Audi triumphs at Oschersleben as well

Second race, second triumph: the new Audi A4 DTM could not be beaten in its second race either. One week after the 1-2-3 exploit at Hockenheim, Timo Scheider and Martin Tomczyk clinched a commanding 1-2 victory for Audi at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. By claiming the maiden victory of his DTM career, Scheider has taken the overall lead as well.

64,000 spectators witnessed a perfect weekend of the 29-year-old racer: all free practice sessions saw him setting the best time, in qualifying he took his second consecutive pole position, his race was flawless and included the fastest race lap. With two perfect pit stops, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline perfected the German’s first victory, which he claimed in his 79th DTM race. Even a safety car period shortly before race end did not cause Timo Scheider to lose his cool.

When the safety car went out on the track, Scheider and Tomczyk running in front already had a lead of more than ten seconds over the best Mercedes. After the race was re-started, the Audi drivers immediately put a distance between themselves and their immediate rivals and managed bringing home their 1-2 victory safely. For Audi Sport, this marked the second 1-2 win within a few hours: in Long Beach (USA) the Audi Sport North America team had taken places one and two with the R10 TDI diesel sports prototype as well.

Audi Sport Team Rosberg was another team which had a reason to rejoice: Markus Winkelhock in sixth place was the best driver of a car from last year and scored his first points in his 20th DTM race. His team colleague Mike Rockenfeller scored a points finish as well, in seventh place.

At the beginning of the race, "Rocky" lost a lot of time behind Mattias Ekström. In the commotion at race start, the title defender was hit in the rear, causing important aerodynamic components to separate from the vehicle. To restore the aerodynamic balance of his car at least to some extent, Ekström had the front winglets of his A4 removed during his first pit stop. Thanks to this clever move and his spirited drive, the Swede still captured one point with his heavily damaged vehicle.

Alexandre Prémat in ninth place made for a total of six Audi A4 DTM cars to finish in the top ten. After his accident in qualifying, Audi Sport Team Phoenix had been working late into the night to repair the Frenchman’s car and, after the warm-up, exchanged the front splitter once more. His team-mate Oliver Jarvis, who had started from the second row, was turned around in the starting commotion by Mercedes driver Jamie Green. The Brit dropped to the rear of the field and later, due to contact with Christijan Albers, had a drive-through penalty imposed on him. Jarvis had to settle for 15th place.

Christijan Albers and Katherine Legge, after spinning, finished the race in places 16 and 18, respectively.

Tom Kristensen had a black day: the Dane jump-started to the race. While making a recovery, the rear of his A4 was damaged after contact with Mathias Lauda. Problems during the second pit stop cost him additional time. Nevertheless, a points result was again within reach, when Kristensen – nine laps before the finish – slid off the track, pulling Maro Engel’s Mercedes along with him in the process. The second-fastest race lap was little consolation for the two-time Oschersleben winner.