Audi and Scheider march on

Audi claimed yet another 1-2-3 finish in the 2009 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season, as Timo Scheider took an emphatic victory to further bolster his championship challenge.

Completing the top three behind Scheider were Tom Kristensen and Martin Tomczyk, as Audi again showed their pace.

Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, the Head of Audi Motorsport, reflected very positively on what was a solid weekend for Audi.

“I’m happy in every respect. It was a nearly perfect weekend.”, said Ullrich, whose only concern was with qualifying.

Ullrich added “We were able to convert this into such a good race result is due to the fact that everyone did a perfect job”.

In conclusion Ullrich stated that the result was “An important step toward the championship – but that’s still quite a way away”.

At such a critical time in the season Timo Scheider would have hoped for more in qualifying, but had to settle for 5th place on the grid.

When the lights went out, Scheider catapulted himself off the line perfectly. As the pack reached the first corner, Scheider had taken the lead of the race, and from that point he always headed the field.

“An incredible weekend – and an incredible start”, is how Scheider chose to summarise up the race.

Reflecting on what the result means in the championship race, Scheider stated “We clinched a nice victory, which is a very good feeling. And in the championship we’ve now got a lead of twelve points”.

Scheider heads into the penultimate race with a healthy, but equally vulnerable, 12-point advantage over second placed Mattias Ekström.

Pole sitter for the race in Catalunya was Tom Kristensen, but the Dane was helpless to prevent Scheider assuming off the line.

Kristensen finished the race second after being unable to catch Scheider.

Speaking of the race start, Kristensen said “My start was good. I already saw Paul Di Resta and Martin Tomczyk in my mirror and was quite surprised to suddenly see Timo pass me on the left. I thought he might have jump-started and actually considered my response time at the start to be pretty good for a 42-year-old”.

In claiming his pole position for the race Kristensen set the track record at Catalunya, and he felt that added to the success during the weekend.

“That was a perfect weekend. Track record in qualifying, one-two-three win for Audi from the pole position”, he said.

Martin Tomczyk has enjoyed a brilliant run of form, since resurrecting his season at Zandvoort in June. In the past four races he has featured on the podium every time. The only other driver who can boast a better record is championship leader Scheider.

Tomczyk spoke of his recent run of form, and said “Things are really going well at the moment. It’s nice to be standing on the podium and being able to reward the hard work of the team by clinching places one, two and three”.

Mattias Ekström is the only one of the top four drivers in the standings to not have won a race so far in 2009.

Despite this fact, the Swede has consistently finished in the points, and is poised to strike back at Scheider in the final two rounds of the season.

Ekström was battling with Mercedes’ Gary Paffett during the race, and felt he had the pace to pass, but circumstances worked against him.

“I drove as best I could. In the end I approached Gary Paffett on better tires. He tried to block me as much as he could. Although we only exchanged a bit of paint I received a warning”, said Scheider of the tussle.

Ekström added “Now I’ve got a twelve-point gap. That’s a lot but the season isn’t over yet”.

The next race of the DTM is at the Dijon-Prenois situated in the Burgundy area of France, with Free Practice and Qualifying on Saturday 10th October, and racing on Sunday 11th.