Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

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 conversation
Previous article Tomczyk leads Audi 1-2-3 in Spain
Next article Schneider: title not secure yet

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe