Decisive DTM race at Oschersleben
Three races remain of the DTM 2011, next up is Oschersleben this weekend, a race that has proved decisive in a special way in the past. The winning driver of the three past Oschersleben races has won the title, with Timo Scheider in 2008 and 2009, as well as Paul Di Resta in 2010.
While the victory went to Mercedes last year, Audi has claimed victory in four of the last seven races at the track and current championship leader Martin Tomczyk is confident.
“Oschersleben has always been a great weekend for Audi in the past. Of course I’m hoping it’ll be the same again this year. There are many long corners that have always suited our Audi A4 DTM well,” said Tomczyk.
But Tomczyk is shadowed by main title rival and Mercedes driver Bruno Spengler by just one point ahead of Oschersleben.
“I like the Oschersleben track a lot – it is technically very demanding and poses one of the biggest challenges to driver fitness. The championship is still wide open. I have retaken the overall lead once this season already, and that’s my aim in these last three races, because the only thing that counts in the end is who heads on top of the table after the last race of the season,” said Spengler.
With the top two having pulled up a gap in the points standings, things are close for third. Audi drivers Mattias Ekström and Timo Scheider are on the same points for third, with Jamie Green, Mike Rockenfeller and Ralf Schumacher within eight points behind.
Ekström jumped up to third after his recent run of strong performance with a victory at Nürburgring and second at Brands Hatch.
“This year I simply want to experience a good weekend in every respect and show my maximum performance. We’ve got to wait and see whether it’ll be a podium, a victory or just a result among the top five. I remain modest. I’ve been going back and forth between happy feelings and disappointment only too often. I’m hoping for a flawless weekend from Friday to Sunday and to be able to show a top performance,” said Ekström.
Green, who is second best placed Mercedes driver in fifth, hopes to climb the order after Oschersleben.
“Oschersleben is a pretty unique track on the DTM calendar. It’s relatively slow and you must use the kerbs on every lap in order to get the best line, which makes very high demands on the car. I’ve achieved some good results here in the past, and have managed two podiums, finished third each time. My speed has always been good here – I hope to continue in the same vein this year and gain another decent result,” said Green.
