DTM : Hockenheim 2012

Plex · Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 7:30 am Post subject: DTM : Hockenheim 2012

Bruno Spengler puts BMW on top in Hockenheim DTM practice

Bruno Spengler gave the DTM establishment a shock by setting the pace in the final free practice session at Hockenheim on Saturday morning for BMW.

The manufacturer, which is returning to the championship this weekend after 20 years away, was off the pace during Friday's opening session, but had one or more of its M3 DTMs near or at the front throughout the 90 minutes.

Andy Priaulx and Joey Hand both spent time occupying the top spot within the second half of the session, but it was Spengler who wound up fastest; the Schnitzer driver's 1m33.512s lap the fastest of the weekend so far.

The man Spengler knocked off the top was Rosberg Audi driver Edoardo Mortara, who continued the strong from shown by his team-mate Filipe Albuquerque on Friday. The Italian was just 0.007s slower than Spengler.

Mattias Ekstrom - who had one nervy moment when he outbraked himself and went straight on at the Spitzkehre - and Mike Rockenfeller were third and fourth, and less than a tenth off the pace for the Abt and Phoenix teams respectively, with Albuquerque next up to ensure Audi drivers took four of the top five positions.

Jamie Green was the best Mercedes driver in sixth for HWA, ahead of Timo Scheider (Abt), Miguel Molina (Phoenix), Christian Vietoris (HWA), and Hand, who was the top rookie in his RMG BMW.

Champion Martin Tomczyk had an off-track moment at the Spitzkehre in his RMG BMW on his way to 18th spot while Roberto Merhi, 16th in his Persson Mercedes, went off three times, each without drama or a spin.

Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Bruno Spengler Schnitzer BMW 1m33.512s
2. Edoardo Mortara Rosberg Audi 1m33.519s + 0.007s
3. Mattias Ekström Abt Audi 1m33.546s + 0.034s
4. Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi 1m33.582s + 0.070s
5. Filipe Albuquerque Rosberg Audi 1m33.771s + 0.259s
6. Jamie Green HWA Mercedes 1m33.781s + 0.269s
7. Timo Scheider Abt Audi 1m33.811s + 0.299s
8. Miguel Molina Phoenix Audi 1m33.870s + 0.358s
9. Christian Vietoris HWA Mercedes 1m33.927s + 0.415s
10. Joey Hand RMG BMW 1m33.928s + 0.416s
11. Dirk Werner Schnitzer BMW 1m33.983s + 0.471s
12. Andy Priaulx RBM BMW 1m34.000s + 0.488s
13. Gary Paffett HWA Mercedes 1m34.122s + 0.610s
14. Augusto Farfus RMG BMW 1m34.201s + 0.689s
15. Adrien Tambay Abt Audi 1m34.225s + 0.713s
16. Roberto Merhi Persson Mercedes 1m34.451s + 0.939s
17. Ralf Schumacher HWA Mercedes 1m34.465s + 0.953s
18. Martin Tomczyk RMG BMW 1m34.495s + 0.983s
19. Robert Wickens Mucke Mercedes 1m34.810s + 1.298s
20. David Coulthard Mucke Mercedes 1m34.919s + 1.407s
21. Susie Wolff Persson Mercedes 1m35.036s + 1.524s
22. Rahel Frey Abt Audi 1m35.381s + 1.869s

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Plex · Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:27 pm Post subject:

Mattias Ekstrom takes Hockenheim DTM pole for Audi as Dirk Werner puts BMW third

Mattias Ekstrom claimed pole position for the opening round of the 2012 DTM with a storming lap at Hockenheim, while BMW's Dirk Werner caused a shock by making it onto the second row.

Ekstrom produced a controlled lap of 1m34.680s in Q4 while the other three drivers that made it into the final part of qualifying all made mistakes that cost them a shot at pole.

HWA Mercedes driver Jamie Green had been fastest in Q3 and therefore was the last to take to the track in Q4, but locked his brakes up at Turn 2, missing the apex. Althogh he recovered some of the lost time in the remainder of the lap, he wound up 0.215 seconds adrift of Abt Audi driver Ekstrom, who claimed his 20th DTM pole.

Schnitzer driver Werner ran wide at the Spitzkehre on his Q4 lap, but was still able to take third on the grid on BMW's series return, ahead of Edoardo Mortara, who ran wide at the Nordkurve in his Rosberg Audi.

Following the session, both Werner and Mortara had their Q4 times taken away after the BMW left the pitlane while the red light was still on and the Audi man had his wide moment judged to have been 'exceeding the track limits' by race officials. As Werner had been faster in Q3, these penalties had no effect on either man's grid position.

Mike Rockenfeller was the first driver to post a time in Q3, but the Phoenix Audi returnee saw his name tumble down the timesheets as the 10 minutes drew by. His time put him fifth on the grid, ahead of HWA's Gary Paffett, the RBM BMW of impressive rookie Andy Priaulx and Timo Scheider's Abt Audi.

Bruno Spengler, who set the pace in Q2, will start ninth in his Schnitzer BMW, ahead of defending champion Martin Tomczyk's RMG-run example.

Ralf Schumacher was the biggest casualty of Q2, the HWA Mercedes driver being knocked out of the crucial 10th spot by Priaulx after the chequered flag had come out. One place behind him was Abt's Adrien Tambay, who impressively outqualified his Audi stablemates Filipe Albuquerque (Rosberg) and Miguel Molina (Phoenix) on his series debut.

