Mixed emotions for Audi after Norisring

Audi had a mixed Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters weekend at Norisring. Martin Tomczyk was best Audi driver in third after a strong drive from 10th on the grid, but lost the lead to Bruno Spengler.
“Naturally, third place after starting from position ten is outstanding. It couldn’’t have worked out any better than this. I’’m happy,” said Tomczyk.

The race was held in very wet conditions, in fact so wet that the stewards decided to halt the race early.

“Boy was that wet! And my car was simply superb – as the times have shown. When the pit stops started I didn’’t even know which position I was on. The water spray was so heavy that I simply drove my laps. The decision to stop the race was clearly right,” said Tomczyk.

Mattias Ekström was best Audi driver in qualifying with fourth on the grid, but lost to seventh at the end after being in the top fight earlier in the race.

“That was a very disappointing race end. I had the feeling that we had a good car. When the pit stops started and the rain was getting heavier everything went wrong for us. It’s simply disappointing to go home with two points when you’re in contention for a podium place,” said Ekström.

Timo Scheider was second best placed Audi driver in fourth and the double DTM champion was pleased.

“My race was quite okay. I had a decent start. And I think we had a good strategy. At the second pit stop we again used the first set of tires. That was definitely good. But then there was a lot of rain and that hurt us a bit. My thanks go to the guys for having done a flawless job. We kept the car on track, which was one of the most difficult tasks today,” said Scheider.

Tomczyk trails championship leader Spengler with just three points, with Scheider in third a further 12 points behind.