By Glenn Freeman Tuesday, July 24th 2007, 10:22 GMT
Mika Hakkinen has said that his second DTM victory of the season has given him the boost that he needs to make up ground in the championship.
The Finn has been unlucky on several occasions this season, but last time out at Mugello the timing of the safety car played into his hands, and he was able to win the race from 15th on the grid.
However, Hakkinen believes that the second half of the race was a good test for him, as he sustained intense pressure from Mattias Ekstrom to hold on for the win.
"It was good to put myself through those last laps of concentration and not make any mistakes," he said. "This really fires me up in a positive way.
"My team is more motivated than ever as we managed to reduce the gap to the leaders of the championship."
Hakkinen is still 12 points adrift of championship leader Mattias Ekstrom with four races to go, and he admitted that he is not thinking about the championship too much yet, as the series heads to Zandvoort, where Audi are traditionally strong.
"It is important to analyse one race at a time, so I'm not really thinking about the championship," he said.
"As every year, the sand in Zandvoort makes the track a bit trickier than it should be, but it is the same for everybody and we will try again to launch a massive attack."
