22nd August, 2010
Gary Paffett again: DTM victory at Zandvoort
DTM
Zandvoort. For the winner, the summery of the sixth DTM round of the 2010 season is rather brief: an ideal start, 42 commanding laps and two good pit stops, and that was the lights-to-flag victory for Mercedes-Benz driver Gary Paffett at Zandvoort in The Netherlands. After his win at the Hockenheim season opener, the Brit scored his second victory of the season. With 35 points, he is now the fiercest rival of his fellow-Mercedes-Benz driver Bruno Spengler from Canada, who finished seventh in The Netherlands and remains in the lead of the drivers’ standings with 44 points. “This track really suits me. Here, you have to put plenty of pressure on, you can get a lot out of the car. This track is really extreme, but for me, it is really fun to drive on. Today, Bruno didn’t have such a good race. I am ready for the title”, said a jubilant Paffett after the race and his 16th victory in the DTM. For Mercedes-Benz, it was the fifth win from six races in the 2010 season. In second place, Briton Paul Di Resta secured the 1-2 for Mercedes-Benz and completes the trio of Mercedes-Benz drivers in the first three places of the drivers’ standings with 33 points. The race weekend at Zandvoort attracted a total of 39,000 spectators.
Reigning DTM champion Timo Scheider had a race with ups and downs. From pole position, the Audi driver had a bad start and dropped back to tenth place. Scheider, however, didn’t give up and succeeded in moving back up into third place by virtue of a perfect strategy and a competitive spirit. “Today, I had a really, really good car. I have to apologise to the team, today’s start was my fault. This year, we are making mistakes that just shouldn’t happen like that. At least, I still made it on the podium. It was clear to me that I could attack with new tyres and that was what I did. All in all, however, this was a good weekend for me. We have made it clear to everybody that we are back”, said Scheider.
Scheider was followed by three more Audi drivers. Swede Mattias Ekström, the 2004 and 2007 DTM champion, kept his chances in the battle for the title upright by finishing fourth, scoring five points. He is now fourth in the drivers’ standings with 28 points. Spaniard Miguel Molina was happy with fifth place, becoming the best-placed driver of a 2008-spec car. Oliver Jarvis from Great Britain finished sixth, followed by Spengler. Ralf Schumacher (D/Mercedes-Benz) just missed out on scoring points by finishing ninth behind Martin Tomczyk (D/Audi). Ex-Formula 1 driver David Coulthard was classified twelfth with his AMG Mercedes C-Class.
The seventh DTM race weekend of the season will take place at Brands Hatch (GB) from September 3rd till 5th.
Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug: “That really was an overwhelming performance, a class of its own. Of course, Timo also helped us when he stalled. Now, we have won five out of six races, which is a dream. Today, it certainly wasn’t easy. When Timo would have started as planned, the result could have been much different. Currently, things are going quite well for us. But we are not at all that dominant. I am still expecting many exciting races and many position fights.”
Audi motorsport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich: “Yes, I really have suffered. Unfortunately, we have repeated our result from Nürburgring here. Timo had a very good pace. Of course, the start hurts when you see the performance he was able to show during the race. Within our team, Timo is known to be a very consistent and good starter, but now, he is having a difficult season. With a decent start, the race surely would have ended in a different way. Nevertheless: Mattias (Ekström) has made up a few points and Timo is back again.”
