Alternate DTM - 2006 season

[Hermann95]

I have a short question:
Why didn't you do the driver signing for the other drivers i made an offer(McNish and Frentzen)?
With regrads to the tracks:
i would remove one of the british tracks(Knockhill)

Oh shite, I forget those two guys. I'm sorry! I'll edit them into the driver signing post.

thank you! I will still sign wurz as second driver!

[Klon]

I would personally go with 1), there are always cheaper German drivers available.

[pi314159]

Manor Motorsport would like to keep the calendar as it is.

[Ferrarist]

Okay, the schedule will stay as it is. But teams can go into debt, though. On the other hand, I'll award prize money so maybe some teams can earn money that way. Now I'll complete the teams and their drivers and if everything's complete, we can go testing at Estoril.

Arden International are willing to run Marcel Fassler in their 2005-spec Audi, if he so wishes.

Arden also announce the signing of Gianni Morbidelli for their 2006 DTM campaign.

Team Rosberg are also interested in the the services of Marcel Fassler.

Sorry, East Londoner was first. But I think you may indeed need another driver, so wait until I've assembled a list of drivers, who haven't found a seat so far. Then you can decide on your second driver.

[pi314159]

Manor Motorsport confirm that they will run Alexandre Premat and Loic Duval in 2006.

[TomWazzleshaw]

Triple 8 Race Engineering will go with Neel Jani and Craig Baird for 2006.

[Ferrarist]

So roblomas, the following drivers, who haven't been signed yet, are still available:

- Thomas Holzer - 100.000 € p.a.
- Jeroen Bleekemolen - 100.000 € p.a.
- Michael Ammermüller - 50.000 € p.a.
- Susie Stoddart - 25.000 € p.a.
- Olivier Panis - 250.000 € p.a.
- Heinz-Harald Frentzen - 200.000 € p.a.

Pick one of them and we can go testing at Estoril.

[roblo97]

So roblomas, the following drivers, who haven't been signed yet, are still available:

- Thomas Holzer - 100.000 € p.a.
- Jeroen Bleekemolen - 100.000 € p.a.
- Michael Ammermüller - 50.000 € p.a.
- Susie Stoddart - 25.000 € p.a.
- Olivier Panis - 250.000 € p.a.
- Heinz-Harald Frentzen - 200.000 € p.a.

Pick one of them and we can go testing at Estoril.

May I please have Frentzen?

Thanks

[Ferrarist]

Now off to the official pre-season test at Estoril:

Back from the winter sleep - DTM tests at Estoril

The teams of the DTM are back from their off-season break. After the inofficial manufacturers tests, the ITR has invited the teams to the official pre-season test at Estoril. All 24 cars were present, with teams eager to see how their new material is doing. So far, the tests have brought no real surprises: The works cars from HWA and Abt Sportsline are at the front of the field. Interestingly enough, some of the 2005-spec car managed to get within a second to the newer works cars. Apart from the testing sessions, the ITR has also held a press conference about the upcoming 2006 season.

The biggest news so far has been the confirmation of the provisional schedule. There were concerns about travelling budgets, having two races in the UK and the 2006 FIFA World Cup. But according to ITR chairman Hans-Werner Aufrecht, these doubts were swiped away. There will also be a special competition for two-year old cars, called the "Aral Ultimate Cup". This trophy will be awarded to the driver with most "class victories", as opposed to setting up a seperate points table for the cars. A victory in this category will also come with a monetary reward, which has yet to be specified.

Apart from that, the 2006 season will be run as usual: There will be one race over roughly an hour and all races broadcast live by "Das Erste" in Germany.

Day One - Testing Results

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 1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)         1:34.206
 2 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)           1:34.260
 3 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)          1:34.267
 4 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)             1:34.343
 5 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)          1:34.447
 6 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)         1:34.615
 7 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)           1:34.675
 8 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)          1:34.971
 9 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)           1:35.083
10 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)     1:35.088
11 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)         1:35.178
12 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)           1:35.252
13 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)     1:35.307
14 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)            1:35.366
15 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)        1:35.665
16 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)        1:35.840
17 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)         1:36.232
18 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)  1:36.314
19 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)      1:36.425
20 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)     1:36.438
21 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)       1:36.482
22 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)            1:36.915
23 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)          1:36.923
24 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)          1:37.149

Day Two - Testing Results

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 1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)         1:34.117
 2 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)           1:34.289
 3 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)          1:34.375
 4 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)             1:34.446
 5 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)          1:34.478
 6 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)           1:34.633
 7 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)         1:34.644
 8 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)          1:34.997
 9 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)           1:35.023
10 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)     1:35.099
11 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)         1:35.114
12 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)           1:35.278
13 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)     1:35.308
14 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)            1:35.662
15 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)        1:35.724
16 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)        1:35.887
17 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)      1:36.247
18 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)         1:36.291
19 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)  1:36.387
20 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)       1:36.472
21 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)     1:36.525
22 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)            1:36.887
23 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)          1:36.960
24 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)          1:37.180

[Ferrarist]

The 2006 DTM season doesn't kick off from Hockenheim, as usual, but from Goldenport Park Circuit in China, only 10km north of Beijing. The DTM isn't new to China, as the series already visited Shanghai in 2004. But the DTM is serious about setting foot in China, which is why they are now racing at the 2.4 km road course. While there are only two grandstands at the track, these are filled with curious Chinese racing fans. Not to mention that some fans have also gathered at other viewing spots alongside the track. But enough talk, time for free practice:

1st Free Practice Session from Goldenport Park Circuit

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 1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)         1:03.424
 2 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)          1:03.503
 3 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)           1:03.516
 4 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)             1:03.520
 5 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)          1:03.609
 6 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)         1:03.656
 7 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)           1:03.660
 8 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)          1:03.842
 9 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)           1:03.882
10 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)         1:03.887
11 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)     1:03.901
12 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)     1:03.954
13 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)           1:04.021
14 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)            1:04.053
15 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)        1:04.195
16 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)        1:04.292
17 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)      1:04.470
18 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)         1:04.495
19 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)  1:04.530
20 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)     1:04.571
21 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)       1:04.575
22 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)            1:04.848
23 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)          1:04.867
24 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)          1:04.961

2nd Free Practice Session from Goldenport Park Circuit

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 1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)         1:03.425
 2 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)          1:03.515
 3 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)           1:03.517
 4 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)             1:03.537
 5 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)          1:03.564
 6 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)         1:03.656
 7 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)           1:03.669
 8 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)          1:03.823
 9 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)           1:03.823
10 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)         1:03.918
11 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)     1:03.958
12 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)     1:03.966
13 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)           1:04.028
14 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)            1:04.030
15 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)        1:04.298
16 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)        1:04.311
17 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)         1:04.465
18 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)      1:04.470
19 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)  1:04.480
20 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)       1:04.571
21 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)     1:04.573
22 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)          1:04.803
23 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)            1:04.828
24 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)          1:04.921

Now for the qualifying format: I'll run the shootout format F1 made popular in 2006. It'll consist of Q1/Q2/Q3. The slowest eight cars will out of Q1 and Q2, while the remaining eight drivers are battling for the pole position.

