Excitement in the battle for the DTM title. In the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, Tom Kristensen scored his first win of the season with his Audi A4 DTM. After two victories for Mercedes-Benz in the first two rounds of the season, the Dane showed a dominant performance and took the lead in the drivers’ standings from Bernd Schneider. “Our early second pit stop was a tactical geniality and the key to success”, the winner was delighted with the good work by his team. For Kristensen, it was the second win in the most popular international touring car series. The seven times’ winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours had scored his maiden win at the same venue in 2004. After 161.348 kilometres in the race, Bruno Spengler and Jamie Green finished second and third respectively.
At the narrow track in the region of Magdeburg, team tactics were mainly decisive about the outcome of the race. After a good start and a successful first pit stop, Kristensen initially pulled clear from his rivals. But then, the Dane lost precious seconds and his margin over main rival Spengler as he got stuck in traffic. The Audi Sport Team Abt decided spontaneously to make the second stop earlier and thus prevented Kristensen from losing more time. Back on the track, he drove on to victory in a dominant way and even managed a hattrick during the weekend: pole-position, victory and the fastest race lap with 1.21.121 minutes.
Audi-driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen crossed the line in fourth place.
Swede Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline) who had started ninth finished seventh at Oschersleben behind his team-mate Martin Tomczyk.
In the championship standings, Audi-driver Kristensen is leading with 26 points, just ahead of Mercedes-Benz-duo Bernd Schneider (24) and Bruno Spengler (12). The fourth round of the DTM will be taking the 20 drivers to Brands Hatch in Great Britain on July 2.
Tom Kristensen (winner, Audi Sport Team Abt): “That was a great weekend for Audi, the team and myself. It was my first win in the DTM since Oschersleben 2004. We have broken our duck. It is a great feeling.”
Audi motor sport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich: “I think that personally, I can be very satisfied. Tom Kristensen and the team have shown a great performance. After we had already been very strong in the first two races and our rivals were as strong here as we know them, I can say: “mission completed”. I am also happy that we are now in the lead of the championship. This result makes it a great weekend for us. The race was hard, but fair.”
- DTM Media
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