DTM // ROUND 6 @ NURBURGRING - TOMCZYK & AUDI DOMINATE

Audi continued their recent domination of the 2009 DTM series at a swelteringly hot Nurburgring, as the DTM's perennial 'Nearly Man' Martin Tomczyk took a lights to flag victory ahead of four Audi Teammates, leaving the Mercedes squad licking their wounds as 5th place for Jamie Green in an 08 car was their best finisher.

Tomczyk said of only his 4th DTM career win, "The car was fantastic all weekend, we didn't have one single issue over the three days and its great to get my title challenge back on course with a win".

Behind the 27yr old German on the podium was reigning champion Timo Scheider who now takes the sole lead in the Championship by a single point from Matttias Exstrom who finished the race in 3rd place. A weekend crowd of over 86000 spectators saw an eventful race amidst unusually great weather conditions at the venue set in the heart of the Eiffel region... [read more]

Saturdays Qualifying saw Tomczyk take pole in in the Top Ten Run Off following on from his quickest time of the day he set on Friday during free practice. Starting alongside the A4 on the front row would be Bruno Spengler who hauled his Mercedes C-Class around the 3.62KM circuit just under two tenths down. Spengler commented "I am really pleased to make it onto the front row, it was difficult, but in the end I found a good balance"

For the second race in a row qualifying turned out to be a nightmare for joint championship leader Gary Paffett as his C-Class was afflicted with a persistent misfire and he wound up back on row eight in 16th place. Raceday would again be a mighty challenge for the rapid 2005 Champion.

The second row of the grid was an all Audi affair with Exstrom and Timo Scheider 3rd and 4th respectively.

Come raceday and it was Tomczyk who led into the first corner after successfully blocking the fast starting Spengler as the Canadian was shaping up for a lunge down the inside into the ultra sharp first turn.
Disaster struck Paffett (Bellow) though as both Katherline Legge and Maro Engel tangled tapping the innocent Briton into a spin from which he rejoined albeit in last place.

Into the 3rd turn and Exstrom pulled off a forceful move down the inside of Spengler resulting in the pair making slight contact which then saw the following Scheider take them both on the run through the next curve. Exstrom suffered slight front aero damage in the incident but was able to continue without too much ill effect. Spengler however was less fortunate and had to contend with bodywork now slightly fouling his left front tyre. Further back down the field Tom Kristensen had spun his Audi into the barriers at turn 5 heralding an early safety car as the field barrelled down over the line.

Lap three saw the restart with Kristensen having made it back to the pits but into retirement with broken suspension.

Onto lap seven and Alexander Premat misjudged his braking into the first turn resulting in him punting Jarvis's 2008 A4 into retirement in the gravel (Below). Premat was able to limp to the pits but was also an early retirement.

The ever impressive `Paul Di Resta survived a scary moment on lap 16 as he lost the rear wing of his Mercedes into the braking area for the first turn. The resulting loss of downforce pitched him into the gravel at high speed and a DNF.

With the first round of pitstops completed on lap 23 Tomczyk lead from Scheider, Ekström, Winkelhock, Spengler, Schumacher, Lauda, Paffett and Rockenfeller.

Paffett who had battled tremendously up through the field to eighth now was the first to make his 2nd stop on lap 24.

The only main place change during the second round of pitstops was that Jamie Green exited from his stop just ahead of fellow Mercedes driver Spengler to take 5th place behind the top four Audi's of Tomcyzk (Below), Scheider, Exstrom and Markus Winkelhock who was putting in a storming drive in his year old car.

The top 3 Audi's remained within a few seconds of each other right to the flag to take the second 1-2-3 for Dr Wolfgang Ulrich's squad in as many races.

Winckelhock remained fourth at the flag and Gary Paffett who surely put in the "Drive Of The Day" came home a tremendous 8th following his stunning recovery drive.

Top Mercedes and in a year old car was Jamie Green ( Below) who held off Spengler in the closing stages.


Round 6 // Nurburgring Results:

01. Martin Tomczyk Team Abt Sportsline Audi A4 DTM 09 48 laps 1hr 10min 19.195secs
02. Timo Scheider Team Abt Audi A4 DTM 09 +01.205secs
03. Mattias Ekstrom Team Abt Sportsline Audi A4 DTM 09 +02.969secs
04. Markus Winkelhock Team Rosberg Audi A4 DTM 08 +16.029secs
05. Jamie Green Junge Stern AMG Mercedes Mercedes C-Class 08 +23.349secs
06. Bruno Spengler Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG Mercedes C-Class 09 +27.502secs
07. Ralf Schumacher Trilux AMG Mercedes Mercedes C-Class 09 +28.096secs
08. Gary Paffett Salzgitter AMG Mercedes Mercedes C-Class 09 +35.719secs
09. Mathias Lauda Stern AMG Mercedes Mercedes C-Class 08 +42.148secs
10. Mike Rockenfeller Team Rosberg Audi A4 DTM 08 +66.232secs



Championship Positions (After 6 Rounds):

01 Timo Scheider Audi 35
02 Mattias Ekström Audi 34
03 Gary Paffett Mercedes 29
04 Bruno Spengler Mercedes 26
05 Martin Tomczyk Audi 21
06 Paul di Resta Mercedes 19
07 Jamie Green Mercedes 18
08 Oliver Jarvis Audi 14
09 Tom Kristensen Audi 13
10 Markus Winkelhock Audi 10


Stay Tuned to CTD for coverage of the next round at Brands Hatch UK 4-6th September.

For tickets, click here

Editorial: Neil Tozer
Photo: DTM.com