Q1 from Goldenport Park Circuit

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 1 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)             1:03.546
 2 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)         1:03.669
 3 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)         1:03.724
 4 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)          1:03.790
 5 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)     1:03.897
 6 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)           1:03.915
 7 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)           1:03.940
 8 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)            1:04.061
 9 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)          1:04.076
10 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)           1:04.110
11 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)          1:04.142
12 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)        1:04.255
13 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)           1:04.337
14 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)         1:04.444
15 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)  1:04.496
16 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)        1:04.545
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17 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)     1:04.669
18 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)         1:04.749
19 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)      1:04.796
20 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)          1:04.820
21 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)       1:04.829
22 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)            1:05.203
23 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)          1:06.275
24 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)     1:07.367

Alexandros Margaritis really had a bad qualifying session here, as he couldn't get his HWA-Mercedes up the speed. Neither he nor Norbert Haug will be pleased.

Q2 from Goldenport Park Circuit

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 1 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)           1:03.523
 2 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)             1:03.636
 3 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)         1:03.684
 4 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)           1:03.703
 5 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)          1:03.761
 6 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)           1:03.937
 7 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)     1:04.055
 8 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)          1:04.056
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 9 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)           1:04.220
10 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)        1:04.227
11 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)          1:04.376
12 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)         1:04.469
13 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)        1:04.478
14 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)  1:04.480
15 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)            1:04.518
16 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)         1:04.550

On a normal day, Ekström wouldn't have been one second behind the fastest time. He probably had a bad set of tires and may have been stuck in traffic. Goldenport is short, yet tight and twisty. Now four Mercedes and four Audi duke it out for the pole position.

Q3 from Goldenport Park Circuit

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1 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)       1:03.667
2 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)        1:03.765
3 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)       1:03.830
4 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)        1:03.999
5 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)      1:04.092
6 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)        1:04.098
7 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)  1:04.448
8 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)          1:05.145

Starting Grid for the DTM Race at Goldenport Park Circuit

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1 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)       1:03.667
2 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)        1:03.765
3 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)       1:03.830
4 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)        1:03.999
5 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)      1:04.092
6 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)        1:04.098
7 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)  1:04.448
8 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)          1:05.145
9 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)           1:04.220
10 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)        1:04.227
11 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)          1:04.376
12 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)         1:04.469
13 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)        1:04.478
14 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)  1:04.480
15 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)            1:04.518
16 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)         1:04.550
17 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)     1:04.669
18 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)         1:04.749
19 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)      1:04.796
20 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)          1:04.820
21 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)       1:04.829
22 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)            1:05.203
23 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)          1:06.275
24 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)     1:07.367

This race will be run over the distance of 57 laps. There are definitely exiting stories in it: Can Mattias Ekström make a charge to the front, to make up for his qualifying performance? Can Martin Tomczyk score his first DTM win? Will Jean Alesi be involved in the battle for the victory? And how the will the newcomers in the DTM do? All these questions will be answered right now!

Race Results from Goldenport Park Circuit

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1 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline) 1:01:28.146
2 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes) 1:01:31.829
3 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline) 1:01:39.787
4 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes) 1:01:39.876
5 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix) 1:01:40.101
6 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix) 1:01:41.978
7 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline) 1:01:44.252
8 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg) 1:01:44.896 -> Winner of this round's Aral Ultimate Cup
9 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport) 1:01:44.897
10 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport) 1:01:47.261
11 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport) 1:01:47.438
12 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes) 1:01:47.537
13 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg) 1:01:50.512
14 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport) 1:01:50.797
15 Marcel Fässler (Arden International) 1:01:51.427
16 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline) 1:01:54.248
17 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME) 1:01:54.745
18 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering) 1:01:55.641

Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes) DNF lap 51
Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME) DNF lap 46
Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport) DNF lap 45
Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International) DNF lap 25
Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering) DNF lap 23
Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport) DNF lap 19

It was a very exciting race, with a lot of battles going on in the field. But no one would have thought that Timo Scheider could score such an upset, finishing more than three seconds in front of Schneider. Honourable mention should go to Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who's won the first round of the newly introduced Aral Ultimate-Cup.

Points Standings after Round 1 out of 12

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1. Timo Scheider - 10pts.
2. Bernd Schneider - 8pts.
3. Tom Kristensen - 6pts.
4. Mika Häkkinen - 5pts.
5. Mike Rockenfeller - 4pts.
6. Alexander Wurz - 3pts.
7. Mattias Ekström - 2pts.
8. Heinz-Harald Frentzen - 1pt.

The next round at Hockenheim will probably be posted on Wednesday.

[roblo97]

By the way, what is the Aral Ultimate-Cup?


At least Frentzen won that though

[Ferrarist]

The next round of the 2006 DTM season brings us to Hockenheim. The traditional venue of the German Grand Prix will see the beginning of the european DTM season. Despite Hockenheim not being the opening race anymore, it still attracts a large crowd over the weekend. In fact, the race day crowd could give the attendance of the German Grand Prix a run for its money, no publicocrap intended . But before the race, let's take a look at the free practice sessions.

1st Free Practice Session from Hockenheim

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 1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)         1:33.549
 2 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)          1:33.743
 3 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)             1:33.781
 4 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)           1:33.815
 5 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)          1:33.866
 6 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)           1:34.077
 7 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)         1:34.115
 8 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)           1:34.387
 9 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)          1:34.548
10 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)         1:34.550
11 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)     1:34.606
12 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)           1:34.677
13 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)            1:34.794
14 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)     1:34.797
15 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)        1:35.247
16 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)        1:35.300
17 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)      1:35.703
18 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)  1:35.848
19 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)       1:35.941
20 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)     1:35.943
21 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)         1:35.949
22 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)            1:36.321
23 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)          1:36.339
24 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)          1:36.690

2nd Free Practice Session from Hockenheim

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 1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)         1:33.600
 2 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)           1:33.703
 3 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)          1:33.716
 4 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)             1:33.780
 5 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)          1:33.935
 6 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)         1:34.089
 7 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)           1:34.105
 8 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)          1:34.438
 9 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)           1:34.444
10 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)     1:34.539
11 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)         1:34.563
12 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)     1:34.669
13 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)           1:34.832
14 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)            1:34.989
15 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)        1:35.099
16 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)        1:35.270
17 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)  1:35.655
18 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)         1:35.676
19 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)      1:35.690
20 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)     1:35.942
21 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)       1:35.990
22 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)            1:36.454
23 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)          1:36.483
24 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)          1:36.697

Audi looks to be one-tenth in front of the Mercedes so far. But maybe the guys from Stuttgart can strike back in qualifying.

