DTM: Norisring

[Plex]

Green tops Norisring practice

Last year's Norisring race winner Jamie Green topped the times in DTM free practice in his one-year-old Mercedes on Saturday.

The British driver, who is driving the same car that he took to victory on the street track one year ago following his demotion to an older car this season, was one of the first to do a qualifying simulation run in the closing minutes of the session, and he sat in the pits for the last five minutes as the rest of the field tried to topple his best effort.

Bruno Spengler, another former Norisring winner, came closest but was unable to improve after getting within one tenth of a second of Green's pace.

Mattias Ekstrom was third for Audi, after the Abt Sportsline team experimented with downforce levels on its cars.

Audi traditionally takes several of the aero devices off of the front of its A4s for this track, but it did start putting some elements back on to some of its cars during the middle part of the session.

After spending most of practice towards the bottom of the timesheets, Ralf Schumacher put in a strong lap towards the end which initially put him second behind Green. However, as others improved, the ex-Formula 1 racer eventually had to settle for fifth quickest, just ahead of two-time Norisring winner Gary Paffett.

Alexandre Premat was the top 2008-spec Audi after trading blows at the top with Green for a while. The Frenchman had an eventful session, which included several big lock-ups into the hairpins, and even a spin at the last corner on one of his hot laps.

The morning timetable required a bit of a shuffle to enable the drivers to get any significant track time, as the session was delayed for 90 minutes when some drain covers came loose on the track in the first 30 minutes, damaging any cars that ran over them.

The Audis of Mike Rockenfeller and Katherine Legge made slight contact with the drains which made their cars jump through the air, while Markus Winkelhock destroyed the floor and rear of his car when he smashed into one on the main straight.

Officials spent a long time working on a solution, choosing to weld some of the drains down, while the one destroyed by Winkelhock was filled with cement.

The session restarted once that was complete, but the main straight was placed under yellow flags with the cement area deemed out of bounds to enable it to set properly.

Pos Driver Car Time Gap
1. Jamie Green Mercedes 48.405s
2. Bruno Spengler Mercedes 48.466s + 0.061s
3. Mattias Ekstrom Audi 48.547s + 0.142s
4. Timo Scheider Audi 48.553s + 0.148s
5. Ralf Schumacher Mercedes 48.608s + 0.203s
6. Gary Paffett Mercedes 48.614s + 0.209s
7. Alexandre Premat Audi 48.634s + 0.229s
8. Paul di Resta Mercedes 48.689s + 0.284s
9. Mathias Lauda Mercedes 48.710s + 0.305s
10. Maro Engel Mercedes 48.768s + 0.363s
11. Martin Tomczyk Audi 48.787s + 0.382s
12. Tom Kristensen Audi 48.791s + 0.386s
13. Susie Stoddart Mercedes 48.851s + 0.446s
14. Mike Rockenfeller Audi 48.856s + 0.451s
15. Oliver Jarvis Audi 48.995s + 0.590s
16. Katherine Legge Audi 49.072s + 0.667s
17. Markus Winkelhock Audi 49.160s + 0.755s
18. Tomas Kostka Audi 49.388s + 0.983s
19. Christian Bakkerud Audi 49.399s + 0.994s

Autosport

[Plex]

Scheider takes Norisring pole

Timo Scheider gave Audi its first pole at the Norisring since 2005 in a turbulent qualifying session on Saturday afternoon.

Mattias Ekstrom will join his Abt Sportsline team-mate on the front row, as Audi bids to win on the German street track for the first time since Laurent Aiello's 2002 victory.

Qualifying was chaotic, with changing weather conditions and confusion over the rules all playing their part.

The track was wet for Q1, but by the end of Q2 it was drying quickly. That caught out several drivers, with Tom Kristensen and Paul di Resta being bumped out of the top eight in the dying seconds.

There was a sprinkle of rain at the start of Q3, but when that ceased the track dried again, meaning that completing a lap at the end was key.

Ralf Schumacher, Maro Engel and Jamie Green all stayed out and thought they had got themselves into Q4, but they exceeded the maximum number of laps, so missed out on the pole shootout.

