Photo: DTM Media

Kristensen: “I’ll enjoy every minute of ’09”

By

Tom Kristensen seemingly got inspired after announcing his retirement from the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters as he won the first race of his final season.
“This win is fantastic. The ten points are really valuable for me. This is my last DTM season. I’ll enjoy every minute of it, and it started off extremely well,” said Kristensen.

Kristensen qualified second and followed fellow Audi driver Mattias Ekström for almost the entire race.

As Ekström got a puncture with three laps left, Kristensen took over the lead.

“In the end, I was able to perfectly understand Mattias’ feelings because, at Brands Hatch in 2006, I was leading the race and was also deprived of victory by a technical reason. We already talked about this. He had a perfect weekend and now goes home empty-handed,” said Kristensen.

But Kristensen did not get it all easy as reigning champion Timo Scheider put hard pressure on him during the final laps.

“I kept my cool, avoided making mistakes and paid attention to good traction. Timo (Scheider) chased me throughout the race,” said Kristensen.

Next stop for the DTM is Lausitzring on May the 31st.