Q1 from Hockenheim

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 1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)         1:33.703
 2 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)           1:33.937
 3 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)         1:34.100
 4 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)             1:34.289
 5 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)           1:34.382
 6 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)     1:34.695
 7 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)          1:34.703
 8 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)          1:34.883
 9 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)           1:34.931
10 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)           1:34.956
11 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)         1:35.319
12 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)        1:35.371
13 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)        1:35.563
14 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)     1:35.678
15 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)      1:35.699
16 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)            1:35.814
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
17 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)         1:35.906
18 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)       1:35.990
19 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)          1:36.453
20 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)  1:36.703
21 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)          1:36.705
22 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)          1:37.176
23 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)     1:37.312
24 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)            1:37.673

Two surprises here: The negative one is clearly Martin Tomczyk not making it to Q2. His car wasn't probably set up good enough. The positive surprise is Alexandre Premat making it to Q2, though. Let's see where he'll end up.

Q2 from Hockenheim

Code: Select all

 1 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)        1:33.922
 2 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)          1:33.936
 3 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)       1:34.085
 4 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)        1:34.160
 5 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)      1:34.344
 6 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)       1:34.538
 7 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)        1:34.548
 8 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)  1:35.191
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 9 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)      1:35.253
10 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)         1:35.331
11 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)      1:35.480
12 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)  1:35.502
13 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)        1:35.807
14 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)   1:35.842
15 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)     1:36.972
16 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)     1:39.954

Mattias Ekström doesn't seem to like Q2 very much. He failed to make it past Q2 again. Adrian Sutil also suffered from horribly steering car, probably some sort of mechanical problem. Alexandros Margaritis on the other hand makes up for his quali performance at Goldenport by making it to Q3 this time.

Q3 from Hockenheim

Code: Select all

1 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)       1:33.716
2 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)        1:34.169
3 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)      1:34.195
4 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)          1:34.592
5 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)       1:34.610
6 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)        1:35.632
7 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)        1:35.789
8 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)  1:35.857

What a monster lap by Tom Kristensen! While Abt Sportsline lock out the front row, HWA-Mercedes aren't going to be happy, despite Häkkinen and Winkelhock locking out the second row. Here's the starting grid for the 2nd round of the 2006 DTM season:

Starting Grid for the DTM round of Hockenheim

Code: Select all

1 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)       1:33.716
2 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)        1:34.169
3 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)      1:34.195
4 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)          1:34.592
5 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)       1:34.610
6 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)        1:35.632
7 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)        1:35.789
8 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)  1:35.857
9 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)      1:35.253
10 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)         1:35.331
11 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)      1:35.480
12 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)  1:35.502
13 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)        1:35.807
14 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)   1:35.842
15 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)     1:36.972
16 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)     1:39.954
17 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)         1:35.906
18 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)       1:35.990
19 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)          1:36.453
20 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)  1:36.703
21 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)          1:36.705
22 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)          1:37.176
23 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)     1:37.312
24 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)            1:37.673

Race Results from Hockenheim

Code: Select all

1 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline) 1:01:50.339
2 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes) 1:01:55.749
3 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline) 1:01:58.273
4 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport) 1:01:59.111
5 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline) 1:02:03.142
6 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline) 1:02:03.774
7 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport) 1:02:04.437
8 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes) 1:02:09.052
9 Marcel Fässler (Arden International) 1:02:10.430
10 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport) 1:02:11.235
11 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport) 1:02:11.861
12 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg) 1:02:11.932
13 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix) 1:02:16.082
14 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix) 1:02:18.556
15 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport) 1:02:19.075
16 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International) 1:02:20.040
17 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport) 1:02:21.826
18 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME) 1:02:33.750
Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering) DNF lap 31
Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg) DNF lap 16
Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes) DNF lap 14
Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering) DNF lap 9
Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes) DNF lap 8
Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME) DNF lap 1

Points Standings after Round 2 out of 12

Code: Select all

1. Tom Kristensen - 16pts.
2. Timo Scheider - 14pts.
3. Bernd Schneider - 8pts.
=. Mattias Ekström - 8pts.
=. Markus Winkelhock - 8pts.
6. Mika Häkkinen - 5pts.
=. Bruno Spengler - 5pts.
8. Mike Rockenfeller - 4pts.
9. Alexander Wurz - 3pts.
=. Martin Tomczyk - 3pts.
11. Alexandre Premat - 2pts.
12. Heinz-Harald Frentzen - 1pt.
=. Alexandros Margaritis - 1pt.

I'd also like to remind the works teams that they can upgrade their cars anytime they want during the season. The rules for upgrade during the season can be found in the opening post.

[Ferrarist]

After two exciting rounds, the DTM comes to the Eurospeedway Lausitz. Can Mercedes strike back against Audi, or will the men from Ingolstadt continue their winning streak? Maybe free practice can give us the first answers:

1st Free Practice Session

Code: Select all

 1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)         1:19.474
 2 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)           1:19.652
 3 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)          1:19.656
 4 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)             1:19.713
 5 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)          1:19.801
 6 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)           1:19.985
 7 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)         1:20.023
 8 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)           1:20.300
 9 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)          1:20.343
10 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)         1:20.435
11 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)     1:20.526
12 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)     1:20.568
13 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)           1:20.610
14 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)            1:20.747
15 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)        1:21.105
16 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)        1:21.252
17 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)  1:21.577
18 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)      1:21.659
19 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)         1:21.684
20 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)     1:21.806
21 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)       1:21.904
22 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)          1:22.238
23 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)            1:22.245
24 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)          1:22.610

2nd Free Practice Session

Code: Select all

 1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)         1:19.522
 2 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)          1:19.614
 3 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)             1:19.692
 4 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)           1:19.700
 5 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)          1:19.806
 6 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)           1:19.969
 7 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)         1:19.981
 8 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)           1:20.362
 9 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)          1:20.398
10 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)         1:20.463
11 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)     1:20.499
12 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)           1:20.567
13 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)     1:20.607
14 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)            1:20.718
15 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)        1:21.032
16 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)        1:21.355
17 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)      1:21.568
18 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)  1:21.606
19 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)         1:21.680
20 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)     1:21.812
21 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)       1:21.814
22 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)            1:22.317
23 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)          1:22.446
24 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)          1:22.502

Once again, Mattias Ekström looks like the man to beat. But can he avoid his qualifying weakness? If he does, he may as well be unstoppable on race day.

