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Ekström wins at Lausitz

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The EuroSpeedway Lausitz round of the close battle for the 2005 DTM Drivers’ Championship turned out to be extremely thrilling. At the end of the absorbing race, Audi’s reigning champion, Mattias Ekström, defeated his closest opponent, Gary Paffett (AMG-Mercedes C-Class).

Thanks to today’s win, and with two more rounds to go, the Swede regained the lead, one point ahead of Paffett. Behind the two title contenders, Ekström’s team-mate Tom Kristensen finished third in the 48-lap (165.216 kilometres) race. While pole-sitter Jamie Green had to retire on lap 29 from 12th position, due to brake problems.

The 67,000 enthusiasts that travelled to the EuroSpeedway for the ninth DTM round witnessed motor racing at its best, with the championship leaders, Gary Paffett and Mattias Ekström, once again outclassing the rest of the field. From his fifth position on the grid, Ekström made a great start and in turn one, he moved up to third place, behind Opel drivers Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Manuel Reuter. Paffett, who had been seventh on the grid, needed four laps to move up to fourth position behind Ekström. From this point in time, the title contenders were involved in a thrilling and very fair battle that ended only at the finish line.

Paffett followed Ekström like a shadow and pressurised the Swede again and again, but at the end of the day, Ekström defended his lead to secure his eighth DTM win and regain the championship lead. Prior to the race in Turkey, that will be held in a fortnight, the 27-year old (69 points) holds a one-point lead over Paffett (68 points). Since the third round of the season, held at Spa-Francorchamps, the championship lead was swapped from Paffett to Ekström and vice versa following every single race.

Behind third placed Tom Kristensen (Audi Sport Team Abt), Frenchman Laurent Aiello and his team-mate, Manuel Reuter, finished fourth and fifth, in their Opel Vectras GTS V8. In the antepenultimate race of his career, Laurent Aiello secured his first top-five result in the 2005 season. During the course of the EuroSpeedway Lausitz DTM weekend, the Frenchman had announced to retire from motor racing, at the end of the 2005 season.

Opel’s Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who had impressed by qualifying second, held sixth position when he was involved in a collision with AMG-Mercedes C-Class driver Jean Alesi, on lap 44. The Frenchman was penalised with a drive-thru penalty, while Frentzen lost a position and finished seventh, behind Alesi’s team-mate Bruno Spengler. Alesi came eighth.

Mika Häkkinen, the idol of the public, was involved in a battle with Christian Abt (Audi A4 DTM) for eighth place. In lap 14, the opponents collided and at the end of the day, the two-time Formula One World Champion had to settle for 12th place.

The tenth and penultimate DTM round of the 2005 season will be held on 2nd October at the Istanbul Speedpark, in Turkey, while the Hockenheimring, located in Baden Württemberg, Germany, will be the venue of the season finale, taking place on 23rd October.