Photo: DTM.de

Spengler takes win number two

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Bruno Spengler is the man of the moment. After his maiden victory in Nürnberg four weeks ago, the 22-year old (AMG-Mercedes C-Class) also won at the Nürburgring, where he scored his second DTM race win. During the weekend, 116,000 spectators enjoyed a thrilling qualifying session and a top class race.

In the early stages, it rained, but after 14 laps, the ideal line became drier and the drivers changed to slicks. Spengler had the best way to cope with the difficult conditions in the sixth round of the season and celebrated a dominant lights-to-flag win. After 43 race laps and 156.047 kilometres, the Franco-Canadian finished ahead of fellow-Mercedes-Benz-driver Bernd Schneider, who crossed the finish line 10.7 seconds down. Martin Tomczyk finished third with his Audi A4 DTM, another 1.8 seconds down. The Bavarian was overjoyed as he had started tenth and made it onto the podium for the first time since the 2004 season final at Hockenheim.

For Tom Kristensen, Bernd Schneider’s main rival in the battle for the title, things weren’t going as planned. The Dane, who started third, locked up under braking on the 36th lap while running fourth. Mercedes-Benz-driver Jean Alesi and Kristensen’s team-mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen went past. Eventually, Kristensen came home fifth.

This allowed four times’ DTM champion Schneider to extend his lead in the championship standings. With 46 points, the driver from the Saarland is now twelve points ahead of two drivers who are tied in second place: both with 34 points, Kristensen and Spengler are the main rivals in the battle for the title. Stalwart Jean Alesi showed a strong performance in moving up from 14th on the grid to fourth at the finish with his AMG-Mercedes C-Class from last year.

Former F1-driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Audi Sport Team Abt) finished sixth ahead of fellow-Audi-driver Timo Scheider. Last year’s Nürburgring winner Mattias Ekström finished eighth with his Audi A4 DTM.

Two times Formula 1 world champion Mika Häkkinen (AMG Mercedes) had problems with the fuel can during his first pit stop and eventually finished twelfth.

In a fortnight already, on September 3rd, the battle for the championship lead goes into the next round. At Zandvoort in The Netherlands, Bruno Spengler could score his third win in a row in the seventh DTM round of the season, which would mean a hattrick.

Bruno Spengler (winner, DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG Mercedes): “After my win at the Norisring I was on cloud number seven, and I am even higher up after my win of today. It was a difficult race, in particular at the beginning when it rained. My car was just great, both in the wet and in the dry. The strategy was perfect, I changed from rain tyres to slicks exactly at the right moment.”

Bernd Schneider (2nd place, Vodafone AMG Mercedes): “I am very happy with second place. Today, conditions were very hard. Admittedly, my car and my strategy were very good, but Bruno was just quicker. Now, I have two rivals in the battle for the title, that doesn’t make things easier.”

Martin Tomczyk (3rd place, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): “Being on the podium again is a really, really good feeling. It has been a long time coming. I hope, I am now back on the right track. Hopefully, this success can be repeated this season. I had a good start and just drove my race. Eventually, third place is what came out.”