End of a barren run - DTM-victory for Ekström at Valencia
DTM
Valencia. Swede Mattias Ekström is the king of Valencia. In a dominant way, the Audi driver won the second DTM round of the season and after more than one year, he scored his 14th career win in the most popular international touring car series. “Last year, I didn’t have one single win. So it is time to be happy. That is what one should always do after a victory. But we also have to maintain our concentration for the next races”, the 31-year old said, delighted after the hot race in Spain. His fellow Audi driver Martin Tomczyk completed the 1-2. The German had started ninth and thanks to a perfect strategy with two very late pit stops, he made his way up into second place.
Because of his third place and six more championship points, Canadian Bruno Spengler takes over the lead in the DTM points’ standings. With 14 points, the Mercedes-Benz driver is ahead of Ekström (13 points) and Paffett (11 points). “I haven’t made the calculation yet, but that sounds like good news. This is the first time that I am in the lead of the championship. I am concentrating from one race to another, and at the end, we will see what comes out. Today, it was difficult, because I had to fight from the beginning until the end of the race. I am looking forward to the next round at Lausitz. After all, that is one of my favourite circuits”, the 26-year old said after 45 race laps that were hard work for the drivers at outside temperatures of nearly 30 degrees. In fourth place, Alexandre Prémat (Audi) was the best-placed driver of a 2008-spec car.
During the weekend, 21,000 fans witnessed the first appearance of the DTM at Valencia and got to see a very entertaining race. Brit Gary Paffett (Mercedes-Benz), who had won the season opener at Hockenheim, had a very bad start, was involved in a tough duel with Prémat and dropped back from fourth place on the grid to eighth position, in which he eventually crossed the finish line. After the race, British driver Oliver Jarvis was particularly disappointed. Until seven laps before the finish, the Audi driver was placed second, but then had to park his car with a fuel pick-up problem. The beneficiary was Bruno Spengler, who still made it onto the podium behind Tomczyk.
Reigning DTM champion Timo Scheider (Audi), who had started tenth into the race, eventually was happy with fifth place and four valuable points in the battle for his title defence. Ralf Schumacher (Mercedes-Benz) parked his car in the pits on lap 24 due to misfires. “In fact, things were going pretty well until then. Perhaps, a point would have been possible today“, said Schumacher. Fellow Mercedes-Benz driver and DTM rookie David Coulthard also failed to finish the race and halted in the pits on lap 38 due to gearbox problems.
The third DTM round of the year will be taking place at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz from June 4th till 6th.
Audi motorsport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich: “I am very happy with the race result and the strong performance of our team. We had very good tactical moves and thus got our guys into good positions. Mattias and Martin succeeded in dominating this race. It was a tough race for everyone. The temperatures and the track required the maximum from the drivers. After Hockenheim, we suffered a little bit from the tyre problems. But here, we have found a good compromise between performance and durability.”
Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug: “Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see a particularly thrilling race today. This weekend, we initially had a good speed, but conditions have changed and in the race, we weren’t really able to attack. But we have defended in such a strong way, that Bruno was able to take over the lead in the points’ standings. For the EuroSpeedway Lausitz, were are in a good position.”
Note for the editor:
Martin Tomczyk’s car is currently still being examined by the officials.