Q1

Code: Select all

 1 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)             1:19.964
 2 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)         1:20.177
 3 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)           1:20.211
 4 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)          1:20.257
 5 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)          1:20.390
 6 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)           1:20.470
 7 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)     1:20.593
 8 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)           1:20.666
 9 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)            1:21.017
10 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)           1:21.114
11 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)     1:21.362
12 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)          1:21.411
13 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)         1:21.420
14 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)         1:21.633
15 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)      1:21.659
16 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)         1:21.918
---------------------------------------------------------------------
17 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)     1:22.346
18 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)       1:22.375
19 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)        1:22.506
20 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)            1:22.783
21 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)  1:22.853
22 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)          1:23.126
23 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)          1:24.247
24 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)        1:24.264

Q2

Code: Select all

 1 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)        1:19.638
 2 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)      1:19.755
 3 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)       1:19.889
 4 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)          1:19.948
 5 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)       1:19.973
 6 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)        1:20.407
 7 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)  1:20.649
 8 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)  1:20.754
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 9 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)         1:20.881
10 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)      1:20.984
11 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)       1:21.223
12 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)        1:21.301
13 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)        1:22.572
14 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)      1:22.772
15 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)   1:23.542
16 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)      1:25.619

The only "real" surprise is Marcel Fässler making it to Q3. Other than Fässler, Q3 is only made up by the works cars.

Q3

Code: Select all

1 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)          1:19.710
2 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)      1:19.813
3 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)       1:20.089
4 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)       1:20.718
5 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)        1:20.829
6 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)  1:21.330
7 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)  1:21.456
8 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)        1:22.301

The Starting Grid for the DTM Race of Eurospeedway Lausitz

Code: Select all

 1 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)          1:19.710
2 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)      1:19.813
3 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)       1:20.089
4 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)       1:20.718
5 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)        1:20.829
6 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)  1:21.330
7 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)  1:21.456
8 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)        1:22.301
9 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)         1:20.881
10 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)      1:20.984
11 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)       1:21.223
12 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)        1:21.301
13 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)        1:22.572
14 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)      1:22.772
15 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)   1:23.542
16 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)      1:25.619
17 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)     1:22.346
18 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)       1:22.375
19 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)        1:22.506
20 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)            1:22.783
21 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)  1:22.853
22 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)          1:23.126
23 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)          1:24.247
24 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)        1:24.264

Race Results

Code: Select all

 1 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)               1:05:40.462
 2 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)           1:05:41.321
 3 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)             1:05:47.673
 4 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)             1:05:48.097
 5 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)           1:05:50.678
 6 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)            1:05:58.004
 7 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)       1:05:58.591
 8 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)            1:05:59.261
 9 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)              1:06:02.199 - Winner of this round's Aral Ultimate Cup
10 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)       1:06:02.463
11 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)            1:06:09.061
12 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)         1:06:11.773
13 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)            1:06:15.293
14 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)        1:06:16.066
15 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)             1:06:27.686
   Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)     DNF lap 44
   Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)               DNF lap 29
   Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)        DNF lap 27
   Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)              DNF lap 26
   Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)           DNF lap 25
   Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)             DNF lap 18
   Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)           DNF lap 15
   Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)            DNF lap 12
   Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)             DNF lap 6

While Mattias Ekström could finally overcome his qualifying weakness, his race didn't take that long. He had a heated duel with Mika Häkkinen, until Häkkinen pushed Ekström into the tire barrier at the reentry to the oval. While one could argue that Ekström didn't change his racing line, to avoid the tire barrier, he was still furious. But despite the safety car period, Häkkinen wasn't punished by the race officials, as the incident was ruled to be a racing incident. There were plenty of retirements that day, as a total of nine cars didn't make the finish.
Long story short: Mika Häkkinen drove to an almost unthreatened victory. Almost, because he got under a lot of pressure by the charging Markus Winkelhock. But Norbert Haug interfered, telling Winkelhock to let Häkkinen win the race.

Points Standings after Round 3 of 12

Code: Select all

1. Tom Kristensen - 19pts.
2. Markus Winkelhock - 16pts.
3. Mika Häkkinen - 15pts.
4. Timo Scheider - 14pts.
=. Bernd Schneider - 14pts.
6. Mattias Ekström - 8pts.
=. Mike Rockenfeller - 8pts.
8. Bruno Spengler - 5pts.
=. Tetsuya Yamano - 5pts.
10. Martin Tomczyk - 4pts.
11. Alexander Wurz - 3pts.
12. Alexandre Premat - 2pts.
=. Marcel Fässler - 2pts.
14. Heinz-Harald Frentzen - 1pt.
=. Alexandros Margaritis - 1pt.

[FMecha]

Why da Hulk is slow as lel?

[Ferrarist]

The 4th round of the 2006 DTM season takes place in Oschersleben. Mercedes has finally managed to score the first victory of the season. Can they score their equalizer over Audi, or will Audi make it 3-1 for the year?

1st Free Practice from Oschersleben

Code: Select all

 1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)         1:19.404
 2 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)           1:19.582
 3 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)             1:19.606
 4 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)          1:19.613
 5 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)          1:19.696
 6 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)           1:19.914
 7 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)         1:20.002
 8 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)          1:20.176
 9 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)           1:20.207
10 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)     1:20.366
11 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)         1:20.376
12 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)           1:20.474
13 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)     1:20.566
14 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)            1:20.600
15 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)        1:20.891
16 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)        1:21.068
17 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)         1:21.451
18 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)      1:21.467
19 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)  1:21.503
20 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)     1:21.710
21 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)       1:21.740
22 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)            1:22.170
23 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)          1:22.609
24 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)          1:22.710

2nd Free Practice from Oschersleben

Code: Select all

 1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)         1:19.469
 2 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)           1:19.512
 3 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)          1:19.561
 4 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)             1:19.632
 5 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)          1:19.752
 6 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)           1:19.846
 7 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)         1:19.896
 8 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)          1:20.186
 9 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)           1:20.187
10 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)         1:20.298
11 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)     1:20.299
12 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)           1:20.444
13 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)     1:20.568
14 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)            1:20.614
15 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)        1:20.922
16 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)        1:21.201
17 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)      1:21.458
18 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)         1:21.512
19 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)  1:21.577
20 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)       1:21.655
21 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)     1:21.656
22 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)          1:22.149
23 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)            1:22.336
24 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)          1:22.435

Once again, Mathias Ekström sets the pace in free practice. But he needs to win here, in order to keep his championship hopes alive...or has he? The championship has been pretty close so far.

