Mercedes-drivers satisfied with strong premiere

Mercedes claimed a 1-2-3-4 in the opening round of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters at Hockenheim. Winning driver Gary Paffett was more than pleased.
“It is amazing. Yesterday I was on pole and today I won the race – a perfect weekend for Mercedes-Benz and for me. Our team did a great job and found the optimum set-up for the race; thank you to everybody,” said Paffett.

Paffett was overtaken by Audi’s Martin Tomzcyk at the start of the race, but retook the lead as Tomczyk suffered from a puncture. Paffett had then what looked like a race in full control.

“The race was not as easy as it might have looked like, as I had to look after my tyres throughout,” said Paffett.

Team mate Bruno Spengler finished a close second, just 0.5 seconds separated the both.

“I am very happy. The second place is my best start into a DTM season so far. It would be great to continue like this,” said Spengler.

Jamie Green took third place in his 2008 specification Mercedes C-Class.

“A great start into the season for me and the team; I thank everybody at Mercedes-Benz and at Persson Motorsport. To finish third with the 2008 C-Class feels like winning the race,” said Green.

DTM-newcomer and former F1-driver David Coulthard finished 12th and enjoyed his race.

“I have to optimise my starts – the start with the C-Class is different from one with a Formula One car. But the race was a good experience and the wheel-to-wheel fights were great fun,” said Coulthard.

Another DTM-newcomer and the first ever Chinese to take part in a DTM race was CongFu Cheng, finishing 13th.

“I am not satisfied, because I had a poor start and was not able to improve afterwards. At least I learned a lot during the race and I hope to achieve a better result next time,” said Cheng.