Hockenheim, 27 April, 2003
57,000 spectators witnessed the premiere of the new race format and third
place for defending champion Laurent Aiello in an Abt-Audi TT-R at the
opening race of the DTM season in Hockenheim. Mattias Ekström still
collected a point despite encountering problems during the opening laps of
the wet race. Audi Junior Martin Tomczyk, who started from the front row of
the grid, held fourth place for a long time before loosing his chance of a top
result during the pit stops. His team colleague Peter Terting, at 19 years of
age the youngest driver in DTM history, was forced to retire after a spin on
the first lap. Christian Abt retired shortly before the chequered flag.
The race at a glance
Start - Track dry, first rain drops,
#14 Tomczyk drops down to third place,
#1 Aiello fifth
Lap 1 - Rain starts to fall more heavily,
#15 Terting spins on the damp track and is forced to retire
Lap 2
#14 Tomczyk,
#1 Aiello,
#2 Abt,
#5 Ekström
#6 Wendlinger occupy positions fourth to eighth
Lap 3 - Safety Car due to heavy rain,
all Abt Audi drivers come in to the pits for a tyre change simultaneously,
#2 Abt
#5 Ekström lose time because they must wait until their team mates
#1 Aiello
#14 Tomczyk have been serviced
Lap 4 - Four laps behind the Safety Car race restarted
3rd Tomczyk
4th Aiello
6th Wendlinger
11th Ekström
14th Abt
Lap 7
#1 Aiello overtakes #14 Tomczyk
Lap 10
“Drive through“ penalty for #2 Abt for speeding in the pit lane
Lap 11
#6 Wendlinger collides with #18 Scheider
Lap 13
#2 Abt spins after being nudged by #16 Winkelhock
Lap 14 - The track is drying
#2 Abt is first driver to change to slicks
Lap 20
#14 Tomczyk changes to slicks, problem with the left front wheel, drops
down to twelfth place
Lap 22
#1 Aiello overtakes #10 Alesi, but spins shortly afterwards and falls behind
Alesi again
Lap 25
#1 Aiello reclaims second after #10 Alesi makes a mistake
Lap 28
#14 Tomczyk spins and loses the boot lid
Lap 30
#1 Aiello completes his second compulsory pit stop and falls behind #9
Fässler
Lap 33
#2 Abt slides of the circuit due to a sticking throttle
Finish
#1 Aiello finishes third only 0.290 seconds behind #9 Fässler
#5 Ekström earns a hard fought point
|