TouringCarTimes top ten drivers ranking

The 2008 edition of the DTM championship is finished and Timo Scheider ended the season on top and made sure the drivers crown stayed with Audi for another year. TouringCarTimes-writer and Swedish motorsport freelance journalist Ola Lennström has put together his own ranking of the DTM-drivers. There will be some surprises.

1. Timo Scheider

Not the obvious choice for the title when the season started. This was after all the driver that clinched his first ever podium in DTM at the final race of 2007. But as the season went on he looked more and more obvious.

Timo led the championship from the second round and also proved he could handle the pressure. Look no further than the pressure he withstood at Brands Hatch or the finale at Hockenheim. With three victories, four poles, six podiums and ten top five from 11 races, Timo delivered a perfect title campaign and is without a doubt a worthy champion.

2. Paul di Resta

After an impressive debut season last year in a two-year old Mercedes the young Scot proved he is a star of the future when he got his hands on a new Merc. Paul di Resta Mercedes’ charge from the early rounds proved he races both hard and fair, and he handled himself well off the track too. It’s hard to imagine this was only his second season in DTM.

3. Jamie Green

Finally Jamie Green seems to have put the ghosts of qualifying well but falling back in the races behind him. He continued his winning trend from last year and added two more victories this year. The brit was a title contender almost all the way, until he fell victim of a bad tyre call and a attack from Mattias Ekström.

4. Mattias Ekström

The reigning champion had somewhat of a messy year, mixing great wins with some rough driving. He opened up with a opening win once again and took two moer wins including a dominant display at Zandvoort. Won as many races as Timo Scheider but didn’t have the same consistency and this in the end lost him the chance of a third title.

5. Bernd Schneider

Mr. DTM got a fitting farewell season with a victory at an especially tricky Nürburgring and a pole position in Barcelona. He got a chance to show everyone the old Schneider still got it. Bernd Schneider can leave DTM proud over his final season in an impressive career.

6. Tom Kristensen

Another old dog might not have the results to show for it, but the fact is that Tom Kristensen had a very good year. It’s easy to underestimate just how severe his crash at the season opener last year was. He admitted himself he can still feel the effects from it.

Despite that and another ambitious Le Mans-programme the Dane managed to get three pole positions, only Timo Scheider had more, and it really was more bad luck than anything else that prevented him from winning at least one of those races. Two podiums from the first four races started the season on a high high but two scrappy results from the other two races quickly turned him into a supporting role at Audi and that set the tone for his season.

7. Alexandré Premat

For the second year in a row Premat was designated to an old Audi, but he still took it to a podium at Le Mans and was the best Audi 2007-driver. That is extra impressive since the year-old cars seemed to struggle more this year. Premat is another Timo Scheider waiting in the wings and he deserves a new Audi – if only one was available.

8. Gary Paffett

The former champion spent yet another year in an old Mercedes, probably thanks to still having F1-aspirations. The results might not be as eye catching as last year but Gary had some great races when the opportunity was there, most notably at Nürburgring, and he finished the year as the best driver of an year-old car.

9. Bruno Spengler

Last year he fought for the title but this year he mysteriously fell of the radar after initially having led the Mercedes title attack. No victories and just two podiums in such a good car as this year’s Mercedes isn’t good enough.

10. Olivier Jarvis

The battle among the 07 Audi drivers was hard and as a rookie Olivier Jarvis was thrown in at the deep end. He was beaten by Premat, Rockenfeller and Winkelhock in the championship but only with one point and he got valuable experience with 10 consecutive finishes from the 11 races. A very good rookie year in difficult circumstances.