NEWS // AUDI DOMINATES DTM RD.5 @ OSCHERSLABEN

Audi produced a true weekend of dominance at Oschersleben at the fifth round of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series at the tight and twisty Motorsport Park in northern Germany. Reigning champion Timo Scheider took his first win of 2009 with a convincing lights to flag victory, ahead of fellow Audi drivers Mattias Ekstrom and Martin Tomczyk.

Saturdays qualifying saw Audi take a clean sweep of the first five places on the grid with Tom Kristensen taking pole from Scheider, Tomczyk (below), Ekstrom and Brit Oliver Jarvis who was in fine form in his year old A4. Best placed of the Mercedes drivers was Bruno Spengler back in 6th in his AMG C-Class. Championship leader Gary Paffett endured a torrid time in qualifying and lined up back on the sixth row in 12th place... [read more]

Come race day it was Kristensen who fell foul of the rules as he was immediately penalised for lining up wrongly on the starting grid prior to the lights going out. Schieder made it to the first turn in front of Tomczyk and Kristensen who had already incurred his drive through penalty and would pit on lap three dropping him down the order. Paffet jumped Alexander Premat for 7th on lap 6 to follow his Mercedes colleagues Bruno Spengler and Paul Di Resta in their chase of the top five Audi train.

Lap 13 saw Di Resta almost collide with Jarvis while battling for 4th position as Paul came out of the pits.
After the whole field had completed their two mandatory pit stops the order was Scheider (below) from Ekstrom, Tomczyk, Di Resta, Spengler, Paffett and Jarvis.

Lap 46 and Jarvis suffered a spin at the chicane costing him his hard fought 7th place. So at the flag it was Scheider who took the spoils much to the delight of Audi supremo Dr Wolfgang Ulrich who saw a dominant 1,2,3 finish for his cars with Exstrom second and Tomczyk third. The three Mercedes of Di Resta , Paffett and Spengler followed the Audi's over the line to pick up valuable points in the battle for the 2009 crown. The championship standings have been compressed, with now Paffett (Below) and Exstrom sharing the lead on 28 points with the fast closing Scheider now only a point behind. The series now moves on to the Nurburgring in two weeks time where battle will be resumed.

2009 DTM Round 5 Oschersleben Results:
01 Timo Scheider Audi A4 DTM 09
02 Mattias Ekstrom Audi A4 DTM 09
03 Martin Tomczyk Audi A4 DTM 09
04 Paul Di Resta Mercedes C-Klasse 09
05 Gary Paffett Mercedes C-Klasse 09
06 Bruno Spengler Mercedes C-Klasse 09
07 Maro Engel Mercedes C-Klasse 08
08 Tom Kristensen Audi A4 DTM 09
09 Jamie Green Mercedes C-Klasse 08
10 Susie Stoddart Mercedes C-Klasse 08

Stay tuned to CTD for further news and reports from the worlds fastest touring car series.

Editorial: Neil Tozer
Photo: DTM