Newly opened Red Bull Ring next up for DTM
The newly opened Red Bull Ring, formerly known as A1 Ring, hosts the third Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters race of the season this weekend. DTM last raced at the track in 2003, a race dominated by Mercedes.
And Mercedes has taken the leading role of the DTM 2011, with Canadian driver Bruno Spengler in the lead after a victory at Hockenheim and a second place at Zandvoort one month ago.
While Mercedes has won all races so far run on the Austrian track, including a 1-2-3-4 in 2002, more about that further down, it is hard to predict an advantage for either Mercedes or Audi.
Four Audi drivers are on the hunt for Spengler in the lead with Mike Rockenfeller in second, Martin Tomczyk third, Mattias Ekström fourth and Timo Scheider sixth. The Audi quartet is separated by just one point, although trailing Spengler with eight.
Returning to the 2002 race when Mercedes managed to claim a 1-2-3-4. The race went down in history as one of the closest and most exciting DTM races ever.
Marcel Fässler finally managed to secure the victory ahead of Bernd Schneider, Jean Alesi and Uwe Alzen. But it was not until the final race the order was decided, Audi men Laurent Aiello and Mattias Ekström were right in the thick of the action.
Watch the frantic final couple of laps in this video:
