Jamie Green takes 2nd win of the season

Mercedes driver Jamie Green has taken his second victory of the 2008 DTM season at the Norisring. At the short track on the streets of Neurenberg, Greens win was almost unthreatened after he took the lead at the start. Pole sitter Bruno Spengler took second place in the race, while Timo Scheider was the only Audi driver on the podium in third.

At the start of the race, Jamie Green got away better off the line than pole sitter Bruno Spengler. At the first corner, the Canadian had to allow Green to take the lead. Timo Scheider had a bad start as well, as he dropped from fourth back to seventh.

On lap 4 of the race, Tom Kristensen took over fourth place from Martin Tomczyk in the Grundig hairpin. It was the start of all the troubles Tomczyk was going to suffer during the race.

At the start of the eight lap, Jamie Green already had opened up a small gap to Bruno Spengler. A lap later Spengler even lost another place to Di Resta, after the Scotsman set up a good overtaking manouvre at the Grundig hairpin.

Lap 11 saw another problem for Martin Tomczyk. Ekström had already overtaken Tomczyk, and now the young German driver lost another place to championship leader Timo Scheider. On the cut back, he made contact with the front of Bernd Schneiders car. A lap later Schneider tried to take revenge, but Tomczyk stayed ahead of him, but Gary Paffett was the laughing third and overtook both of them to take fifth place. On lap 16, Tomczyk outbraked himself again at the Grundig hairpin, and Schneider didn’t hesitate to take advantage.

Paul di Resta, who had dropped back a place behind Spengler, hit trouble on lap 20. Under severe pressure from Tom Kristensen, the scotsman made an error and spun at the Grundig hairpin. He dropped back a couple of places, but was able to continue his race. Kristensen couldn’t enjoy his third place for long, as Mattias Ekström overtook him on lap 21 at the same spot Di Resta had spun.

On the 23rd lap Tomczyk’s problems became terminal. Coming up to the chicane after the Grundig hairpin, his throttle was stuck fully open. The Audi driver responded quickly in a professional way and used the guard-rail to slow his car down. However, he was not able to continue his race.

Bruno Spengler and Mattias Ekström opened the pit stops at the beginning of lap 25, and the rest of the top of the field soon followed in the laps after. Timo Scheider was the only driver to win a place during the stops, pushing his team mate Tom Kristensen a place down.

Christijan Albers was the second casualty of the afternoon, as he had to retire from 14th place. He parked his car into the garage with steering problems on lap 32.

On lap 35, it were Gary Paffett and Bernd Schneider who opened the second sequence of mandatory pit stops. Tom Kristensen and Paul di Resta responded a lap later, and kept in front after their stops. The rest of the front runners soon followed as well, with Jamie Green as the last one on lap 40. The Englishman was so keen to stay in front, he drove away from the pitstop to fast for his mechanics to get out the petrol refill tank. He lost the tank however at the end of the main straight in the Grundig hairpin.

It seemed Jamie Green could continue unthreatened to the finish of the race, but on lap 54 Bruno Spengler, Mattias Ekström and Timo Scheider were back up his tail. Green noticed the warning and created a small gap again.

On lap 54 Gary Paffett overtook Tom Kristensen at the Dutzenteich hairpin. On lap 56 it was obvious the Dane had braking problems, as Paul di Resta had easy task passing him at the Grundig hairpin. Three laps later Kristensen outbraked himself again at the Dutzenteich hairpin, and had to let Bernd Schneider past.

Lap 69 saw the last car failing to finish, as the front right brake of Ralf Schumachers car exploded as he approached the Grundig haipin. The German driver spun in spectacular fashion and had to retire.

On the last couple of laps, Timo Scheider put some pressure on his team mate Mattias Ekström to take over third place, and he succeeded in doing this in the last corner of the last lap. By taking third place, Scheider kept the lead in the championship with a one point lead over Jamie Green.