DTM: Barcelona

[Plex]

Schneider takes 25th career pole

Bernd Schneider took the 25th pole position of his DTM career in a thrilling climax to qualifying at Barcelona.

The 44-year-old knocked championship leader Timo Scheider off the top spot in the dying seconds of the session, as several cars improved with their final laps in the crucial third segment of qualifying.

"I was confident going into the session, but I didn't expect to get pole," said Schneider, who last qualified on pole at Zandvoort in 2005.

"My problem has been doing the laptime when the tyres are new, but it wasn't a problem here because I did it on my third lap.

"That's unusual, but also something special. I was surprised though, because I didn't think the lap would be enough (for pole)."

Scheider was satisfied with second, as all three of his championship rivals will be starting behind him.

"It's not bad to be P2 behind Bernd," said the Audi driver. "Paul (di Resta), Jamie (Green) and Mattias (Ekstrom) are all behind and that is good for me, so to be on the front row is ok."

Di Resta is the closest of Scheider's challengers for tomorrow's race, as the Scot jumped up to third with his final lap. He was slightly disappointed though, as he set the fastest time of all in the second segment of the session.

"It's good to be third, but it is disappointing that I did my best time in Q2," he said. "I didn't put a lap together in Q3 though - I didn't do my job properly.

"We've got stronger over the weekend though, and I'm sure that will continue to be the case, so we'll be stronger tomorrow as well."

Last year's pole-sitter Martin Tomczyk seemed set to cause a problem for Mercedes by putting his Audi towards the front of the field, but he eventually had to settle for fourth, just ahead of Green.

Reigning champion Mattias Ekstrom is the last of the title challengers in sixth place, while newly-crowned Le Mans Series champions Mike Rockenfeller and Alexandre Premat both got themselves into the top eight shootout in their 2007-spec A4s.

Their places came at the expense of the 2008 cars of Tom Kristensen and Bruno Spengler, who will complete the top 10, with Kristensen in particular very upset with traffic that prevented him from repeating the strong form he had shown in practice this weekend.

Pos Driver Car Time Gap
1. Bernd Schneider Mercedes 1:07.248
2. Timo Scheider Audi 1:07.279 +0.031
3. Paul di Resta Mercedes 1:07.305 +0.057
4. Martin Tomczyk Audi 1:07.346 +0.098
5. Jamie Green Mercedes 1:07.384 +0.136
6. Mattias Ekstrom Audi 1:07.404 +0.156
7. Mike Rockenfeller Audi 1:07.494 +0.246
8. Alexandre Premat Audi 1:07.583 +0.335
9. Tom Kristensen Audi 1:07.551 +0.303
10. Bruno Spengler Mercedes 1:07.564 +0.316
11. Oliver Jarvis Audi 1:07.709 +0.461
12. Christijan Albers Audi 1:07.893 +0.645
13. Gary Paffett Mercedes 1:07.924 +0.676
14. Markus Winkelhock Audi 1:07.929 +0.681
15. Maro Engel Mercedes 1:08.183 +0.935
16. Mathias Lauda Mercedes 1:08.390 +1.142
17. Ralf Schumacher Mercedes 1:08.408 +1.160
18. Susie Stoddart Mercedes 1:08.435 +1.187
19. Katherine Legge Audi 1:08.846 +1.598

Autosport

[Plex]

Collision gives Kristensen grid penalty

Tom Kristensen has been put to the back of the grid for Sunday's DTM race at Barcelona for causing a collision in the pitlane.

The Dane collided with Gary Paffett's Mercedes at the end of the second segment of qualifying, after he felt that the former champion had held him up on his flying lap.

TV cameras missed the incident, but the circuit's CCTV showed that Kristensen entered the pits behind Paffett, before passing him and making contact.

Paffett was investigated by the stewards for blocking but no action was taken, Kristensen, however, was given a ten-place grid penalty and fined 2,500 Euros for causing a collision in the pits.

A statement from the stewards said: "After Q2, car No.7 (Paffett) and car No.9 (Kristensen) entered the pitlane. Car No.9 overtook car No.7 and caused an avoidable collision.

"As car No.9 crossed the white line close to the pit wall, a scrutineer standing near by had to stand back."

The penalty drops Kristensen to last on the grid, as he had originally qualified ninth.

Autosport

[Plex]

Paffett to race under appeal

Gary Paffett will race under appeal at Barcelona today after he was excluded from the event on Saturday evening.

The British driver was thrown out because his Persson Motorsport mechanics started work on his car seven minutes before parc ferme was declared open.

The cars of Paffett and Tom Kristensen were held in parc ferme for longer than the rest of the field, as an investigation was taking place following their incident in qualifying.

"At least with the appeal we can do the race," Paffett told autosport.com. "If it stays dry then we probably can't get much of a result, but there's a chance of rain and that gives us a much better chance of points."

Paffett will start the race from 12th on the grid following Kristensen's ten-place grid penalty for crashing into him in the pit lane during qualifying.

Autosport

[Plex]

Three penalties after Barcelona qualifying

Three drivers were penalised after the qualifying session for the ninth round of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters in Spain. Tom Kristensen was dropped ten places on the grid and given a fine of 2500 Euros because of an infringement in the pit lane. Kristensen overtook Gary Paffett in the pit lane and caused an, according to the stewards, avoidable collision. Instead of ninth, Kristensen will start 19th.

Paffett on the other hand was also penalised. The Brit will start from twelfth on the grid under appeal because of an infringement of the Parc Ferm� rules.

After the incident in the pit lane involving Kristensen the technical scrutineers extended the Parc Ferm� time for the ongoing inspection of the two cars. Seven minutes before the Parc Ferm� was cleared, the mechanics of the Persson team started working on Paffett�s car.

Ralf Schumacher was another driver to get penalised for an infringement in the pit lane. The German passed Christijan Albers on the right-hand side in the pits, in the working lane for the teams. Because of this the German gets a fine of 1000 Euros

Touringcartimes

[Plex]

Haug: No team orders at Mercedes

DTM pole-sitter Bernd Schneider has been told that he is free to fight for victory at Barcelona, rather than having to work to help his teammates in the championship.

The five-time DTM champion vowed to help Paul di Resta and Jamie Green in their battle with Audi for the second half of the season, but he will not be required to compromise his own race at the Spanish track.

Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug told autosport.com: "Bernd can win the race, we need to get the situation straight. There is too much talk about support.

"We are fair players and this is motorsport, so we are always in favour of going for it. It's the victory that counts to us and we are fine as long as a Mercedes is at the front."

Schneider's pole position was described by some in the paddock as "the wrong Mercedes" after qualifying, but Haug disagreed with that remark.

"I have never experienced the wrong Mercedes winning and I never will," he added. "You can have the wrong car on pole but not when it is a Mercedes."

Schneider will be joined on the front row by championship leader Timo Scheider, while di Resta and Green start third and fifth respectively.

Autosport

[Plex]

Win keeps di Resta's title hopes alive

Paul di Resta kept his DTM title dream alive with a victory after a head-to-head fight with championship leader Timo Scheider.

The Scot was made to work hard for his second career win, though, as he had to chase Scheider through the first part of the race.

The pair had both passed Bernd Schneider at the start and the gap between them was never more than a few tenths. Di Resta eventually got close enough to attack and he dived down the inside at the end of the back straight.

The pair made light contact side-to-side, but the Mercedes was ahead on the exit and di Resta then set about slowly extending the gap to the finish.

Scheider minimised the damage in the championship by taking second, meaning that he still leads the standings by seven points with two races to go.

Schneider held off race-long pressure from Martin Tomczyk to take third, while Mattias Ekstrom came through a chaotic final lap to complete the top five.

The final lap began with Ekstrom pushing Jamie Green into a spin at Turn One. The Brit was able to catch the Swede before the end of the lap though, as Ekstrom battled an ailing car.

The pair then went through the final chicane section side-by-side, making contact several times before Ekstrom ran Green out wide on the exit and forced him into the gravel.

That delay cost Green two further places as the year-old Audis of Mike Rockenfeller and Alexandre Premat also got through.

Ekstrom was given a 50-second penalty for the contact with Green on the last lap, which dropped him to ninth place and promoted Ralf Schumacher into the points. Audi have appealed the decision.


Pos Driver Car Gap
1. Paul di Resta Mercedes 1:07:42.884
2. Timo Scheider Audi +4.531
3. Bernd Schneider Mercedes +11.751
4. Martin Tomczyk Audi +15.785
5. Mike Rockenfeller Audi +35.613
6. Alexandre Premat Audi +35.715
7. Jamie Green Mercedes +36.504
8. Ralf Schumacher Mercedes +1:05.969
9. Mattias Ekstrom Audi +1:24.187
10. Oliver Jarvis Audi +1 lap
11. Christijan Albers Audi +1 lap
12. Markus Winkelhock Audi +1 lap
13. Tom Kristensen Audi +1 lap
14. Maro Engel Mercedes +1 lap

Retirements

Susie Stoddart Mercedes 24 laps
Bruno Spengler Mercedes 17 laps
Katherine Legge Audi 17 laps
Mathias Lauda Mercedes 4 laps


Fastest lap, Kristensen 1:08.422 on lap 5

Autosport

[Plex]

Ekstr�m excluded from Barcelona race

The very hard fight between Mattias Ekstr�m and Jamie Green during the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters race at Barcelona resulted in two penalties. Ekstr�m was exluuded from the race and fined 5.000 Euros. Jamie Green was given a 30 second penalty, moving him from seventh to eight in the results.

At first Ekstr�m was given a 50 second penalty, but the decision was changed to a harder penalty after further investigation after the race.

The stewards meant that the both could have avoided the collision. The incident took place on the very last lap. Ekstr�m tried to get past Green which ended in a collision.

"On the last two laps I wanted to overtake Jamie. He didn�t block me and I was very surprised. When I was on the inside he turned in. Something on my car broke. On the last lap I was fighting just to finish the race," said Ekstr�m.

Green had, not surprisingly, a different view of what happened on the last lap.

�This was not really professional by Mattias Ekstr�m. The collision when he ran into my car at the right rear and spun me around damaged my suspension, then he ran into my car a couple of times on this lap and pushed my off the track," said Green.

Touringcartimes