Zandvoort, August 28, 2005
Title fight in the DTM remains thrilling
The fight for the title in Europe’s most popular touring car series remains
thrilling: even after the eighth DTM round at Zandvoort, the Netherlands,
the two most promising candidates for the title continue to be separated
by merely one point. After Audi driver Mattias Ekström had captured the
lead with his victory at the Nürburgring, he is now ranking behind
Zandvoort winner Gary Paffet again with a very small gap. In the
manufacturers’ standings, Audi managed to further expand its advantage
over Mercedes.
After a less than perfect qualifying practice, the Audi drivers displayed
their fighting spirit by pushing hard to make up ground. From fifth place on
the grid, Mattias Ekström improved to third as early as in the starting
phase. Shortly before the second half of the race, he got closer and closer
to Gary Paffett until his Audi A4 DTM lost the front left flics after slightly
touching Christian Abt’s car. Despite the loss in aerodynamic balance,
the reigning DTM champion stayed the course to finish in second place.
Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen finished fourth to consolidate his
third place in the standings despite having started from fifth row and
struggling with an A4 DTM that had suffered severe front end damage as
well. The Dane particularly thrilled the 77,000 spectators with a
spectacular overtaking manoeuvre in the penultimate corner, pushing
past Marcel Fässler (Opel).
Martin Tomczyk, as well, almost beat the Swiss driver to the photo finish
at the finish line. Having started from position 15, the Bavarian was
ultimately lacking merely 247 thousandths of a second for fifth place.
Another remarkable feat of making up ground was performed by Pierre
Kaffer: from 18th place on the grid, he pushed forward to eleventh in his
2004-spec A4 entered by Audi Sport Team Joest to ultimately finish
directly behind his team-mate, Christian Abt, who was handicapped by a
bout of flu and whose car had suffered severe damage in a starting
collision. Rinaldo Capello and Frank Stippler were knocked off the track
by competitors and – like Allan McNish - had to retire.
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich celebrated a special birthday at Zandvoort: the Head
of Audi Motorsport turned 55 on Saturday. Before the qualifying session,
the Audi works drivers congratulated their boss with a birthday cake,
which – what else? – ended up (not at all to his surprise) in the Austrian’s
face.
Saturday night at the Audi Team and Media Hospitality, Dr Ullrich was
surprised with sparklers and a "fire show” by the entire Audi squad and
many members of the DTM scene. The splendid reception by over 300
guests for the Audi motorsport boss was one of the highlights of the "Audi
Pool Position Party", which turned the Team and Media Hospitality in the
paddock into a beach club. Seen among the large crowd at the party were
Laurent Aiello, who had won the DTM title at Zandvoort in 2002 in the
Abt-Audi TT-R, and Formula 1 driver Christijan Albers, super model
Franziska Knuppe, actor Benjamin Sadler and swimming star Antje
Buschulte.
Audi works driver Martin Tomczyk presented the Zandvoort dune circuit
during ARD’s live broadcast – at the wheel of an Audi A4 DTM Edition,
which was the prize to be won by TV viewers participating in a
subsequent contest.
Quotes after the race
Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline #1)
2nd place, + 12.015s
"I had a good start and was able to overtake Marcel Fässler and Gary
Paffett. The car felt quick, and the pit stops were super as well. After
contact with Christian’s car, though, I lost the small front left flics. From
then on, I was no longer able to follow Gary. The championship remains
thrilling. I’m sure that this year the decision won’t come until the finale at
Hockenheim.”
Tom Kristensen (Audi Sport Team Abt #5)
4th place, + 20.042s
"After the whole weekend – except for the Super pole – had gone really
well, I was looking forward to the race. On the first laps, Frank and Allan
helped me move forward. My thanks to them for that. The pit stops, as
well, were super. The fight with Marcel (Fässler) was very good, but I
damaged my car. Apart from severe understeer there were vibrations as
well. Later in the race, I fought with Marcel again, yet the quickest in our
trio was Martin, who was right behind me. Because he didn’t attack me, I
was able to pass Fässler in the last but one corner. It’s a particularly
good feeling to make up a position so close to the finish line.”
