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13.04.2008
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.”
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