Jamie Green and Audi are the first winners in Hockenheim
Audi Sport Team Rosberg driver Jamie Green had a lights-to-flag victory today in the first race of the weekend at Hockenheim, host of the first round of the 2015 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters.
News came just before the start that Augusto Farfus had been excluded from the qualifying as he run out of fuel and couldn’t get back to the pits on his own means. Gary Paffett was also sent to the back of the grid as he had broken the parc fermé.
Green’s victory was far from easy. The Briton built up an impressive lead right from the very first lap, getting away from Mercedes’ Pascal Wehrlein and Edoardo Mortara.
On the first lap an incident involving several cars ended with Mercedes’ Robert Wickens and Audi’s Timo Scheider returning to the pits to retire.
Paul di Resta overtook his team mate to climb up to second place. Tom Blomqvist retired from the race early on, as Christian Vietoris, Bruno Spengler and Augusto Farfus were in a charge to recover positions, having started at the back of the grid.
On the tenth lap, Maximilian Götz hit Miguel Molina, causing the Spaniard to retire. One lap later, Daniel Juncadella went straight into the barriers at Sachs, causing the first Safety Car of the race. The neutralisation lasted for two laps.
At the restart, Green pulled away again from Di Resta. Mattias Ekström was attacking Adrien Tambay, and both made contact several times, with the Swede coming into the pits for the only tyre change of the race.
The biggest incident of the race happened on lap 15, when BMW’s Martin Tomczyk spun whilst trying to overtake Mercedes’ Lucas Auer, collecting Gary Paffett in the process. The Safety Car was called into action for two laps, and all three drivers involved had to retire.
The race resumed with 10 minutes on the clock. Green pulled away again, but received a black and white flag as a warning for track limits.
In the closing stages, Pascal Wehrlein overtook Paul Di Resta for second place. The Scot came under attack from Edoardo Mortara, but the Italian backed off after a couple of laps.
At the chequered flag, Jamie Green took his ninth DTM career victory, with 2.3 seconds advantage over Wehrlein. Paul Di Resta completed the podium.
Edoardo Mortara was fourth for Audi, followed by his team mates Mike Rockenfeller and Nico Müller.
Maxime Martin was the top man for BMW in seventh place. Team mates Timo Glock, Marco Wittmann and Augusto Farfus completed the point scoring positions.
Jamie Green: “The car is very good but the race was complicated, as I lost my advantage twice. Still, I’m happy to start the year on top.”
DTM action resumes tomorrow with the warm up at 9:00. The qualifying for Race 2 is scheduled for 10:35, with the race start at 13.43 (all times are CEST). The second race will have a duration of 60 minutes plus one lap, and one pit stop is compulsory.