Q1 from Oschersleben

Code: Select all

 1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)         1:19.462
 2 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)           1:19.521
 3 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)             1:19.644
 4 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)          1:19.757
 5 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)           1:20.277
 6 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)     1:20.348
 7 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)         1:20.437
 8 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)           1:20.718
 9 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)          1:20.780
10 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)           1:20.827
11 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)        1:21.188
12 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)     1:21.247
13 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)            1:21.300
14 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)        1:21.351
15 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)  1:21.577
16 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)         1:21.712
------------------------------------------------------------------------
17 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)      1:22.101
18 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)       1:22.124
19 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)     1:22.216
20 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)            1:22.358
21 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)         1:22.379
22 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)          1:22.465
23 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)          1:22.630
24 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)          1:22.795

Q1 wasn't a happy affair for Winkelhock and Tomczyk. While their crews wonder about the cause of their performance, we're off to Q2.

Q2 from Oschersleben

Code: Select all

 1 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)           1:19.613
 2 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)             1:19.689
 3 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)          1:20.064
 4 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)     1:20.556
 5 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)            1:20.730
 6 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)           1:20.780
 7 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)          1:20.784
 8 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)           1:20.991
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 9 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)        1:21.039
10 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)         1:21.143
11 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)        1:21.152
12 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)           1:21.213
13 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)         1:21.456
14 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)  1:21.716
15 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)     1:22.079
16 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)         1:22.972

Poor Mattias Ekström. He can't just catch a break. But the Swede was never one who'd just give up. He always wants to win against all odds.

Q3 from Oschersleben

Code: Select all

1 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)       1:19.530
2 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)          1:19.660
3 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)        1:20.170
4 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)  1:20.448
5 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)        1:20.875
6 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)       1:21.394
7 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)        1:21.742
8 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)         1:23.116

Once again we have a Nordic front row, even though Audi has the pole position this time. Marcel Fässler is also doing a hell of a job in his 2005-spec Audi. If he keeps up the good work, he may find himself in a new car for 2007. Here's the starting grid for the race:

Starting Grid for the DTM Race of Oschersleben

Code: Select all

1 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)       1:19.530
2 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)          1:19.660
3 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)        1:20.170
4 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)  1:20.448
5 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)        1:20.875
6 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)       1:21.394
7 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)        1:21.742
8 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)         1:23.116
9 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)        1:21.039
10 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)         1:21.143
11 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)        1:21.152
12 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)           1:21.213
13 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)         1:21.456
14 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)  1:21.716
15 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)     1:22.079
16 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)         1:22.972
17 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)      1:22.101
18 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)       1:22.124
19 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)     1:22.216
20 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)            1:22.358
21 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)         1:22.379
22 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)          1:22.465
23 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)          1:22.630
24 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)          1:22.795

Results of the DTM Race of Oschersleben

Code: Select all

 1 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)            1:00:10.023
 2 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)           1:00:13.825
 3 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)          1:00:13.984
 4 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)       1:00:14.301
 5 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)       1:00:17.461
 6 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)             1:00:20.784
 7 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)               1:00:22.484
 8 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)           1:00:23.373
 9 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)    1:00:25.349 - Winner of this round's Aral Ultimate Cup
10 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)             1:00:28.204
11 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)            1:00:28.764
12 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)            1:00:28.766
13 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)             1:00:30.095
14 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)         1:00:30.521
15 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)            1:00:31.131
16 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)       1:00:35.144
17 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)           1:00:35.946
18 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)            1:00:37.124
19 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)          1:00:39.170
20 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)           1:00:39.584
21 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)              1:00:40.432
   Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)              DNF lap 33
   Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)               DNF lap 12
   Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)          DNF lap 3

Points Standings after 4 out of 12 races

Code: Select all

1. Tom Kristensen - 29pts.
2. Markus Winkelhock - 17pts.
=. Mika Häkkinen - 17pts.
=. Bernd Schneider - 17pts.
5. Timo Scheider - 14pts.
=. Mattias Ekström - 14pts.
7. Mike Rockenfeller - 8pts.
8. Marcel Fässler - 7pts.
9. Adrian Sutil - 6pts.
10. Bruno Spengler - 5pts.
=. Tetsuya Yamano - 5pts.
=. Alexandros Margaritis - 5pt.
13. Martin Tomczyk - 4pts.
14. Alexander Wurz - 3pts.
15. Alexandre Premat - 2pts.
16. Heinz-Harald Frentzen - 1pt.

With a third of the season over, may I remind the works teams that they can spend up to 300.000 € on mid-season upgrades? Testing rules should be in one of the first posts. I'm also thinking about ways to increase the activity in this series, as I wanted to create a spiritual successor to Shadaza's Formula C. If you've got some ideas, feel free to share them in this thread.

[Klon]

Well, HWA will immediately head to the Circuit Bugatti to spend €180,000 on developing our car (divided in €90,000-€40,000-€50,000 respectively).

[Ferrarist]

After three rounds in Germany, the DTM leaves their home country again and heads for the first of two visits in Great Britain. Brands Hatch will see the inaugural DTM race, which will held on the short, Indy circuit, as the DTM couldn't get a proper date for a race on the full course in time. Can Mercedes strike back against Audi, or will Tom Kristensen continue to walk away slowly but steadily with the points lead? It seems like Norbert Haug really doesn't feel comfortable about Mercedes' performance, because all four HWA cars undertook a private test at the Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans. But was their test successful? We're about to find out:

FP1 from Brands Hatch

Code: Select all

 1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)           42.429
 2 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)             42.439
 3 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)               42.471
 4 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)            42.511
 5 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)            42.512
 6 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)           42.533
 7 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)             42.557
 8 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)             42.640
 9 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)            42.643
10 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)       42.655
11 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)           42.686
12 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)       42.695
13 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)             42.719
14 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)              42.744
15 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)          42.817
16 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)          42.871
17 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)    42.963
18 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)           42.983
19 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)        42.990
20 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)       43.003
21 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)         43.026
22 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)              43.125
23 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)            43.134
24 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)            43.193

It looks like HWA's upgrade have brought them a little bit closer to Audi. But rumour has it that Mercedes put more focus on long runs anyway.

FP2 from Brands Hatch

Code: Select all

 1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)           42.429
 2 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)             42.452
 3 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)               42.455
 4 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)            42.487
 5 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)           42.523
 6 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)            42.537
 7 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)             42.557
 8 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)            42.633
 9 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)       42.655
10 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)             42.663
11 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)       42.677
12 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)           42.688
13 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)             42.710
14 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)              42.747
15 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)          42.829
16 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)          42.860
17 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)           42.951
18 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)    42.956
19 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)        42.986
20 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)         43.014
21 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)       43.024
22 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)              43.127
23 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)            43.147
24 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)            43.189

Qualifying will be a very exciting matter on this tight, short Brands Hatch Indy circuit. A driver needs as much track on possible, to score a good lap time.

