[DTM] Race 6 - Zandvoort (NED), 13 July 2008

[helgi]

After the changing of the weight handicap it became closer. After the 1 test session Abt trio (Scheider, Kristensen, Ekstrom) are the fastest. Oliver Jarvis is not far from them (+0,287). The best placed Mercedes is fifth (Paul di Resta).

[helgi]

Friday tests. Aggregate table


Abt's Audi are playing in their special league... But Oliver has delivered a fantastid drive. And, of course, Perfect Paffett - unbelievable result (look for the other MB 07 drivers somewhere in the basement of the table). I hope, it's all right with his Merc's weight.

And, if that F2 championship starts (if it's going to be a real Championship, not just a comercial series, I'll be its fan) do you think some DTM pilots dreaming about F1-seat would leave DTM for that races? I think Mercedes uses DTM as a storehouse for its pilots. Don't you think so? Haug only promises test-driver seats, and pilots only dreaming about.

[helgi]

out:
Lauda
Legge
Engel
Stoddart
Schumacher

Ekstrom has all the best sectors:
40,230 24,157 27,435

[helgi]

Out :
Winki
Rocky (had an incident at Kumho)
Premat
Paffett
Albers (didn't leave his boxes at all)

1 sector Scheider 39,923
2 _____ Jarvis 24,007
3 _____ Ekstrom 27,493

the sky is very grey...

[helgi]

Ekstrom
Scheider
Kristensen
Green
Spengler
Tomczyk
Di Resta
Jarvis

Eki has all 3 best sectors: 39,765 23,621 27,406

[Hazard]

Qualifying

1 - Mattias Ekström - Audi A4 DTM - DTM2008 - 1:31.012


2 - Timo Scheider - Audi A4 DTM - DTM2008 - 1:31.231


3 - Tom Kristensen - Audi A4 DTM - DTM2008 - 1:31.563


4 - Jamie Green - Mercedes C-Klasse - DTM2008 - 1:31.600


5 - Bruno Spengler - Mercedes C-Klasse - DTM2008 - 1:31.709


6 - Martin Tomczyk - Audi A4 DTM - DTM2008 - 1:31.731


7 - Paul di Resta - Mercedes C-Klasse - DTM2008 - 1:31.815


8 - Oliver Jarvis - Audi A4 DTM - DTM2007 - 1:32.037


9 - Markus Winkelhock - Audi A4 DTM - DTM2007 - 1:32.319


10 - Mike Rockenfeller - Audi A4 DTM - DTM2007 - 1:32.642


11 - Alexandre Prémat - Audi A4 DTM - DTM2007 - 1:32.705


12 - Bernd Schneider - Mercedes C-Klasse - DTM2008 - 1:32.808


13 - Gary Paffett - Mercedes C-Klasse - DTM2007 - 1:33.165


14 - Christijan Albers - Audi A4 DTM - DTM2006 - 1:33.231


15 - Mathias Lauda - Mercedes C-Klasse - DTM2007 - 1:33.644


16 - Katherine Legge - Audi A4 DTM - DTM2006 - 1:33.681


17 - Maro Engel - Mercedes C-Klasse - DTM2007 - 1:33.691


18 - Susie Stoddart - Mercedes C-Klasse - DTM2007 - 1:33.873


19 - Ralf Schumacher - Mercedes C-Klasse - DTM2007 - 1:33.980

[helgi]

Happy Birthday to Catherine Legge!! Nice present - 3 star warriors behind!

[Hazard]

I bet Toyota are gutted. They've probably worked out what the main flaw in their development programme has been for the last few seasons.

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by Hazard

I bet Toyota are gutted. They've probably worked out what the main flaw in their development programme has been for the last few seasons.

I didn't know Toyota is racing in DTM.

[Go_For_Pole]

He means Ralf in their F1 team.

[helgi]

Patric Simon crashed at Seat Cup race in the last turn. Don't you know how is he?

[helgi]

Mattias Ekstrom wins a very tram-race....

[helgi]

13 July. Race results

[Bramzel]

What happened to Albers?