After a long delay while the situation was cleared up, that left Scheider and Ekstrom battling the Mercedes of Bruno Spengler and Gary Paffett for pole, with the C-class drivers going first in the one lap showdown.

While Spengler's time was enough to prevent Paffett taking the top spot at the time, the Canadian was bumped down to third when the Audis came across the line.

Green, who had been one of the pacesetters throughout qualifying, was classified fifth in his one-year-old car, while another star of the session was Katherine Legge, who is set to start from eighth.

Despite missing out on Q4 in the confusion, Ralf Schumacher still scored his best ever DTM qualifying result with seventh.

However, the order of places fifth to eighth could still change, with the stewards currently looking into the matter.

Pos Driver Car Time
1. Timo Scheider Audi 49.012s
2. Mattias Ekstrom Audi 49.123s
3. Bruno Spengler Mercedes 49.159s
4. Gary Paffett Mercedes 49.329s
5. Jamie Green Mercedes 48.744s
6. Maro Engel Mercedes 49.061s
7. Ralf Schumacher Mercedes 49.085s
8. Katherine Legge Audi 49.406s
9. Tom Kristensen Audi 49.356s
10. Paul di Resta Mercedes 49.440s
11. Susie Stoddart Mercedes 49.511s
12. Mike Rockenfeller Audi 49.653s
13. Martin Tomczyk Audi 49.939s
14. Alexandre Premat Audi 49.944s
15. Mathias Lauda Mercedes 54.127s
16. Tomas Kostka Audi 54.178s
17. Oliver Jarvis Audi 54.199s
18. Christian Bakkerud Audi 54.365s
19. Markus Winkelhock Audi

Autosport

[Plex]

Green beats Audi in Norisring thriller

Jamie Green denied Audi its first victory at the Norisring since 2002 with a dramatic pass on Timo Scheider on the penultimate lap in a thrilling finish at the German street circuit.

Green's achievement was all the more impressive given that the Briton was driving a 2008-specification Mercedes - it was only the second time a year-old car has won a DTM race (stablemate Gary Paffett was the first at Oschersleben in 2007).

Green had sat in third for most of the final stint behind Scheider and Bruno Spengler, having put in a very strong middle stint to get himself into contention during the pit stops.

There had been little action at the front, but the battle at the front then exploded into life when Spengler finally attacked Scheider at the final corner with five laps to go, grabbing the lead.

The Canadian then overshot the first corner on the next lap, losing out to Scheider and Green in the process. Spengler was then left to fend off Mattias Ekstrom, who had slowly caught the leaders in the closing stages.

Ahead of them, Green briefly got alongside Scheider in the middle of Turn 1 with two laps to go. They were side by side out of the corner with the Mercedes on the left, before Green jinked back to the right to have the inside for Turn 2.

They went through the corner together, with Green then chopping across the front of the Audi to take the lead at Turn 3.

Spengler was able to follow him past Scheider at the same point, while Ekstrom also picked off the reigning champion.

The battle between the top four had allowed Gary Paffett, Ralf Schumacher and Paul di Resta to close up as well. Despite a small error from Scheider at Turn 1, he was able to keep the remaining Mercedes at bay, and less than four seconds covered the top seven at the finish.

Pos Driver Car Time/Gap
1. Jamie Green Mercedes 1h08m39.223s
2. Bruno Spengler Mercedes + 1.357s
3. Mattias Ekstrom Audi + 1.678s
4. Timo Scheider Audi + 2.626s
5. Gary Paffett Mercedes + 2.940s
6. Ralf Schumacher Mercedes + 3.250s
7. Paul di Resta Mercedes + 3.807s
8. Tom Kristensen Audi + 9.266s
9. Mike Rockenfeller Audi + 9.787s
10. Susie Stoddart Mercedes + 14.423s
11. Martin Tomczyk Audi + 29.331s
12. Katherine Legge Audi + 30.430s
13. Markus Winkelhock Audi + 30.931s
14. Mathias Lauda Mercedes + 1 lap
15. Christian Bakkerud Audi + 1 lap

Retirements:

Maro Engel Mercedes 46 laps
Alexandre Premat Audi 36 laps
Tomas Kostka Audi 1 laps
Oliver Jarvis Audi 0 laps

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