Spengler not ruling out title

The Mercedes driver was one of the favourites for the crown after he won four of the last six races of 2006, but he is yet to score a point after a difficult start to the season.

Spengler had finished third at Hockenheim, but he was handed a 50-second penalty for a collision with Audi's Timo Scheider on the final lap, which dropped him out of the points.

He was running near the front last weekend at Oschersleben too, but his Mercedes C-Class was hit by power steering problems, which had also plagued him in the season-opener.

"I'm optimistic that our car is fast enough that I can close the gap back," Spengler told autosport.com. "I feel we can come back."

The Canadian believes that he has been fortunate because nobody has put together two good results in the first races of the season, which means that he is only 12 points adrift of the championship lead.

"It doesn't look so bad actually, because in my bad luck there is some good luck," he said. "We've had two different winners, so I am only 12 points behind. It could be worse."

Spengler is also confident that his HWA team will solve the power steering problems which have hampered him in both races so far this season.

"The team is working very hard on it, and I know they are doing their best," he said. "They can't do any more about it, but I'm sure it won't happen again.

"I was happy with my car until the problem, and I could have won both races this season. The potential is there to win, so it's not too bad."