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

Nurburgring DTM: Schneider's double

Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug entertained partying revellers on the eve of the Nurburgring's DTM double-header with a rousing Rolling Stones medley. And Haug will undoubtedly leave the 'Ring with a great deal of 'satisfaction' after Bernd Schneider took another crushing victory in round 10 of the DTM, making it two wins out of two races and two podium sweeps for the Stuttgart marque

As in the first round, second place went to Klaus Ludwig and third to Marcel Fassler. Schneider held off threats from both Ludwig and Fassler into the first chicane, but the championship top dog held firm for the lead, and there he stayed for all 22 laps.

"The car was just perfect," said Schneider. "The championship looks good on paper, but a 40-point lead can disappear with just one bad weekend."

The rest of the grid slotted in behind the German, all except for Eric Helary and Peter Dumbreck. The two collided in the first race, for which Dumbreck received a warning and the Scot was therefore racing with the threat of a stop/go penalty if he didn't stay out of trouble.

The pair were next to each other on the exit of the Dunlop-S first time round and Helary span, but there was no contact. The Opel driver rotated three times in front of the pack and rejoined well down the order. The Frenchman managed to claw his way back to seventh by the finish.

Dumbreck was less fortunate and spun the very next lap in exactly the same place. The Scotsman dropped to 19th place and had only fought his way back as far as 12th position when the chequered flag was waved.

By lap nine, Schneider's lead was up to 5.3s and the top six was well settled. Lamy drove a steady race for fourth, concluding his best DTM weekend so far, and Manuel Reuter held on as the only Opel in the top six in fifth place. The result drops him to third in the championship behind Klaus Ludwig. Marcel Tiemann was unthreatened in sixth position.

Team Rosberg driver Darren Turner had a much improved second race, this time on wet tyres. The young Briton started from 15th, but through avoiding the spinning Opels of Helary, Winklehock and Uwe Alzen and the Mercedes of Thomas Jager and Dumbreck, he finished eighth.

Michael Bartels squeezed his way into the top 10 behind Christian Menzel, after passing Timo Scheider two laps before the finish into the Dunlop hairpin.

The Abt-run Audi TT-R of Laurent Aiello had a two-lap tussle with Team Opel Holzer driver Joachim Winklehock - who eventually retired in the pits. Aiello was unable to maintain the pace of the first race and finished14th. Team mate James Thompson was two spots behind in 16th.

With the championship moving to the Lausitzring on 3 September, Opel will hope to close the gap to their rivals from Stuttgart. Leading Opel driver Manuel Reuter admitted that Mercedes were clearly quicker today. The Opel V8 Coupe may be more suited to the Lausitzring track in theory, but they will also not have the fickle Eiffel weather to contend with.


Bernd Schneider Mercedes-Benz CLK 22 laps
Klaus Ludwig Mercedes-Benz CLK 11.6s
Marcel Fassler Mercedes-Benz CLK 14.4s
Pedro Lamy Mercedes-Benz CLK 15.3s
Manuel Reuter Opel V8 Coupe 26.7s
Marcel Tieman Mercedes-Benz CLK 34.4s
Eric Helary Opel V8 Coupe 53.2s
Darren Turner Mercedes-Benz CLK 57.7s
Christian Menzel Opel V8 Coupe 1m02.9s
Michael Bartels Opel V8 Coupe 1m10.1s

Selected other positions
Peter Dumbreck Mercedes-Benz CLK 1m21.7s
James Thompson Audi TT-R 1m35.4s

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article N'Ring race one: Schneider dominates
Next article Schneider the man to beat at Lausitzring

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