4th July, 2010
Green is DTM king at Norisring with third win in a row
DTM
Nuremberg. Racing fever in the heart of Nuremberg. 132,000 fans witnessed an exciting DTM race weekend at the Norisring and cheered race winner Jamie Green from Great Britain on Sunday. After 2008 and 2009, the Mercedes-Benz driver now won for the third time at the 2.3 kilometres long street circuit - and he did so every time with the same 2008-spec car. Over many laps, Green turned down the attacks by second-placed Mattias Ekström with the Audi A4 DTM, but eventually came out on top, finishing only 0.5 seconds ahead of the Swede. “Mattias was right behind me all the time, that wasn’t easy. At this track, making a mistake is easy. I am happy that I have managed to stay in front. Three wins in a row are a great wedding present. I dedicate this victory to my wife. We are unable to win football matches, but we can win races”, said the Brit, who now has won six DTM races.
Ekström was slightly disappointed by missing out on victory. “Of course, I am not overjoyed with my second place. I had the feeling that I was fastest. The car was so good, I could have raced for another hour. The tyres remained in a very good condition. But my opponent drove without making any mistakes and was clever enough to drive victory home. This track suits Jamie. We have already seen that in previous years.”
The leader in the points’ standings, Mercedes-Benz driver Bruno Spengler, crossed the finish line in third place and has extended his tally to 32 points. With the ten points for his race win, Green moved up into second place with 22 points, followed by Ekström, who now has a total of 21 points.
At the start, pole-sitter Ralf Schumacher remained in the lead with his AMG Mercedes C-Class. However, the stewards of the meeting gave him a drive-through penalty for a jump start. Schumacher came in as the race leader on lap seven and dropped back to 18th place. The German made up his way through the field and eventually came home eleventh.
Audi driver Timo Scheider controlled his damage. In qualifying on Saturday, the two times’ DTM champion was only tenth, but he improved his position during the race and scored points by finishing in fifth place behind Briton Oliver Jarvis (Audi). The winner of the Hockenheim season opener and third in the drivers’ standings, Mercedes-Benz driver Gary Paffett, finished sixth, followed by Alexandre Prémat from France (Audi).
Martin Tomczyk wasn’t happy. The German had a poor start from fourth place on the grid, losing ten positions. After 82 laps, the Audi driver still scored one championship point for eighth place. British driver Paul Di Resta (Mercedes-Benz), who had been runner-up in the drivers’ standings prior to the race, became the victim of a collision with Prémat on the opening lap. He spun and finished the race in tenth place. Scot David Coulthard failed to make it into the top ten and took the chequered flag in 13th place.
The fifth DTM race weekend of the year will be taking place at the Nürburgring in the Eifel from August 6th till 8th.
Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug: “That was a close win today. In the pit box, we had a problem with Bruno’s car. Otherwise, we would have had a 1-2 with him. Jamie has won for the third time with the same car. That has never happened before. The Norisring suits our car very well. We have very good traction and good acceleration out of the corners. Today, we were quite close and the Audis were surely capable of wining. All in all, it was a nice race with a good result for us.”
Audi motorsport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich: “After the qualifying result, we have got the maximum out of the race. We had a very good performance of the cars, good pit stops and a good strategy. Second place at the Norisring is good. The important thing is that we are back again.”
