Quotes from the race at Zandvoort

Tom Kristensen won the race at Zandvoort last weekend. But the eyes were aimed at Bernd Schneider and his drive through the field. He started seventh and took second place in the end after passing Tomczyk with only two laps left. In this article we gather quotes from all of the DTM drivers about the race.

Tom Kristensen, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline (1st place):
“I feel great. This victory was very important for Audi. I had everything under control and my car was running perfectly. About 15 laps before the end I was beginning to lose braking power. Obviously, the supply of cooling air was clogged at the right front. I had to shift braking power to the rear and had merely three wheels left with proper braking performance. Both pit stops were good – the can getting stuck actually just shows how quick the boys have meanwhile become.”

Bernd Schneider, Vodafone AMG-Mercedes (2 nd place):
“This was more than I had expected after my seventh grid position, because overtaking is very difficult here. I thank my team for a great car, a perfect strategy and perfect pit stops. I was able to push throughout and the fight with Martin Tomczyk was fun. Now I look forward to the last three races of the season.”

Martin Tomczyk, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline (3rd place):
“Of course I’m satisfied. This was a 2004 revival except that this time Tom (Kristensen) was playing Mattias’ (Ekström) part in front of me. That was great teamwork with perfect pit stops. That I wasn’t able to keep Bernd (Schneider) at bay in the end is too bad. He was incredibly quick, was driving in my slipstream for ten laps and his tyres simply didn’t degrade – while mine did because I had to defend myself. That’s why he was able to overtake me three laps before the end.”

Bruno Spengler, DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG-Mercedes (4th place) :
“I had a poor start but our strategy helped me to move up. Fourth place is quite OK. It’s important that the gap to the front is not too big.“

Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline (5th place):
“This was one of my most interesting races in the DTM. Unfortunately I had two mishaps in it: on the second lap I left the racing line and the tyres got dirty. It cost me three laps to clean them again. Then I’d made up ground before stalling the engine while pitting – that was the second mishap. Altogether, though, I was able to attack well and had some nice duels.”

Timo Scheider, Audi Sport Team Rosberg (6th place):
“My start was super but in the first corner I got into a bit of a jam. We had a communication problem because our radio didn’t work. Tactically, this may have cost us one place which I lost to Bruno Spengler. I found out what the strategy was from the pit boards, but of course with a one-lap delay. I want to thank my team and my engineer, Karl, who chose exactly the right set-up off his own bat.”

Stefan Mücke, TV-Spielfilm AMG-Mercedes (7th place):
“To improve from 14th on the grid to seventh is OK. We wanted to score points and we achieved that. Maybe an earlier second pit stop would have been better.”

Jamie Green, Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes (8th place):
“My start was really bad and I dropped to fifth, because I had wheel spin. It’s a pity because I would have been able to drive faster than the Audis in front of me. When I was behind Mattias Ekström, he made a mistake under braking and then moved to the inside. That’s why we touched. Where should I go – when I make a mistake I admit it, but this was none.”

Pierre Kaffer, Audi Sport Team Phoenix (9th place):
“I improved by two positions at the start and overtook Bernd Schneider. Unfortunately, he bumped me in ‘Tarzan Bocht’ and was wass able to pass me this way. During my first pit stop the wheel nut apparently got jammed. After that, my pace was pretty good. Still, ninth place is disappointing. Today, a better result would have been possible.”

Daniel la Rosa, TrekStor AMG-Mercedes (10th place):
“I started well, but I had to make an early first pit stop because my tyres faded. An incident with Heinz-Harald Frentzen affected the balance of my car, so I have to be satisfied with 10th place.”

Mika Häkkinen, AMG-Mercedes (11th place) :
“The start was not as good as I had planned, but I wanted to avoid Bernd. I apologise to Christian Abt, my overtaking manoeuvre was a bit too much and it destroyed both our races as it affected the balance of my car. Our team did a great job and worked really hard throughout the weekend. My fastest race lap shows that a better result was possible. Now I look forward to the race in Barcelona in three week’s time.”

Susie Stoddart, AutoScout24 AMG-Mercedes (12th place) :
“A great race. Our team did a good job and the pit stops and strategy were perfect. I thank everybody – I’m overwhelmed.”

Mattias Ekström, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline (13th place):
“My start was very good. The car felt good all the way to the end. Only in traffic it was difficult because I had understeer when following other cars. I wasn’t able to overtake all that well. Being hit by Jamie (Green) meant a disappointing end of what was otherwise a good weekend. For Audi in particular, it was good because Tom (Kristensen) won.”

Frank Stippler, Audi Sport Team Rosberg (14th place):
“In the beginning my car felt good while the guys in front of me were a bit slower. That’s why I was shooting for too much too early, and my poor grid position played a role in this, too. Consequently, I spun. During contact with another car the right rear wheel house came off. The car was still relatively good, but I was no longer able to attack with it.”

Mathias Lauda, Second Hand AMG-Mercedes (15th place) :
“Yesterday’s qualifying was great, but not the race today.”

Nicolas Kiesa, Futurecom TME (16th place):
“At the start, I made up one or two places. In the chicane, though, Vanina crashed into my rear. I got stuck in the gravel. That was actually the end of my race. Still, I continued to drive. Basically, the car was running as planned because our race set-up was very good. The car was consistent, the loss of time on old tyres very little. That was only shown by the lap times, though, not by my position.”

Alexandros Margaritis, Easy Rent AMG-Mercedes (retired):
“On the first lap I was hit hard by Nicolas Kiesa four times, afterwards it was difficult to control the car. In the second half of the race the vibrations became stronger and stronger and on lap 24 I drove into the pits and retired.”

Jean Alesi, stern AMG-Mercedes (retired):
“I suffered from a loss of pressure in the power steering system, so I was not able to continue. It’s a pity.”

Christian Abt, Audi Sport Team Phoenix (Retired):
“Retiring from the race has been a big disappointment because my performance on the first laps was so good that I was able to keep up easily with Bruno Spengler and Timo Scheider. Spengler’s fourth place shows where we, too, could have finished today. This upsets me even more. That Mika (Häkkinen) received a drive-through penalty for is unnecessary attack isn’t a great deal of consolation for me.”

Vanina Ickx, Futurecom TME (Retired):
“It seems like I’m having a streak of very good starts but a problem with crossing the finish line. My engineer was satisfied with the performances this weekend – except for the early ‘end’ of the race of course. Now I need to start doing better in qualifying.”

Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport):
“Tom’s (Kristensen) victory was a good and well deserved one. He drove a flawless race, and the team’s pit stops, too, were top class. Unfortunately, in the Championship we only made up to two points to Bernd Schneider, which is less than we’d been hoping for. Despite great pit stops, we weren’t able to fully translate the squad’s good qualifying performance in the race. We need to continue to work on getting stronger as a team overall and improve our performance. Our goal continues to be taking home the title to Ingolstadt .”

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport:
“Bernd Schneider drove a great race. The HWA team’s strategy and pit stops were a real masterpiece, thanks to the entire team under Gerhard Ungar and Hans-Jürgen Mattheis. With his second place, Bernd lost two points compared to his pursuer Tom Kristensen – he started seventh and thanks to his performance, we all saw a great and exciting race. Jamie was on pole position but lost four positions at the start, what cost him the race. Congratulations to Tom Kristensen and Abt-Audi – even when you win with 0.7sec you deserve the victory.”