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Peter Dumbreck Q&A

Peter Dumbreck has enjoyed a great start to his Opel career in the DTM, scoring points in every race this season so far. This weekend he contests the Nurburgring 24 Hours on the daunting 'Green Hell' of the Nordschleife, featuring the sublime (like a 700bhp Porsche 996) to the ridiculous (a Mk1 VW Polo!). His car will start from third on the grid, after team-mate Volker Strycek (who is also Opel's motorsport boss) set a super-quick time in the Astra V8 Coupe, but Dumbreck wasn't far off the Nordschleife expert's pace. Charles Bradley caught up with the Scot before the start of the marathon mixed touring/sports car event



Yes, I think so. I don't really know too much about this race, other than there's a lot of cars in it. Everyone tells me you have to be really careful in traffic. People are trying to scare me and it's working! We've definitely got the pace, it's whether we've got the reliability for 24 hours. If it all stays together we're right in with a chance of winning.



Very well. We did four or five practice races on the Nordschleife. We started off from the worst possible situation, as the car caught fire on the first lap of the first race, but the last event ended in victory for us. We've made a gradual improvement. All the drivers know the track and the car. It's quite a challenge, but it's a good challenge.



It's because he has got so much experience around here. He knows this place like the back of his hand. He knows how hard to push and which side to pass the backmarkers on at every part of the circuit. In qualifying on Friday I came up behind a slow guy at the Flugplatz, so I kept it flat until I got close for the next corner. He turned in, and looked like he was staying tight to the apex, so I went to the outside. Then he started drifting out, right into my path, and there's not a lot of grass to use if he drifts to the edge of the track. I slammed the anchors on, but then he realised I was there and got out of my way. It was a scary moment. It's something you need to build your experience, so hopefully by the end of the race I'll be doing the times that Volker is doing. He's still very quick.



I'm a bit apprehensive about it but, at the same time, it's going to be cool. It's going to be a hard race, and when you get tired you make mistakes. Keeping your concentration is going to be vital, especially with almost 200 cars that are way slower than we are. It's a 100 percent concentration racetrack.



BMW, I think. Schnitzer is one of the top teams in motor racing. Their car is quick and they have a mixture of experienced drivers and young but quick drivers too. The Audi is going to be quick, but it depends if it's going to last. Then there's the Dodge Viper, which will be mega-reliable but not as fast as us, and you can never discount the Porsche Turbos, especially with the likes of Uwe Alzen and his brother [Jurgen]. Then there's a load of other oldtimers who, if you put them in a sprint race with us would be miles off the pace but here they will be really quick. They are the kind of guys I've got one eye on to see what I can learn from them.



Volker will start our car and after Christian [Menzel] I'm up next. I've not driven here in the dark yet, and I think one of my stints will be at about 11pm, so that will be interesting because they've forecast more rain and maybe thunderstorms.

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