Q1 from Brands Hatch

Code: Select all

 1 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)            42.461
 2 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)               42.516
 3 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)             42.532
 4 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)             42.570
 5 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)           42.594
 6 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)           42.598
 7 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)             42.633
 8 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)            42.644
 9 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)           42.697
10 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)       42.773
11 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)             42.776
12 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)            42.841
13 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)              42.899
14 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)    42.963
15 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)       43.051
16 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)         43.087
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
17 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)        43.103
18 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)              43.134
19 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)          43.142
20 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)           43.164
21 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)            43.174
22 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)            43.192
23 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)          43.232
24 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)       43.315

As I said, a driver needs as much track as possible on his qualifying runs. Track, which Margaritis didn't have.

Q2 from Brands Hatch

Code: Select all

 1 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)             42.452
 2 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)               42.460
 3 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)           42.559
 4 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)           42.683
 5 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)            42.683
 6 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)             42.727
 7 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)             42.737
 8 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)              42.798
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 9 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)           42.807
10 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)            42.881
11 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)         43.007
12 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)    43.030
13 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)       43.074
14 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)             43.083
15 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)            43.160
16 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)       43.172

A disastrous Q2 for Abt Sportsline. Three of their drivers failed to make Q1, while HWA-Mercedes has a huge chance of winning the pole for this race.

Q3 from Brands Hatch

Code: Select all

1 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)      42.500
2 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)    42.526
3 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)        42.537
4 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)     42.645
5 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)      42.837
6 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)      42.878
7 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)       42.899
8 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)    42.979

A perfect weekend for HWA-Mercedes so far. Their main rivals from Audi start from relatively bad positions, while HWA managed to bring their remaining cars into the top 3. Here's how they line-up on the grid:

Starting Grid for the DTM Race of Brands Hatch

Code: Select all

1 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)      42.500
2 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)    42.526
3 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)        42.537
4 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)     42.645
5 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)      42.837
6 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)      42.878
7 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)       42.899
8 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)    42.979
 9 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)           42.807
10 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)            42.881
11 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)         43.007
12 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)    43.030
13 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)       43.074
14 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)             43.083
15 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)            43.160
16 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)       43.172
17 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)        43.103
18 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)              43.134
19 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)          43.142
20 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)           43.164
21 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)            43.174
22 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)            43.192
23 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)          43.232
24 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)       43.315

Results of the DTM Race of Brands Hatch

Code: Select all

 1 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes)               1:01:20.398
 2 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes)             1:01:33.009
 3 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes)           1:01:36.332
 4 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline)             1:01:42.126
 5 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix)              1:01:43.916
 6 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline)           1:01:45.632
 7 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline)            1:01:48.040
 8 Marcel Fässler (Arden International)       1:01:50.482
 9 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline)            1:01:51.744
10 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International)    1:01:53.134 - Winner of this round's Aral Ultimate Cup
11 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME)             1:01:54.108
12 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering)         1:01:57.464
13 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg)       1:02:03.380
14 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport)             1 lap
15 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport)                   1 lap
16 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes)            1 lap
17 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME)                 1 lap
18 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg)                 1 lap
19 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport)               1 lap
   Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport)             DNF lap 83
   Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix)            DNF lap 56
   Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport)              DNF lap 27
   Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering)            DNF lap 21
   Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport)           DNF lap 10

No one has probably expected such a dominance by Mercedes. Their upgrades have probably worked pretty well. But Häkkinen's large gap over Bernd Schneider has raised suspicions about another team order in favour of Häkkinen. Bernd Schneider would later tell on TV about troubles with backmarkers after his pitstops, while Häkkinen had a free track. Häkkinen has more or less told the same story. But Audi has of course made some hints into this direction. Yet for once, the DTM championship seems to be open again, as Tom Kristensen has failed to score any points. Strangely enough, Marcel Fässler wasn't subjected to team orders in favour of Tom Kristensen. Maybe Audi felt sure that Kristensen would make up the lost points later on the season.

Points Standings after 5 out of 12 races

Code: Select all

1. Tom Kristensen - 29pts.
2. Mika Häkkinen - 27pts.
3. Bernd Schneider - 25pts.
4. Markus Winkelhock - 23pts.
5. Timo Scheider - 19pts.
6. Mattias Ekström - 17pts.
7. Mike Rockenfeller - 8pts.
=. Marcel Fässler - 8pts.
9. Alexander Wurz - 7pts.
10. Martin Tomczyk - 6pts.
=. Adrian Sutil - 6pts.
12. Bruno Spengler - 5pts.
=. Tetsuya Yamano - 5pts.
=. Alexandros Margaritis - 5pt.
15. Alexandre Premat - 2pts.

[Ferrarist]

The 2006 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season reaches its halfway point, as the DTM visits its traditional venue at the Norisring. Tom Kristensen is still the points leader, but his lead his shrinked at the last race at the Lausitzring. Can Audi make up for that disaster, or can they score another one over their rivals from Stuttgart? Norisring seems like a good place for that, since it's not too far away from Audi's factory at Ingolstadt. Naturally, plenty of Audi employees attend that race, hoping that a driver with the four rings will carry its car to victory lane. The first clashes will be at the free practice sessions:

FP1 from Norisring

Code: Select all

1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline) 48.439
2 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes) 48.454
3 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline) 48.531
4 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes) 48.576
5 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline) 48.589
6 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes) 48.727
7 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline) 48.729
8 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME) 48.849
9 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix) 48.911
10 Marcel Fässler (Arden International) 48.930
11 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes) 48.960
12 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport) 49.083
13 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix) 49.096
14 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport) 49.336
15 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport) 49.380
16 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport) 49.489
17 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering) 49.527
18 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport) 49.556
19 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International) 49.559
20 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg) 49.680
21 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering) 49.707
22 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg) 49.847
23 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport) 49.888
24 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME) 50.035

FP2 from Norisring

Code: Select all

1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline) 48.464
2 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes) 48.476
3 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes) 48.518
4 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline) 48.579
5 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline) 48.626
6 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes) 48.647
7 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline) 48.679
8 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport) 48.871
9 Marcel Fässler (Arden International) 48.912
10 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME) 48.918
11 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes) 48.927
12 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix) 48.928
13 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport) 48.990
14 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix) 49.132
15 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport) 49.291
16 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport) 49.326
17 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International) 49.478
18 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport) 49.512
19 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering) 49.642
20 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering) 49.741
21 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg) 49.751
22 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport) 49.834
23 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg) 49.979
24 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME) 50.048

The trend from the Lausitzring continues, as Mercedes, or HWA at least, have closed on the Abt Audi. But as shown countless times in this season, qualifying can be a different matter.

