Tomczyk scores maiden win in Spain
Martin Tomczyk finally broke his duck in the DTM at Barcelona on Sunday, but while his Audi team could celebrate his race win, they could just about kiss goodbye to the championship, as they lead contender, Tom Kristensen, suffered a nightmare
An action-packed race was kicked into life with a multiple opening lap pile-up, sparked by Christian Abt ramming the fellow Audi of Nicolas Kiesa into the fellow Audi of Vanina Ickx, into the fellow Audi of Pierre Kaffer and, finally, into the Mercedes of Jamie Green. Ironically, only Abt escaped; cue the safety car.
At the time, poleman Tomczyk was leading from Audi teammates Heinz-Harald Frentzen and title contender Kristensen. Main rival Bernd Schneider was the first Mercedes in fourth, ahead of Frank Stippler (Audi) and Mika Hakkinen (Mercedes).
At the restart, Schneider went on the offensive, lunging down the inside of title rival Kristensen into the Caixa hairpin. In perhaps what will prove to be the defining moment in the title race, Schneider got ahead, although Kristensen punted him hard in the left-rear corner, removing a chunk of bodywork.
Not that Schneider cared. To prove it, he then hunted down Frentzen, forcing an error from him at Caixa on lap nine that gifted him second. Kristensen, meantime, was doing the reverse, losing valuable time. He eventually let teammate Mattias Ekstrom past, who chased down Schneider.
Ekstrom passed Schneider going into Campsa on lap 33, but a slow second pitstop reversed the position. Ekstrom attacked again, this time at the first corner, and hit Schneider in the rear twice. He got through, but would earn a drive-through penalty for it.
Schneider's only worry now was a trip through the gravel at the penultimate corner with a couple of laps remaining, just as he was closing in on leader Tomczyk. He stayed on track, however, and held off a late challenge from Frentzen in the last laps to take invaluable points for second place. He is now 18 ahead of Kristensen with just 20 on offer.
Despite his penalty, Ekstrom finished fourth after a blinding late move on Mercedes' Bruno Spengler. Stippler, Daniel la Rosa (Mercedes) and Alex Margaritis (Merc) rounded out the points scorers.
Kristensen finished out of the points in ninth having struggled with his car's handling, which culminated in him spinning at Campsa and later going through the gravel at Turn 1.
CLASSIFIED: Pos Driver Make Time 1. Martin Tomczyk Audi A4 1:06:07.496 2. Bernd Schneider AMG Mercedes C-Klasse + 2.898 3. Heinz-Harald Frentzen Audi A4 + 3.469 4. Mattias Ekstrom Audi A4 + 10.962 5. Bruno Spengler AMG Mercedes C-Klasse + 13.186 6. Frank Stippler Audi A4 + 14.329 7. Daniel La Rosa AMG Mercedes C-Klasse + 15.057 8. Alexandros Margaritis AMG Mercedes C-Klasse + 18.812 9. Tom Kristensen Audi A4 + 19.379 10. Christian Abt Audi A4 + 20.235 11. Mika Hakkinen AMG Mercedes C-Klasse + 21.640 12. Stefan Mucke AMG Mercedes C-Klasse + 23.629 13. Mathias Lauda AMG Mercedes C-Klasse + 24.463 14. Jean Alesi AMG Mercedes C-Klasse + 39.448 15. Susie Stoddart AMG Mercedes C-Klasse + 45.299 NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS: Driver Make On Lap Timo Scheider Audi A4 7 Jamie Green AMG Mercedes C-Klasse 1 Nicolas Kiesa Audi A4 1 Pierre Kaffer Audi A4 1 Vanina Ickx Audi A4 0 Fastest Lap: Bernd Schneider, 1:03.919 on lap 24
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments