DTM: Barcelona

Plex · Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 7:39 am Post subject: DTM: Barcelona

Scheider fastest in Barcelona practice

DTM championship leader Timo Scheider got his weekend off to a perfect start by setting the fastest time in free practice at Barcelona on Saturday morning.

The reigning champion snatched the top spot from Martin Tomczyk with two minutes remaining of the two and a half-hour session, which was dominated by Audis throughout.

Tomczyk was fastest for a long period of the morning and the Abt Sportsline driver was also the first of the big guns to switch his attention to qualifying set-ups with 25 minutes remaining.

His best lap initially put him half a second clear of the field and it was only in the final couple of minutes that any of his rivals started to close that gap.

Oliver Jarvis briefly got his 2008-spec Audi up to second, but he was knocked back to fourth when Scheider went quickest, and Mattias Ekstrom moved into third right at the end.

Ralf Schumacher was the top Mercedes in fifth place, having shown relatively well throughout the session. However, his gap of half a second to Scheider will be a concern with the 2009-spec Mercedes running 10 kilograms heavier than their Audi rivals this weekend.

Schumacher's HWA team-mates Gary Paffett and Bruno Spengler were next up, while Alexandre Premat, Paul di Resta and Tom Kristensen completed the top 10.

Pos Driver Car Time Gap
1. Timo Scheider Audi 1m07.049s
2. Martin Tomczyk Audi 1m07.084s + 0.035s
3. Mattias Ekstrom Audi 1m07.181s + 0.132s
4. Oliver Jarvis Audi 1m07.416s + 0.367s
5. Ralf Schumacher Mercedes 1m07.570s + 0.521s
6. Gary Paffett Mercedes 1m07.617s + 0.568s
7. Bruno Spengler Mercedes 1m07.620s + 0.571s
8. Alexandre Premat Audi 1m07.661s + 0.612s
9. Paul di Resta Mercedes 1m07.688s + 0.639s
10. Tom Kristensen Audi 1m07.706s + 0.657s
11. Jamie Green Mercedes 1m07.795s + 0.746s
12. Mike Rockenfeller Audi 1m07.846s + 0.797s
13. Maro Engel Mercedes 1m07.869s + 0.820s
14. Mathias Lauda Mercedes 1m07.924s + 0.875s
15. Katherine Legge Audi 1m07.965s + 0.916s
16. Markus Winkelhock Audi 1m08.008s + 0.959s
17. Susie Stoddart Mercedes 1m08.194s + 1.145s
18. Tomas Kostka Audi 1m08.644s + 1.595s
19. Christian Bakkerud Audi 1m09.181s + 2.132s
20. Johannes Seidlitz Audi 1m09.424s + 2.375s

Autosport

Plex · Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 6:12 am Post subject:

Scheider wins as Audi dominates

Timo Scheider extended his DTM championship lead with a comfortable win at Barcelona on Sunday, as Audi put in a dominant performance.

The reigning champion took the lead with a great start from fifth on the grid, and from there he eased away from the rest of the field.

Scheider made up his places by staying on the outside into Turn 1 while those ahead of him all scrapped for the inside line. Pole-sitter Tom Kristensen slotted in behind him on the exit of the corner, and after that the lead pair were never under any pressure from those behind.

Paul di Resta initially ran third for Mercedes, but he was jumped in the pits by Martin Tomczyk to give Audi its fourth lockout of the podium in eight races this season.

Di Resta fell further down the order after that, eventually losing out to Gary Paffett, Mattias Ekstrom and Bruno Spengler, which dropped him to seventh by the flag.

The cars ahead of him provided some mild interest in the closing stages, as Ekstrom closed in on fourth-placed Paffett.

Their scrap enabled Spengler to catch them both, and when Ekstrom tried to pass Paffett on the outside at the end of the backstraight with two laps to go, Spengler was there to snatch fifth on the exit of the next corner.

The battle for 2008-spec honours was fought out between Alexandre Premat, Oliver Jarvis and Maro Engel for most of the race, and it was the Frenchman that sustained constant pressure to take the final point in eighth by three tenths of a second.

Pos Driver Car Time/Gap
1. Timo Scheider Audi 1h08m38.739s
2. Tom Kristensen Audi + 2.157s
3. Martin Tomczyk Audi + 4.033s
4. Gary Paffett Mercedes + 23.469s
5. Bruno Spengler Mercedes + 23.992s
6. Mattias Ekström Audi + 24.463s
7. Paul di Resta Mercedes + 33.243s
8. Alexandre Premat Audi + 42.329s
9. Oliver Jarvis Audi + 42.719s
10. Maro Engel Mercedes + 43.348s
11. Mathias Lauda Mercedes + 54.921s
12. Mike Rockenfeller Audi + 55.274s
13. Ralf Schumacher Mercedes + 55.581s
14. Jamie Green Mercedes + 59.976s
15. Susie Stoddart Mercedes + 1 lap
16. Tomas Kostka Audi + 1 lap
17. Christian Bakkerud Audi + 1 lap
18. Johannes Seidlitz Audi + 2 laps

Retirements:

Markus Winkelhock Audi 29 laps
Katherine Legge Audi 27 laps

Autosport