Q1 from Norisring

Code: Select all

1 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes) 48.501
2 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline) 48.503
3 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline) 48.631
4 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline) 48.735
5 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport) 48.844
6 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes) 48.844
7 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes) 48.856
8 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport) 49.056
9 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport) 49.205
10 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline) 49.253
11 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME) 49.293
12 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix) 49.526
13 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport) 49.527
14 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International) 49.539
15 Marcel Fässler (Arden International) 49.555
16 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix) 49.600
-------------------------------------------------------------------
17 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes) 49.621
18 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering) 49.724
19 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport) 49.958
20 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering) 50.006
21 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg) 50.015
22 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME) 50.109
23 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport) 50.352
24 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg) 50.460

Apart from Alexandro Margaritis and Bruno Spengler, all cars that didn't make Q2 were two-year old cars. No wonder, as Norisring favours raw speed, which the newer cars have more of.

Q2 from Norisring

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1 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes) 48.515
2 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline) 48.517
3 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes) 48.556
4 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes) 48.678
5 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline) 48.711
6 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline) 48.747
7 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport) 48.872
8 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline) 49.045
-------------------------------------------------------------------
9 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix) 49.078
10 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME) 49.078
11 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport) 49.133
12 Marcel Fässler (Arden International) 49.277
13 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix) 49.291
14 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport) 49.514
15 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport) 49.573
16 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International) 49.939

Apart from Jean Alesi, all cars in Q3 are 2006-spec cars.

Q3 from Norisring

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1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline) 48.489
2 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes) 48.492
3 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes) 48.638
4 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline) 48.663
5 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline) 48.698
6 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline) 48.826
7 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes) 48.828
8 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport) 48.879

Finally, Mattias Ekström has a good qualifying performance. We know of his race pace, so we have a lot to expect from him. On the other hand, the upgraded Mercedes C-Class has shown to be almost as fast as the Audi, so we're in for an exciting race. Here's how they line up for the race:

Starting Grid for the DTM Race of Norisring

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1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline) 48.489
2 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes) 48.492
3 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes) 48.638
4 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline) 48.663
5 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline) 48.698
6 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline) 48.826
7 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes) 48.828
8 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport) 48.879
9 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix) 49.078
10 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME) 49.078
11 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport) 49.133
12 Marcel Fässler (Arden International) 49.277
13 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix) 49.291
14 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport) 49.514
15 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport) 49.573
16 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International) 49.939
17 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes) 49.621
18 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering) 49.724
19 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport) 49.958
20 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering) 50.006
21 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg) 50.015
22 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME) 50.109
23 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport) 50.352
24 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg) 50.460

Result of the DTM Race of Norisring

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1 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes) 1:02:02.531
2 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes) 1:02:13.897
3 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix) 1:02:16.797
4 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport) 1:02:19.256
5 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes) 1:02:23.857
6 Marcel Fässler (Arden International) 1:02:25.122
7 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport) 1:02:27.279
8 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering) 1:02:28.321 - Winner of this round's Aral Ultimate Cup
9 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix) 1:02:30.892
10 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline) 1:02:32.738
11 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg) 1:02:33.429
12 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg) 1:02:34.230
13 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport) 1:02:35.087
14 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport) 1:02:35.189
15 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport) 1:02:35.513
16 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline) 1:02:38.797
Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering) DNF lap 68 (accident)
Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes) DNF lap 55 (accident)
Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International) DNF lap 32 (suspension failure)
Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport) DNF lap 26 (gearbox failure)
Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline) DNF lap 24 (accident)
Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME) DNF lap 6 (accident)
Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline) DNF lap 4 (accident)
Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME) DNF lap 2 (accident)

As usual for the Norisring, the race was riddled with accidents. However, Audi was mostly on the receiving end of accidents with two Abt cars crashing out. Mattias Ekström's crash would also be a controversial one (again): He just came out from his first pitstop, right in front of Alexandre Premat. Just as these two approached the Schöller-S, Premat wanted to pass Ekström from the outside, but tangled with. As a result, Ekström touched the right wall, destroying his car in the process. Premat wouldn't go unpunished though, as he had been awarded a pit-stop penalty, which was basically a 10-seconds time penalty before the actual pit stop.

At the front, Bernd Schneider drove a comfortable race, and won by over 11 seconds over Markus Winkelhock, who hasn't won a race yet, but scored three second places in this season. Alexander Wurz meanwhile had a sensational performance, parking his Phoenix-Audi on third position. Mika Häkkinen meanwhile had some problems with tire pressure, thus only finishing 5th.

Points Standings after 6 out of 12 races

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1. Bernd Schneider - 35pts.
2. Mika Häkkinen - 31pts.
=. Markus Winkelhock - 31pts.
4. Tom Kristensen - 29pts.
5. Timo Scheider - 19pts.
6. Mattias Ekström - 17pts.
7. Alexander Wurz - 13pts.
8. Marcel Fässler - 11pts.
9. Mike Rockenfeller - 8pts.
10. Martin Tomczyk - 6pts.
=. Adrian Sutil - 6pts.
12. Bruno Spengler - 5pts.
=. Tetsuya Yamano - 5pts.
=. Alexandros Margaritis - 5pts.
=. Jean Alesi - 5pts.
16. Alexandre Premat - 2pts. 
=. Jamie Green - 2pts.
18. Neel Jani - 1pt.

The tide has been turned in the championship: It's now a Mercedes 1-2-3, with a very close points battle between the three HWA drivers. Audi might have to upgrade their car, in order to make up the gap to Mercedes. So join us at the next race in Dijon, France, to see if Audi can indeed get closer to Mercedes.

[Peteroli34]

As Audi have fallen behind Mercedes in the last few races. The team will head to Magny Cours in France and spend 200,000 on car development with the money to be spent in the following areas

Acceleration - 80,000
Cornering - 70,000
Reliability -50,000

[Ferrarist]

After reaching the half-way point, the 2006 DTM season goes into its second half at the high speed track known as Dijon-Prenois. This track has hosted plenty of Formula One races in the past, but has fallen a bit into disuse. The DTM is the first major international racing series at Dijon since a long time, which should help boosting the reputation of this track. There are also three French drivers in the field, with F1 veteran Jean Alesi receiving the most attention. But young French talents Loic Duval and Alexandre Premat also receive the fair share of attention by the local motorsport fans.

But for now, the attention was on the championship battle. The tide has turned, with Mercedes drivers occupying the first three positions in the points table. Amazingly, Markus Winkelhock is only four points behind Bernd Schneider, despite not having even won a race so far. Judging by his performance, it shouldn't take too much time to do so, though. Audi on the other hand had extensive tests after the Norisring race. They surely don't want Mercedes to walk away with the title, so we have a lot to expect from the manufacturer from Ingolstadt.

