Final on the main straight: Tomczyk wins DTM thriller
Zandvoort. A heart-stopping final in front of 74,500 spectators in the seventh DTM race of the season at Zandvoort in The Netherlands. After exciting duels between the two Audi drivers Alexandre Pr?mat with his year-old car and Martin Tomczyk, Pr?mat looked on course for victory. But only a few yards before crossing the finish line, his German fellow Audi driver Tomczyk still found a way past the 25-year old and thus claimed his first DTM victory of the season. ?I dedicate this win to my late grandfather?, Tomczyk said, moved by the second victory of his DTM career.
The battle for third place brought thrilling position fights between various drivers as well. Mattias Ekstr?m from Sweden, the leader in the points? standings, first overtook Mercedes-Benz driver Bruno Spengler for fourth on the last two laps and then went on to claim what would have been the maiden podium finish for fellow Audi driver Timo Scheider (D), also just before the finish. Thus, the 29-year old maintained the lead in the points? standings with 38 points. Because of his success of today, Tomczyk is now his main rival in the battle for the title, eight points down. Spengler is third with 26 points.
40-year old Christian Abt (D) finished sixth with his Audi A4 DTM on his final DTM appearance at Zandvoort. The driver from Kempten will end his DTM-career at the end of this season. Finnish Mercedes-Benz driver Mika H?kkinen failed to repeat his success from the previous race in Mugello, Italy. The former Formula 1 world champion had a hot fight with Ekstr?m but had to let the Swede past on lap 33. H?kkinen finished seventh. The crowd?s favourite was followed home by fellow Mercedes-Benz driver Alexandros Margaritis (GRE), who scored one more championship point by finishing eighth. The winner of 2005, Gary Paffett (GB) and Mike Rockenfeller (D) completed the top ten. The race on the North Sea coast ran over a distance of 38 laps, equalling 163.666 kilometres.
The eighth DTM round of the season will be taking part at the N?rburgring in the Eifel from August 31st till September 2nd.
Martin Tomczyk (winner, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): ?A great car, a great strategy and good teamwork, that was the key to success today. Great thanks to Alexandre Pr?mat who let me pass at the end, allowing me to score important points in the battle for the title.?
Alexandre Pr?mat (2nd place, Audi Sport Team Phoenix): ?Today, it was a very hard race. The strategy was the decisive factor. The decision to let Martin win was made all my myself as he is needing the points more than I and I don?t have any chance of winning the title. That was classic team work.?
Mattias Ekstr?m (3rd place, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): ?I had a very good race today with a constantly good car. It was real fun. I had nice fights with Mika H?kkinen and Bruno Spengler that I managed to decide in my favour.?
Bruno Spengler (5th place, DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG Mercedes): ?My team has dome a tremendous job. Very quick pit stop and a good strategy brought me all the way up to third place in the race. At the pit lane exit, I was pushed towards the pit wall by Christian Abt, that was a very dangerous situation for the marshals standing there. Later omin the race Timo Scheider drove into my car a couple of times, damaging the aerodynamics on the left rear. He just kept pushing me until he could overtake me. Generally, this race wasn?t fair. Of course it is helpful that we will have ten kilograms less on board at the N?rburgring. And eventually, we will see what the situation will be like in the championship.?
Audi motorsport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich: ?Once again, it was an impressive race weekend at Zandvoort. In spite of the weather, that wasn?t too good, many spectators came to watch. Yesterday in qualifying we have shown a very good team performance and we were able to repeat that today in the race. It was a hard and exciting race that ended with a very good result for us. The fact that Alexandre Pr?mat and Timo Scheider decided by themselves to let Martin Tomczyk and Mattias Ekstr?m through was also part of the team work. This was no decision made by us. Even though the N?rburgring is not exactly an Audi circuit, I am now looking forward to the next round in Germany because in fact, Hockenheim wasn?t an Audi circuit either, and we still won the season opener there.?
Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug: ?Surely it will not come as a surprise that my impression of the race is much different than Dr. Ullrich?s. Bruno Spengler was well underway towards second place. But firstly Christian Abt ran into his car in the pit lane and later on in the race, it was Timo Scheider. I totally accept tough races. But what we have seen on the track here today certainly wasn?t what we at Mercedes-Benz want. This behaviour wasn?t correct and in fact we do not want to be forced to take revenge in the same way. Of course, we like to win, but we are also good losers at the same time. After all, we have seen how a large share of the spectators has reacted during the prize-giving ceremony. My verdict about the race is that it was too much and therefore not right. I am happy with the lap times in the race as they were absolutely competitive. Our speed was good, too.?
