Spengler wins at the Nürburgring – 1-2-3 for Mercedes-Benz

Bruno Spengler (Mercedes) jumps ahead of poleman Mathias Ekstrom (Audi) at the start

Nurburg. A dominant lights-to-flag victory for Mercedes-Benz driver Bruno Spengler at the Nürburgring. After 177.821 kilometers, the Canadian crossed the finish line as the winner, scoring the maximum of ten points for the second time this season already after his success at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz. Spengler’s British fellow Mercedes-Benz drivers Paul Di Resta and Gary Paffett completed the clean sweep of the podium for Mercedes-Benz. After the fifth DTM season round, the 27-year old is leading the points’ standings with a margin of 16 points over British driver Jamie Green (Mercedes-Benz). A total of 86,000 spectators attended the race weekend at the Nürburgring.

Spengler commented the seventh DTM race win of his career as follows: “It was a great race. The start was absolutely awesome. I really concentrated on the starting lights. Then I just pushed and tried to keep the other guys behind me. First to third place – that is a great feeling. This is our 100th victory since we have been racing against Audi."

Reigning DTM champion Timo Scheider was the best-placed Audi driver of the day. From eighth place on the grid, he moved up to fourth after a successful start and then defended his position until the end of the race. “The race wasn’t bad: starting eighth and finishing fourth. That is okay and quite a decent result, but all in all, this certainly wasn’t satisfying. Nevertheless, I notice an upward trend", said Scheider.

Mercedes-Benz driver Green had to withstand attacks by his fellow Mercedes-Benz driver Ralf Schumacher for several laps, but remained in front and crossed the finish line in fifth position as the best-placed driver of a 2008-spec car ahead of Schumacher. The German scored his first three championship points of the season for finishing sixth. Two times’ DTM champion Mattias Ekström wasn’t able to turn his expectations into reality after having claimed pole position in qualifying. The Swede lost valuable places after problems at the start and he took the checkered flag in seventh place. Scot David Coulthard (Mercedes-Benz) finished tenth in his fifth DTM race. Last year’s winner Martin Tomczyk finished 13th with his Audi A4 DTM.

In the points’ standings, Spengler is leading with 42 points from Green (26 points) and Paffett and Di Resta, who are tied at 25 points each. The sixth DTM race weekend of the year will be held at Zandvoort in The Netherlands from August 20th till 22nd.

Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug: “I just don’t know where to start. That was really good. Today, we really will have a ball. The team has deserved it. I am speechless when I see how quick Mattias was yesterday and what happened today. I thought that he would pull away from us. Apparently, something has changed dramatically overnight. Surely, that was one of our best races ever.“

Audi motorsport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich: “Today, that was a very bad race for us. This wasn’t what we had expected after qualifying yesterday. Maybe, it was already an omen that we only had one car in front. Now, we have to find out why that was. The start wasn’t perfect and certainly a decisive factor in the outcome of the race. Today, our opponents found the right thing and we didn’t. But I hope that at Zandvoort, we will be as strong as we all want to be again."