18th June, 2012
The 2012 DTM season: a positive interim report after four rounds
DTM
With new technical regulations, new cars and the premium car manufacturers Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, the DTM started into a new era in 2012. With the pre-season launch in Wiesbaden and the first four season rounds, there was plenty of DTM action from mid-March till the beginning of June. Before the next highlight at the Norisring in Nuremberg (June 29th - July 1st), the most popular international touring car series now has a little break. Time for an interim report with four of the ten season rounds having been completed, in which the DTM entertained with enormously close competition, a great acclaim from the spectators and thrilling overtaking manoeuvres.
Close competition in qualifying
The new generation of DTM cars convinces with close competition. For instance, for the first time in DTM history, two drivers set identical lap times to one thousandth of a second in two subsequent qualifying sessions (Brands Hatch and Spielberg), which decided about them moving up into the next qualifying heat.
In Q3 at Brands Hatch, the first five drivers were within only 0.081 second with Christian Vietoris (Mercedes-Benz) and Martin Tomczyk (BMW) having set identical lap times of 41.101 seconds in fourth and fifth place respectively. Vietoris having set his time earlier than Tomczyk, the Mercedes-Benz driver moved up into the following heat. At Spielberg, Bruno Spengler (BMW) and Augusto Farfus (BMW) also drove identical lap times in Q2 with 1:26.068 minutes for each one of them. This time, it was Spengler who moved up into the next session.
At Lausitzring, spectators got to see the closest qualifying decision in the four season rounds held so far: in Q4, the first three drivers were separated by 0.043 seconds only. The margin between the first pole for BMW in 20 years by Bruno Spengler and second place on the grid for his Brazilian fellow BMW driver Augusto Farfus was only 0.038 seconds.
In all four Q1 sessions of the season, there was never more than 0.870 seconds between the fastest time and 18th place. At Brands Hatch, the lap times of all the 22 DTM drivers were within 0.710 seconds.
Close competition in the race
After four rounds, each of the three premium car manufacturers competing in the DTM has at least scored one victory, one pole position and one fastest race lap. Drivers from all three manufacturers are in the top four of the DTM drivers’ standings.
The DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé has won twice (Hockenheim, Brands Hatch), the BMW M3 DTM (Lausitzring) and the Audi A5 DTM (Spielberg) have won one DTM race each so far.
On two occasions, an Audi driver started from pole position (Mattias Ekström at Hockenheim, Edoardo Mortara at Spielberg). BMW drivers (Bruno Spengler at Lausitzring) and Mercedes-Benz drivers (Gary Paffett at Brands Hatch) have scored one pole position each.
At Hockenheim and Lausitzring, Mercedes-Benz driver Jamie Green set the fastest race lap. This was achieved by Martin Tomczyk (BMW) at Brands Hatch and Timo Scheider (Audi) at Spielberg.
>From the twelve podium results that were at stake so far, Mercedes-Benz has taken five, BMW four and Audi three. The winner of the opening round of the new DTM era at Hockenheim and the current DTM points’ leader, Gary Paffett (Mercedes-Benz) was the only driver to finish on the podium in all four races.
A thrilling season for the fans
For the DTM fans, the season has provided sheer excitement so far: not only the battle between the brands and the drivers is very well balanced, the new generation of DTM cars also allows for plenty of overtaking. The race at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg was a highlight: 48,500 spectators on-site got to see touring car racing at its best.
All in all, the first four race weekends of the year already attracted 289,500 spectators to the circuits in Germany, the UK and Austria. The Hockenheim season opener had the largest crowd so far this season: from Friday till Sunday, 142,000 spectators celebrated the start of the DTM. On Sunday, 71,000 spectators watched the first race of the new DTM era from the stands.
