Oschersleben preview: Reuter to repeat?

Schneider has won five out of the 10 DTM races run so far, but with the Lausitzring proving a wash-out three weeks ago, Reuter only has three more double-headers to turn things around - starting with Oschersleben on Sunday. The Opel driver is currently 51 points AMG team-leader Schneider, with another Mercedes man Klaus Ludwig tucked in between them.

The east German circuit was good for Opel last time, when Reuter's V8 Coupe won both races, and with 20 points on offer for a victory, he remains optimistic of taking the fight back to the Three-Pointed Star.

"Of course you are always more than happy to return to the place where your car has done so well," said Reuter. "After the lows come the highs, and we certainly have a good foundation for it in Oschersleben. But if Bernd makes no big mistakes, then I think he's gone."

In the last four races (not including the Lausitzring wash-out), Opel has failed to get a single driver on the podium, but Reuter believes the three week gap will have given the marque time to regroup.

"At the Sachsenring and Nurburgring, we moved away from the script, but at the Lausitzring we tried a lot of new things and we know the right direction to go in," he said.

Peter Dumbreck is the best-placed of the series' three British drivers. The Scot holds sixth in the points, with fellow Mercedes driver Darren Turner 14th. James Thompson makes another appearance with the Abt Audi squad, but must start at the back of the grid for both races after changing his engine before the Lausitzring.



1 Bernd Schneider, Mercedes, 146 pts
2 Klaus Ludwig, Mercedes, 104
3 Manuel Reuter, Opel, 95
4 Marcel Fassler, Mercedes, 83
5 Jo Winkelhock, Opel, 70
6 Peter Dumbreck, Mercedes, 62
7 Michael Bartels, Opel, 44
8 Marcel Tiemann, Mercedes, 41
9 Timo Scheider, Opel, 40
10 Pedro Lamy, Mercedes, 32