place in the race at the Dutzendteich went
to Green’s fellow Mercedes-Benz driver, Bruno Spengler
from Canada. Best-placed Audi driver was Timo Scheider in
third place. For this result, the 29-year old Austrian-based
German get six points, which allows him to defend his lead
in the drivers’ standings. Only one point down, the
winner of the Norisring round, Jamie Green, is runner-up.
A total of 140,000 fans attended a fascinating DTM weekend
at the only street circuit on the calendar. Ralf Schumacher
retired with only five laps to go due to a technical problem
while running ninth.
The Norisring lived up to its reputation. At the only 2.3
kilometres short track, the DTM drivers staged fascinating
battles and manoeuvres. The key point was the Grundig hairpin,
which was the scene for almost all the exciting situations
in the race. Green won the battle at the start from Spengler
and took the lead. He managed to withstand the pressure from
his rivals and thus went on to score the 145th race win for
Mercedes-Benz in the DTM and the sixth win in a row for the
brand from Stuttgart at the Norisring. There was only one
frightening moment during Green’s second pit stop, when
the tank can got stuck on his car, but then fell off in the
next corner. Up to lap 21, another Mercedes-Benz driver completed
the top three. However, Scot Paul di Resta spun and had to
let Audi drivers, Tom Kristensen (DK), Mattias Ekström
(S) and Scheider as well as Gary Paffett (GB) with the AMG
Mercedes C-Class through. During the race, reigning champion
Ekström and points leader Scheider moved up into third
and fourth place. Scheider put the pressure up and forced
Ekström into a driver’s error on the final lap.
Then, he crossed the line in third place, retaining the lead
in the points’ standings. The Mercedes-Benz trio of
Paffett as the best-placed driver with a year-old car, di
Resta and DTM record champion Bernd Schneider followed in
fifth to seventh place. Kristensen was the last driver to
score a point for the championship by finishing eighth with
his Audi A4 DTM.
After a rather poor start, Ralf Schumacher thrilled his fans.
With the AMG Mercedes C-Class, the former Formula 1 driver
made it all the way up from 17th to ninth place and eve came
close to scoring his first championship points. With five
laps to go, the driver from Kerpen had to park his car with
a technical problem. The two Audi drivers, Martin Tomczyk
and Christijan Albers (NL) also didn’t make it to the
finish. On Tomczyk’s car, the throttle pedal was stuck,
Albers had steering problems.
In the DTM points’ standings, Scheider is leading with
32 points from Green (31) and di Resta (26). The sixth DTM
round will be taking place at Zandvoort in The Netherlands
on July 13th.
Jamie Green (winner, Salzgitter AMG Mercedes):
“That was a tough race. At some points, Bruno came really
close. I had some trouble with the balance of my car and made
two slight mistakes in the chicane. Probably, that was motivating
for Bruno. Two years ago, I already had a chance of winning
here, but back then, it didn’t happen. I am proud that
I now have the strength to get it all right. I have probably
beaten my demons and have won four of the seven races. Today,
my car was very good.“
Bruno Spengler (2nd place, Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG
Mercedes): “I am happy with second place, after
all, it means eight points for the championship. Once, I briefly
had overtaken Jamie, but then I had to get off the line myself
and he was in front again. My start wasn’t very good,
which allowed Jamie to get through.“
Timo Scheider (3rd place, Audi Sport Team Abt):
“A good day for us, after all, we are on the podium.
Now, we are able to attack Mercedes-Benz here at the Norisring
as well. Somehow, I still managed to overtake Mattias (Ekström)
in the final corner. I just messed up the start, but in the
race, the car was great.”
Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug:
“It was a thrilling race. In the early stages, Jamie
pulled a gap, but in the end, hardly anything of it was left.
Jamie and Bruno were our pupils once, but now it seems that
they want to get their masters degree. I am happy that Ralf
managed to do several fastest lap times during the race. Only
the start is still not quite his piece of cake. Today, it
was a great battle with the Audis that were very strong. It
can only be topped by a victory for Germany in this evening’s
final of the football Eurocup.”
Audi motorsport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich:
“Congratulations to Jamie (Green) and Bruno (Spengler).
However, it was clear for everybody to see that we have shown
a good performance today as well. From halfway through the
race, we were there. I am happy with all the fair fights we
have seen today. I think that every spectator who was here
at the Norisring today will come back in 2009. That really
was a great race in front of a great crowd.”
Gary Paffett excluded at the Norisring
Nuremberg. On Sunday evening, British Mercedes-Benz driver,
Gary Paffett was excluded from the result of the fifth DTM
round of the season at the Norisring. In post-race scrutineering
of Paffett’s car, the scrutineers found out that the
AMG Mercedes C-Class didn’t meet the required weight
of 1045 kg, but was three kilograms underweight. This was
an infringement of article 34.1.3 of the sporting regulations
of the 2008 DTM. The consequence for Paffett: exclusion from
the result and loss of points. The following drivers in the
official result will move up one place each. Paffett had finished
fifth in the race and would have had four points for the overall
standings.
The new order of the top ten:
1. Jamie Green
2. Bruno Spengler
3. Timo Scheider
4. Mattias Ekström
5. Paul di Resta
6. Bernd Schneider
7. Tom Kristensen
8. Mathias Lauda
9. Maro Engel
10. Susie Stoddart
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