The main moment of drama in Q1 came in the dying seconds when RMG BMW driver Joey Hand, at that point 19th and heading out of the session, leapt up to seventh on his final lap, knocking out Molina. Hand eventually qualified 16th.

Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi 1m34.680s
2. Jamie Green HWA Mercedes 1m34.895s + 0.215s
3. Dirk Werner Schnitzer BMW No time
4. Edoardo Mortara Rosberg Audi No time
5. Mike Rockenfeller Abt Audi 1m34.264s Q3
6. Gary Paffett HWA Mercedes 1m34.287s Q3
7. Andy Priaulx RBM BMW 1m34.299s Q3
8. Timo Scheider Abt Audi 1m34.389s Q3
9. Bruno Spengler Schnitzer BMW 1m34.512s Q3
10. Martin Tomczyk RMG BMW 1m34.819s Q3
11. Ralf Schumacher HWA Mercedes 1m34.390s Q2
12. Adrien Tambay Abt Audi 1m34.509s Q2
13. Robert Wickens Persson Mercedes 1m34.538s Q2
14. Filipe Albuquerque Rosberg Audi 1m34.555s Q2
15. Christian Vietoris HWA Mercedes 1m34.783s Q2
16. Joey Hand RMG BMW 1m35.140s Q2
17. Miguel Molina Phoenix Audi 1m34.926s Q1
18. David Coulthard Mucke Mercedes 1m34.932s Q1
19. Augusto Farfus RBM BMW 1m35.104s Q1
20. Roberto Merhi Persson Mercedes 1m35.167s Q1
21. Susie Wolff Mucke Mercedes 1m35.776s Q1
22. Rahel Frey Abt Audi 1m36.012s Q1

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Plex · Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 10:08 am Post subject:

Plex · Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 10:10 am Post subject:

Gary Paffett leads Jamie Green in Mercedes one-two in first race of new-look DTM at Hockenheim

Gary Paffett headed Jamie Green to win the opening round of the 2012 DTM at Hockenheim; Mercedes' British drivers taking a one-two finish for the manufacturer.

From sixth on the grid, Paffett passed the slow-starting Dirk Werner and Mike Rockenfeller on the opening lap, and then made a superbly-judged move on Edoardo Mortara's Rosberg Audi at the Mercedes Arena shortly afterwards to take third.

An error from polesitter Mattias Ekstrom, who ran wide at Turn 2 during the early stages, allowed Paffett's HWA team-mate Green to take the lead, and the 2005 champion then also made it past the Abt Audi three corners later with a neat move.

The destiny of the race was resolved at the first of two mandatory tyre stops. Paffett pitted one lap later than his team-mate and rejoined the track alongside Green. The two cars ran side-by-side through Turn 2 and all the way along the main straight before Paffett made use of the inside line at the Spitzkehre to take a lead he would not lose.

Ekstrom dropped back at around 0.3s per lap for the remainder of the race, but was a comfortable third, ahead of HWA's impressive Christian Vietoris, who climbed from 15th on the grid to fifth by mid-distance and then made it by Rockenfeller's Phoenix Audi with five laps to go.

Rockenfeller was fifth with Britain's Andy Priaulx an excellent sixth on his DTM debut for the RBM BMW squad. Priaulx chased down Rockenfeller during the final stages of the race, turning a 4s deficit into one of just 0.6s by the chequered flag.

The race was not so good for the remainder of the BMW drivers. After starting badly Schnitzer driver Werner was spun to the tail of the field by Ralf Schumacher early on. Schumacher also cannoned into Bruno Spengler's sister car in the same incident while a chain reaction behind involved Adrien Tambay hitting or being hit by three other cars. Both Spengler and Tambay (Abt) retired in the pits after losing their bonnets.

Schumacher dropped back to 13th after receiving a drive-through penalty for his part in the incident, but the HWA driver made good progress later on, passing David Coulthard's Mucke-run C-coupe for seventh with four laps left. Miguel Molina (Phoenix) and Filipe Albuquerque (Rosberg) completed the top 10 while Mortara - given a drive-through penalty for spinning Joey Hand's BMW - fell to 11th by the flag.

Results - 40 laps:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Gary Paffett HWA Mercedes 1h04m37.615s
2. Jamie Green HWA Mercedes + 4.709s
3. Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi + 19.434s
4. Christian Vietoris HWA Mercedes + 25.774s
5. Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi + 27.834s
6. Andy Priaulx RBM BMW + 28.435s
7. Ralf Schumacher HWA Mercedes + 39.948s
8. David Coulthard Mucke Mercedes + 43.306s
9. Miguel Molina Phoenix Audi + 46.079s
10. Filipe Albuquerque Rosberg Audi + 46.614s
11. Edoardo Mortara Rosberg Audi + 47.253s
12. Susie Wolff Mucke Mercedes + 51.971s
13. Joey Hand RMG BMW + 1m08.628s
14. Robert Wickens Persson Mercedes + 1m09.027s
15. Augusto Farfus RBM BMW + 1m09.556s
16. Rahel Frey Abt Audi + 1m16.123s
17. Dirk Werner Schnitzer BMW + 1 lap

Retirements:

Roberto Merhi Persson Mercedes 38 laps
Timo Scheider Abt Audi 13 laps
Martin Tomczyk RMG BMW 4 laps
Adrien Tambay Abt Audi 3 laps
Bruno Spengler Schnitzer BMW 3 laps

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