Martin Tomczyk (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline #2)
6th place, + 21.120s
"Our strategy was good, the pit stops, too, and I’m satisfied with my
performance. Regarding the fight with Tom (Kristensen) and Marcel
Fässler: I was quicker but ‘like a good boy’, stayed behind Tom.”
Christian Abt (Audi Sport Team Joest Racing #14)
10th place, + 37.719s
"As late as in the warm-up things had really been looking well, but in the
race the tyres didn’t work one hundred percent. That probably had to do
with a collision after the start, which caused something on the rear axle to
get bent. Each set of tyres lasted about six laps, then the times dropped.
In the end, I felt my case of flu as well. I felt completely weak. I’m sorry
about touching Mattias’ car – I didn’t see him and had no radio warning
either.”
Pierre Kaffer (Audi Sport Team Joest Racing #15)
11th place, + 39.113s
"As in the past few races my performance was good, now we need to
finally do well in the qualifying too. Grid positions are extremely important
in the DTM. The first lap went well, I was able to overtake several
competitors straight away. I then caught Christian but I had so much
understeer that I wasn’t able to attack.”
Allan McNish (Audi Sport Team Abt #6)
15th place, - 6 laps
"Jamie (Green) didn’t get away at the start. I evaded him but was hit in the
side. That damaged my aerodynamics as well as the steering, so I had to
pit early. Later, there was an incident with Mika (Häkkinen), I made room
for him – but he, unfortunately, didn’t for me and that caused me to have a
flat. To top it off, there were problems with the brakes because a plastic
bag had clogged the radiator. Too bad: this was an awful race after a
good qualifying.”
Rinaldo Capello (Audi Sport Team Joest #18)
Retired (collision)
"After the warm-up we completely changed the set-up. And guess what:
my Audi A4 DTM was running like a charm in the race. We had fixed the
problem with understeer and my lap times – especially when I was alone
on the track – were alright. I’m sure that a seasoned driver like Bernd
(Schneider) didn’t knock me out intentionally when I was defending my
position against him. Now I’m looking forward to the race at the
EuroSpeedway.”
Frank Stippler (Audi Sport Team Joest #19)
Retired (collision)
"After 200 meters my aerodynamic balance was gone due to a few
contacts with other cars, and my car didn’t handle as well anymore as it
had in the practice sessions. During the pit stop we had to remove a few
damaged parts, and that cost time as well as rhythm. Then I got stuck
behind Manuel Reuter, ruined my tyre and was hit hard by Laurent Aiello.
That was the end of my race.”
Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline)
"Of course we’d rather have won. But we can be satisfied with this team
result. We made the best of our grid positions. Yet one has to admit that
today it would have been very difficult to win the race against Gary Paffet –
because his performance was very good. Nevertheless, we expanded our
lead in the manufacturers’ standings. And the one point in the drivers’
championship, we’re going to re-capture as well.”
Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Team Joest)
"Alright, it’s still the same situation: whenever we make it into the Super
Pole, we just don’t score any points, although things started out quite well
with Christian. But with each set, the performance of his tyres was gone
after a short time. Pierre handled his situation pretty well, particularly
considering the position from which he started. Frank and ‘Dindo’ were
spun, and the guys that did it received a drive-through penalty for this.
From then on, their races were finished as well.”
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport
"On the whole this was a good team performance. That Mattias would be
competing with Gary Paffett for victory in this race, nobody would have
thought after the qualifying. It shows how tight the DTM field is. In the last
third of the race Mattias wasn’t able to keep pushing because he had lost
the flics after a collision with Christian. He had to limit himself to bringing
home the car without ruining his tyres. The championship remains
thrilling, it’s always one point moving back and forth. For the spectators,
this is the greatest situation in motorsport.”
Results and points
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