Good day at the office for Audi

Audi enjoyed a solid set of results during the DTM race at Brands Hatch, despite not taking victory in the race. In a strong qualifying session, Audi saw six of their cars feature in the top ten, and this was followed up by five remaining in the top ten by the chequered flag.

Timo Scheider and Martin Tomczyk occupied the 2nd and 3rd steps of the podium respectively, in a result which greatly helped Scheider’s attempt to secure his second successive Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters championship title.

Speaking after the race Scheider said “I concentrated on the start and the start did go well, but on the outside I chose not to take any risk against Paul (Di Resta). So, I was a good boy and got right in line. I had no problem following him”.

Scheider has enjoyed a consistent season so far, with the disqualification at Zandvoort being the only time he has not finished in the top 5. The points he secured at Brands Hatch by finishing ahead of his title rivals are crucial.

“This has enabled me to extend my lead of the championship”, added Scheider.

Fresh from his victory at the Nürburgring, Tomczyk followed up with a solid third place. The German has enjoyed a rich vein of form in the four races since kick-starting his season with a fourth place at Zandvoort.

He had qualified fifth, so moving up to second was a welcome result,

“Advancing from fifth to third place is a good showing because overtaking is difficult at Brands Hatch. The whole strategy fit, and so did the whole race as a matter of fact. I had a great duel with Bruno (Spengler). That was tough but I was a step ahead and managed to overtake him”, said Tomczyk.

He was quick to add, “I’m also happy about our team performance. Timo (Scheider) was able to extend his lead of the championship. That was our goal”.

“Honestly speaking, my race was pretty boring”, was how the series champion of both 2004 and 2007, Mattias Ekström, chose to describe his day at Brands Hatch.

Ekström had qualified in seventh place, but fell back early on, and he explained “After that, nothing else happened. I drove as best I could. The car felt very good. I definitely had the pace of the front runners. When you start from seventh and run in eighth place after the first lap you can be happy to finish in fifth place”.

Oliver Jarvis was enjoying a solid race, when contact from Mercedes’ Jamie Green sent him spinning off-track. He rejoined by lost a number of places.

Speaking of the incident Jarvis said “I’m upset because I don’t know what Jamie (Green) was planning. This has been the second time in two years now and pretty foolish on his part”.

He did feel that some positives have come from the recovery drive, and the performance of the team, “I fought hard to score a point. The team performed two good stops and can be happy”, he added.

Tom Kristensen’s weekend began well, he qualified third on the grid for the race. However, from the moment the race was underway his fortune changed. Early contact with Spengler affected his car, and his pace dropped off as a result. To add to his woes, Kristensen’s race ended in the tyre wall, after further contact with Spengler in the closing laps.

The Dane’s final thought on the race made the perfect summation, “My race ended in the circuit barrier – a rough day”, he said.

Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, the Head of Audi Motorsport was pleased with the results his Audi team had achieved at Brands hatch.

“I’m very satisfied with the overall result. It was a strong team performance having three cars finish among the top five”, said Ullrich.

He went on to mention the fact that Scheider’s championship lead had been extended, “Two of our drivers mounted the podium. Timo (Scheider) was able to extend his lead of the championship.” he said.

The only real downside to the weekend was not taking the top step of the podium as well, “All in all, we can be happy with the race weekend. Of course it’s always nicer to go home with victory”, added Ullrich.

The top of the driver’s championship makes good viewing for Audi fans, with Scheider in the lead with 43 points, followed by Ekström on 38 points. The Swede currently has a 4 point advantage of Mercedes-Benz driver Gary Paffett.

Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline continue to lead the Team’s Classification, in which they have 65 points compared to the 63 points of the Salzgitter Mercedes-Benz team.