HOME WIN FOR DI RESTA // DTM ROUND 7 @ BRANDS HATCH

After suffering a podium whitewash at the previous two race weekends, Mercedes got back to winning ways at Brands Hatch this weekend with Britain's Paul Di Resta taking a comfortable victory around the tight confines of the 'Indy Circuit.' Audi were fully expecting to extend their recent dominance on a track configuration which is widely acknowledged to suit the A4, but much to the delight of Norbert Haug this was not to be.

A comfortable lights to flag victory went the way of the Stuttgart marque courtesy of the talented 23 year old. However apart from Di Resta the C-Klasse's still seemed to be, in general, a little short of raw pace and with Timo Scheider taking second from fellow Audi driver Martin Tomczyk, Audi was able to extend their Series lead... [read more]

On the eve of Sundays race the prospect for an interesting battle was definitely on the cards as Di Resta who in the corresponding UK race last year had tailed Scheider for the entire distance was now on pole after dominating Saturday's qualifying, but once again his adversary was right with him albeit this time on the outside of the front row. The race however never really materialised into the fight that many had hoped for as Scottsman Di Resta was able to control the field through the entire 90 lap encounter even easily sustaining the pressure of two late safety car periods which had compressed the field. The early laps before the 1st pit stop had seen Scheider shadow Di Resta closely with both drivers circulating the short Indy Circuit in close order. Scheider would have to wait for a mistake from the AMG driver to be able to mount a real challenge for the lead and as this was not forthcoming before the first round of pitstops began, effectively it turned out his chance was gone. Scheider pulled into the pitlane first on lap 30 and this gave Di Resta the signal to push hard. The German was then delayed on his exit by Christian Bakkerud for a few vital corners and come Di Resta's 1st stop which was clean as a whistle Paul could breathe a sigh of relief as Scheider dropped behind Bruno Spengler's Mercedes and the Audi of Martin Tomczyk (Bellow)

Scheider who now was losing time in traffic decided a short middle stint was the order of the day and pulled in on Lap47 only to see a problem with a sticking wheel nut further scupper his recovery plans.
Onto lap 49 and Scheider's luck began to change for the better at last as he regained 2nd place due to the battle between Spengler and Tomczyk ending with a puncture for the Canadian which slightly delayed the impressive Red Bull Cola Audi driver losing him a potential 2nd place finish as he rejoined from his 2nd stop behind the championship leader.

Di Resta made his final stop on lap 55 after again setting a string of fastest laps as his rivals were heavy with fuel. With a comfortable run to the finish on the cards the youngster was totally in control. Even two safety car periods did not phase him, firstly as Mathias Lauda (Below) lost it on the brakes into Paddock and then when the race was neutralised once more as a recovering Spengler tapped Tom Kristensen into a lurid spin on the entry into Mclaren.

So as Di Resta reeled off the remaining two laps after the second of the the Safety car periods to take the flag and only his 3rd ever win, he recorded Mercedes's 150th DTM race victory.
Haug was mightily impressed by the result and commented "Paul has just been in a class of his own all weekend, he withstood the pressure like a veteran and put in a perfect performance". With rumours surrounding Heiki Kovalinen's future at Mclaren for 2010 the Mercedes boss would not be drawn into speculation but with more performances like this one can only think that the young Brit could be in the frame to make it an all UK line up at Woking next year.

With the Audis of Scheider and Tomczyk completing the podium coming home 4th after yet another tigering drive was Gary Paffett (Below) . Although losing ground in the fight for the title Gary was not too downhearted and commented "Yes, we lost ground today and with the remaining races running out it is going to be hard, but if we can improve our qualifying pace there is all still to play for. Certainly Gary remains the UK's favourite DTM driver which was clearly exhibited at Brands by a particularly vociferous if slightly worse for wear bunch of Paffett fans cheering on his robust pass of Tom Kristensen into Druids mid race.

The " Glamour Battle of Britian" involving the two UK female racers went the way of young Susie Stoddart as she came home a respectable 13th in her year old Mercedes. Her rival over in the Audi camp former Champ Car driver Katherine Legge (Below) had an eventfull race finally succumbing to a drive through penalty as punishment for being adjudged to having held up Gary Paffett in his chase of her fellow Audi team mates Scheider and Tomczyk. Katherine felt a bit hard done by as she said "The Indy Circuit here at Brands is very tight and it is not always possible to move straight out of the way under blue flag conditions"

Race Results DTM 2009 Round 7 Brands Hatch UK :

01 Paul di Resta 1:10:31.345
02 Timo Scheider +0.896
03 Martin Tomczyk +1.422
04 Gary Paffett +1.880
05 Mattias Ekström +2.264
06 Bruno Spengler +5.048
07 Mike Rockenfeller +6.646
08 Oliver Jarvis +7.197
09 Ralf Schumacher +7.733
10 Maro Engel +10.622


DTM 2009 Championship Standings (after seven rounds):

01 Timo Scheider Audi 43
02 Mattias Exstrom Audi 38
03 Gary Paffett Mercedes 34
04 Paul Di Resta Mercedes 29
05 Bruno Spengler Mercedes 29
06 Martin Tomczyk Audi 27
07 Jamie Green Mercedes 18
08 Oliver Jarvis Audi 15
09 Tom Kristensen Audi 13
10 Markus Winklehock Audi 10

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Photo: Neil Tozer and DTM
Editorial: Neil Tozer