July 19th, 2009
Paffett?s second strike: Mercedes-Benz wins at Zandvoort
DTM
Zandvoort. With excellent tactics, British driver Gary Paffett wins the fourth season round of the DTM at Zandvoort in The Netherlands. For the Mercedes-Benz driver, it already is his second season win after his success at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz. The 2005 DTM champion takes over the lead in the points? standings with a total of 24 points from Mattias Ekstr?m (22 points). ?The track is really difficult, but we had a great car and a superb performance today. The Mercedes-Benz team has done an outstanding job throughout the weekend?, said Paffett about the twelfth DTM victory of his career. After a great recovery from ninth on the grid, Audi driver Ekstr?m crossed the finish line in second place, 1.431 seconds down. ?That was a race with a lot of action. I started well down on the grid, but of course, I hoped to be able to move up the order, because I was really fast. The car was very good and I was able to keep a consistent pace. I think that I can be happy with my result?, said the Swede, who won the race on the circuit in the dunes last year. With an impressive performance in his year-old Audi A4 DTM, Briton Oliver Jarvis claimed third place. With Alexandre Pr?mat (F), Martin Tomczyk (D) and Markus Winkelhock (D), three more Audi drivers followed in fourth to sixth place, completing the quintet of Audi drivers behind the winner.
For 15 laps, Jarvis, who had started from pole position, and Paffett were involved in a thrilling battle. Then, the 25-year old Audi driver made a slight driving error and came off the track, which allowed Paffett to take the lead with his AMG Mercedes C-Class. Two ideally timed pit stops were also the basis for success.
Bruno Spengler eventually wasn?t able to maintain his third starting position. The Mercedes-Benz driver opted for a late first pit stop on lap 16 and the second one only four laps later. Eventually, the 25-year old Canadian ended up seventh ahead of reigning DTM champion Timo Scheider (D/Audi). In the points? standings, the two are tied at 18 points behind Paffett and Ekstr?m. Jamie Green (GB/Mercedes-Benz), who had won the race at the Norisring, failed to score any championship points, finishing twelfth. Ralf Schumacher started from 18th place with his AMG Mercedes C-Class and after 41 laps was classified 13th.
Results remain provisional pending the outcome of further investigations by the stewards of the meeting.
The fifth DTM race weekend of the year will be taking place in Oschersleben from July 31st till August 2nd.
Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug: ?This is a very good result for Mercedes-Benz. We didn?t expect it, but of course, we had hoped for it. Gary did it all on his own. For him, it wasn?t an easy race. But he has given the right answer. He was very good. Since last year, we have been improving steadily and we have made a big step forward here and today. One only has to believe in oneself, and then it is also possible to win.?
Audi motorsport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich: ?Gary was really, really fast. We aren?t surprised by that as we know that Mercedes-Benz has been working very hard. From that point of view, we also needed a good strategy for Mattias and Timo. At the end of the race, Mattias was faster, and that is what brought him to the front. He really has worked hard for it.?
