Audi travels as leader to Spain again

On 21 September at the "Circuit de Catalunya" on the outskirts of Barcelona the final phase begins in the DTM, the most popular European racing series after Formula 1. Like last year, Audi travels to Spain as championship leader. The proposed target: a repeat of the 2006 win.

The Audi A4 DTM was the fastest car at the first two appearances of the DTM in Spain. Martin Tomczyk started from the pole position twice in succession at Barcelona. In 2006 he converted this into the first of his three DTM wins to date. In 2007 the man from Rosenheim led from the start before being touched by two-time Formula 1 World Champion Mika Häkkinen.

Last year at Barcelona Martin Tomczyk still had a chance of winning the title. In the 2008 season the hopes of the Audi fans rest on Timo Scheider and Mattias Ekström.

Scheider is in the form of his life. At four of the first eight races, the 29-year-old started from pole position with his Audi A4 DTM. He mounted the podium six times, and twice on the top step. The German has built up a nine point lead. At Barcelona he could take another important step towards his first DTM title.

However, Mattias Ekström still also has his eyes firmly fixed on the championship title – it would be the third for the Swede after 2004 and 2007. Ekström is only one point behind Jamie Green and Paul di Resta in the overall standings and aims to overhaul the two Mercedes drivers at Barcelona.

With Martin Tomczyk in sixth place and Tom Kristensen in seventh all the drivers of the four latest Audi A4 DTM are inside the top-seven in the standings – an indication of just how good the new Audi A4 is, which has already started from pole position six times and won four races this year. Audi has taken 14 of a possible 24 podium positions available to date with the "R14".

The drivers of the 2007 Audi A4 DTM cars, which start with 15 kilograms less weight than the latest models from Audi and Mercedes, are also gunning for points at Barcelona.

The fans can also look forward to a premiere in the supporting programme: María de Villota, daughter of the former Spanish Formula 1 driver Emilio de Villota, tests an Audi A4 DTM for the first time during the DTM weekend. Furthermore, the 28-year-old Spaniard will also chauffer guests around the 2.977 kilometre long circuit in the Audi R8 Race Taxi.

The race at Barcelona starts on Sunday (21 September) at 2:03 p.m. local time. "Das Erste" broadcasts the race live from Spain from 1:45 p.m. and also shows qualifying live on Saturday from 1:30 p.m., free practice is shown live dtm.tv. At audi.tv there are highlights and exclusive background reports.