[helgi]

1 _____ Scheider______ 40
2 _____ Ekström_______ 35
3 _____ Green________ 34
4 _____ Di Resta______ 29
5 _____ Spengler______ 26
6 _____ Tomczyk______ 22
7 _____ Kristensen_____ 20
8 _____ Schneider_____ 11
9 _____ Winkelhock____ 6
10____ Jarvis_________ 5
11____ Rockenfeller____ 2
12____ Paffett________ 2
13____ Prémat________ 1
14 ____ Lauda_________ 1

[helgi]

Albers was knocked-out in Renaultbocht

[Bernard Bram]

He knocked himself out, to be precise.

[helgi]

Oh, yes. I've just rewatch the openning laps.Was just very upset because of the race "tense" story...

[Hazard]

Great race for Audi. Not for race fans...if I was in a coma, I'd have my status degraded to dead now

[TWRv12]

If Ralf was any slower his missus in her Mini Cooper might pass him

[helgi]

Maybe, the cars are too expensive, and the pilots don't want to risk?

[werner]

I was at the track, and to be honest, Ralf wasn't that bad. At least better than the 2 ladies in the championship, because it seemed that they only race in the DTM because they don't have a penis.
I had the luck be be close to the action between Scnheider, Rockenfeller and Winkelhock. But otherwise the race was very boring. It helps a lot that in real life the cars are at least loud and fast! And offcourse the track is nice.

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by werner

I was at the track, and to be honest, Ralf wasn't that bad. At least better than the 2 ladies in the championship, because it seemed that they only race in the DTM because they don't have a penis.
I had the luck be be close to the action between Scnheider, Rockenfeller and Winkelhock. But otherwise the race was very boring. It helps a lot that in real life the cars are at least loud and fast! And offcourse the track is nice.

How was the Porsche RS Spyder, Audi R10 en Toyota NASCAR demo?

[helgi]

I've noticed. One track suits Mercedes,the other - Audi. And that 'suitable' tracks take turns between each other. And 'non-suitable' cars suffer from weight balast from previous suitable race. Of course,it's not so stupid as two pit-stops in 4 laps,but...
And as I wrote in GT thread,to love this racing I think it's necessary to watch that machinery alive. As Mr.Theisen said,it's more GT than touring,so you need to see it alive. I hope,it'll visit Russia in the nearest future. As for the lap times, DTM car 15 seconds faster than WTCC,and 3 seconds faster than GT1 cars at Oschersleben.

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Well, that was a great race yet again wasn't it? Not. A relief that Tour de France is up and running, as we don't have to listen to Carlton Kirby's dreadful commentating. Gareth, I know you've visited these boards before, and whilst you're a great commentator and I agreed with pretty much everything you've said on GP2 I have to take issue with your description of the DTM when you were wondering why people in the UK prefer the BTCC.

Yes, the DTM cars are fast and very advanced. Yes, the series has a lot of star names (though far fewer this year compared to last). The DTM's main problem is that the racing sucks. It really does. It's light years from the BTCC, and although the cars may be spectacular and all that that doesn't help a thing when they can't stand up to a bit of contact. Not that there's going to be any, mind you. I find no interest in this championship at all. It's just 19 (Nineteen!) factory backed cars from two makes slagging it out. No privateers, not one. I don't think there's been one interesting DTM race since Opel left at the end of 05. If you've got a suggestion, please mention it.
These contrived pit stops doesn't help either. They add nothing to the racing, and I believe the main reason they're there is to make sure that the cars doesn't finish in the exact order they exited the first turn. Oh, and three second pit stops are not interesting. Sports car and NASCAR pit stops are. And of course there's team orders. Just because they're banned doesn't mean they've gone away, they've just become more subtle. At least last year we had Abt attacking Mercs lapping him.

Speaking of drivers, Ralf didn't have a bad race. He finished second in the Merc 07 class (they really seem to severly lack pace don't they) to none other than Gary Paffett. I agree with the above statement that both makes seem to feel that they have to have a lady racer, no matter how rubbish they are. Legge was last out of the first corner and only moved up when others pitted, and Stoddart hasn't been much better. I'm all for women in motor sports, but please don't promote them because of their gender. Can I have one black and one Asian driver, please thank you? My marketing department think we need to reach those areas. But make sure they're not Brits both of them, we can't have that can we?

Anyway, rant over. I went a bit off target there but anyway, the reasons why people doesn't care about the DTM in the UK is easy to understand, at least to me. We've just got something much, much better.