Augusto Farfus wins Hockenheim sizzler
RBM BMW’s Augusto Farfus has won a thrilling DTM season opener at Hockenheim ahead of BMW stablemate Dirk Werner and Mercedes’ Christian Vietoris after the Brazilian made his tyre strategy work to perfection.
Pole sitter Timo Scheider held the lead in his Abt Audi until Farfus, who also elected to start on the new for 2013 option tyre, took the lead after using his DRS towards the end of the fourth lap. Reigning champion Bruno Spengler also made a good start from seventh on the grid and was up to third come lap three.
However, Scheider lost any chance of the race win after he elected to stay out one lap later than everyone else who pitted on lap five due to the Safety Car period which came as a result of Adrien Tambay’s retirement.
The decision by the race winner to pit on lap five seemed to put him out of position as he spent the middle part of the race stuck in the midfield, but a pass on Mercedes’ Christian Vietoris – who despite suffering an appalling start which saw him drop to 11th, scored the first podium of his DTM career – put him back into contention later in the race.
DTM newcomer, Pascal Wehrlein, was another driver who elected to start on the option compound and inherited the lead after electing not to pit under the Safety Car on lap five. This decision saw the RSC Mucke driver lead Mercedes stablemates Daniel Juncadella and Gary Paffett until lap 21, when he made his first mandatory stop for the standard compound tyre.
The DTM season opener also proved to be yet another difficult exercise for Audi, after Timo Scheider finished the best pace of the Ingolstadt cars in sixth, with Mike Rockenfeller finishing two positions behind. Mattias Ekstrom and Edoardo Mortara endured difficult races following contact with each other going into the stadium. The Italian had to retire due to severe damage on the front and rear of his car with Ekstrom also parking his RS5 at the side of the track due to a loss of drive on lap 28.
