Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class Driver, Bruno Spengler finished in third and was the top-placed Mercedes-Benz driver at the fourth race of the DTM season, held at the Lausitzring circuit. After securing victory at the season opener at Hockenheim and second place in Zandvoort, it’s the third podium finish of the season for the Canadian driver.
Five AMG Mercedes C-Class drivers finished in the Top Ten: After 52 laps, Gary Paffett (THOMAS SABO AMG Mercedes C-Class) came home in fourth place behind Spengler. Jamie Green (AMG Mercedes C-Class), Christian Vietoris (Junge Sterne AMG Mercedes C-Class) and Maro Engel (GQ AMG Mercedes C-Class) finished in positions six, nine and ten. DTM rookie Vietoris’ ninth place was his best ever DTM result.
Ralf Schumacher (Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class) improved on his starting position of 17th to finish twelfth. David Coulthard (Deutsche Post AMG Mercedes C-Class) and Renger van der Zande (stern AMG Mercedes C-Class) came 13th and 14th respectively. Susie Stoddart (TV Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Class) was unable to start because of a technical problem.
Across the race weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), a total of 63,000 spectators visited the Lausitzring circuit to watch the DTM race.
Race summary
The start: Bruno Spengler is on pole for the tenth time in his DTM career, and defends his lead. Jamie Green runs in second place, Gary Paffett moves up one place and ends the first lap in fourth. Maro Engel moves up four places to P12. Susie Stoddart had technical problems before the start and is not competing.
Lap 2: Martin Tomczyk (Audi) overtakes Green in the battle for second place. Spengler maintains his lead of 2.4 seconds.
Lap 8: Three Mercedes-Benz drivers in the top 4: Spengler still leads from Tomczyk, with Green and Gary Paffett behind them in P3 and P4.
Lap 10: David Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher move up after overtaking Edoardo Mortara (Audi) and go into P13 and P14 respectively.
Lap 13 : The pit stop window is open and Paffett is the first Mercedes-Benz driver to come into the pit lane. Christian Vietoris also pits for fresh tyres.
Lap 14: Coulthard pits for his first mandatory stop.
Lap 15: Spengler comes in for his first mandatory stop in the lead. He goes back out in tenth place. Jamie Green pulls into the pits, emerging ahead of Paffett.
Lap 22: Ralf Schumacher in third place comes in for his first pit stop. Spengler, Paffett and Green are in P3, 4 and 5.
Lap 26: Maro Engel is the first Mercedes-Benz driver to complete his second mandatory pit stop. Vietoris also comes in for his second stop.
Lap 27: Renger van der Zande pits for the second time.
Lap 30: Second mandatory pit stop for Paffett. He reemerges in P6.
Lap 32: Spengler pits for a second time and emerges in fifth place.
Lap 33: Second and final pit stop for Schumacher.
Lap 42: Green overtakes Miguel Molina (Audi) and moves up into fifth place.
Final lap (Lap 52): After 52 laps and a total distance of 180.856 km, Bruno Spengler is the best-placed Mercedes-Benz driver, taking the third podium spot. Gary Paffett is fourth and Jamie Green secures sixth place. Christian Vietoris and Maro Engel complete the Top 10.
Comments after the race:
Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class) – Third:
“You can’t really be disappointed if you get onto the podium in such a hotly contested racing series as DTM – especially when it’s such a close race as we’ve had here at the Lausitzring. Martin Tomczyk put in a magnificent performance today to take a well deserved victory. At the same time, though, we’ve banked six valuable championship points. We’re intending to hit back in the next race at the Norisring, and I’m already looking forward to that.”
Gary Paffett (THOMAS SABO AMG Mercedes C-Class) – Fourth:
“I’m relatively happy with my result. Thanks to making a good start, I moved up one position, moving into fourth place. After a great pit stop, I was even able to pass Jamie. Throughout the race, my speed was a match for Bruno’s, who finished on the podium.”
Jamie Green (AMG Mercedes C-Class) – Sixth:
“After my second place in qualifying, I’m not pleased with sixth place. I lacked the necessary pace in the race. I also had some bad luck as a result of pit stops, dropping a couple of positions.”
Christian Vietoris (Junge Sterne AMG Mercedes C-Class) – Ninth:
“Ninth place is a good result for me. However, I am a little disappointed, because my first DTM point was within reach. Unfortunately, I dropped down a few places on the first lap, but managed to move back up during the race. We are on the right track.”
Maro Engel (GQ AMG Mercedes C-Class) – Tenth:
“Tenth place, after starting in 16th position is not too bad a result. Unfortunately, the weekend didn’t run entirely smoothly for us, and we couldn’t find our usual speed – in the next race at the Norisring, we want to regain our form from earlier this season.”
Ralf Schumacher (Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class) – Twelfth:
“I’m not happy with twelfth, but at least the race itself went better than the rest of the weekend. The second stint was really fun and my C-Class ran really well. I lost a little time on the first stint perhaps, but not much more was possible today.”
David Coulthard (Deutsche Post AMG Mercedes C-Class) – 13th:
“Unfortunately, I had problems with the car’s balance and couldn’t find my rhythm in the race. It was impossible for me to do better than P13. It was just not meant to be today.”
Renger van der Zande (stern AMG Mercedes C-Class) – 14th:
“I lost several positions right at the start. I got the impression that I was nudged by several other cars. I was short on speed during the race, but I’m also taking a few positives from it, namely that I’ve put in a fair few kilometres today and gained more DTM experience. I think I’ve familiarised myself with the car now and feel sure that I’ll soon be scoring better results.”
Susie Stoddart (TV Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Class) – retired:
“Today was just bad luck. My C-Class was running great this weekend, and we were really fast. Unfortunately, I started losing brake fluid. My mechanics did everything they could, but they weren’t finished in time for the start. That’s part of racing, so now I’ll just have to focus on the next race at the Norisring.”
Norbert Haug, Vice-President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport:
“Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. After five successive victories and nine P1 finishes in eleven races at the Lausitzring, we didn’t have the speed to win today. Our race setup certainly wasn’t optimum today. We intend to correct that in time for the Norisring in two weeks. Congratulations to Martin Tomczyk and Phoenix-Audi on an excellent performance.”