FP1 from Dijon

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1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline) 1:10.238
2 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline) 1:10.387
3 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes) 1:10.468
4 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline) 1:10.494
5 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes) 1:10.613
6 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline) 1:10.634
7 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes) 1:10.703
8 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME) 1:11.170
9 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes) 1:11.284
10 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport) 1:11.292
11 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport) 1:11.444
12 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix) 1:11.530
13 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix) 1:11.616
14 Marcel Fässler (Arden International) 1:11.655
15 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport) 1:11.969
16 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport) 1:12.112
17 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport) 1:12.424
18 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International) 1:12.446
19 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering) 1:12.460
20 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg) 1:12.918
21 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering) 1:12.985
22 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport) 1:13.076
23 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg) 1:13.086
24 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME) 1:13.490

FP2 from Dijon

Code: Select all

1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline) 1:10.358
2 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline) 1:10.411
3 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes) 1:10.441
4 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes) 1:10.572
5 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline) 1:10.630
6 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline) 1:10.699
7 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes) 1:10.760
8 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes) 1:11.231
9 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME) 1:11.301
10 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport) 1:11.314
11 Marcel Fässler (Arden International) 1:11.469
12 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport) 1:11.473
13 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix) 1:11.515
14 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix) 1:11.619
15 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport) 1:11.974
16 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport) 1:12.118
17 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport) 1:12.459
18 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering) 1:12.519
19 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International) 1:12.570
20 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg) 1:12.630
21 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering) 1:12.803
22 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg) 1:13.124
23 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME) 1:13.431
24 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport) 1:13.521

It seems like Audi's new upgrades were very successful, especially in the long runs. It remains to be seen if Mercedes can do something against their foes from Ingolstadt. But a gap of two tenths in free practice doesn't bode too well.

Q1 from Dijon

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1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline) 1:10.200
2 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline) 1:10.404
3 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline) 1:10.605
4 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes) 1:10.923
5 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline) 1:11.098
6 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes) 1:11.106
7 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes) 1:11.232
8 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix) 1:11.408
9 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport) 1:11.526
10 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME) 1:11.594
11 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes) 1:11.625
12 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix) 1:11.869
13 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport) 1:12.066
14 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport) 1:12.177
15 Marcel Fässler (Arden International) 1:12.226
16 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport) 1:12.240
----------------------------------------------------------------
17 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport) 1:12.596
18 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering) 1:12.614
19 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering) 1:12.867
20 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg) 1:13.928
21 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport) 1:13.963
22 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International) 1:14.241
23 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME) 1:14.440
24 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg) 1:14.570

Q2 from Dijon

Code: Select all

1 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline) 1:10.207
2 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline) 1:10.506
3 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes) 1:10.696
4 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes) 1:10.929
5 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes) 1:11.208
6 Marcel Fässler (Arden International) 1:11.298
7 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME) 1:11.329
8 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline) 1:11.343
-----------------------------------------------------------
9 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport) 1:11.587
10 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes) 1:11.587
11 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix) 1:11.697
12 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport) 1:11.759
13 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline) 1:12.093
14 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport) 1:12.205
15 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport) 1:12.319
16 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix) 1:12.589

No real surprises in Q2, apart from Tom Kristensen failing to make it to Q3.

Q3 from Dijon

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1 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes) 1:10.346
2 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline) 1:10.460
3 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes) 1:10.710
4 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline) 1:10.723
5 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline) 1:10.764
6 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes) 1:10.969
7 Marcel Fässler (Arden International) 1:11.505
8 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME) 1:11.600

In the end, Mercedes gets the pole. But Bernd Schneider really put an outstanding lap on the track. With the first six positions being split between Abt-Audi and HWA-Mercedes, we should see a terrific battle for the win.

Starting Grid for the DTM Race of Dijon

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 1 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes) 1:10.346
2 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline) 1:10.460
3 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes) 1:10.710
4 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline) 1:10.723
5 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline) 1:10.764
6 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes) 1:10.969
7 Marcel Fässler (Arden International) 1:11.505
8 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME) 1:11.600
9 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport) 1:11.587
10 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes) 1:11.587
11 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix) 1:11.697
12 Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport) 1:11.759
13 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline) 1:12.093
14 Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport) 1:12.205
15 Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport) 1:12.319
16 Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix) 1:12.589
17 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport) 1:12.596
18 Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering) 1:12.614
19 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering) 1:12.867
20 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg) 1:13.928
21 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport) 1:13.963
22 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International) 1:14.241
23 Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME) 1:14.440
24 Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg) 1:14.570

Result of the DTM Race of Dijon

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1 Markus Winkelhock (HWA-Mercedes) 1:03:12.367
2 Marcel Fässler (Arden International) 1:03:26.686
3 Bernd Schneider (HWA-Mercedes) 1:03:31.387
4 Tom Kristensen (Abt Sportsline) 1:03:34.118
5 Mika Häkkinen (HWA-Mercedes) 1:03:41.263
6 Jamie Green (Mücke Motorsport) 1:03:41.629
7 Timo Scheider (Abt Sportsline) 1:03:44.217
8 Mattias Ekström (Abt Sportsline) 1:03:48.741
9 Martin Tomczyk (Abt Sportsline) 1:03:49.553
10 Mike Rockenfeller (Team Phoenix) 1:03:51.730
11 Tetsuya Yamano (Futurecom-TME) 1:03:52.780
12 Alexandros Margaritis (HWA-Mercedes) 1:04:03.445
13 Neel Jani (Triple 8 Engineering) 1:04:21.411 - Winner of this round's Aral Ultimate Cup
14 Alexandre Premat (Manor Motorsport) 1:04:23.940
15 Loic Duval (Manor Motorsport) 1 lap
16 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Team Rosberg) 1 lap
17 Gianni Morbidelli (Arden International) 1 lap
Alexander Wurz (Team Phoenix) DNF lap 43
Bruno Spengler (Mücke Motorsport) DNF lap 43
Jean Alesi (Persson Motorsport) DNF lap 35
Adrian Sutil (Persson Motorsport) DNF lap 30
Craig Baird (Triple 8 Engineering) DNF lap 20
Nico Hülkenberg (Futurecom-TME) DNF lap 12
Sebastian Vettel (Team Rosberg) DNF lap 10

Now talk about tempting fate! Just as we were wondering when Markus Winkelhock will win his first race, he just did so! Noteworthy should also be the lack of race pace for Abt-Audi, but some rumours say that Abt's aggresssively set-up A4s don't suit the track too well in the long term.

Special mention should go to Marcel Fässler, who's put up another marvellous performance in his year-old Audi. If he keeps up like that, he may find himself into a new car for 2007.

Points Standings after 7 out of 12 races

Code: Select all

1. Markus Winkelhock - 41pts.
=. Bernd Schneider - 41pts.
3. Mika Häkkinen - 35pts.
4. Tom Kristensen - 34pts.
5. Timo Scheider - 21pts.
6. Marcel Fässler - 19pts.
7. Mattias Ekström - 18pts.
8. Alexander Wurz - 13pts.
9. Mike Rockenfeller - 8pts.
10. Martin Tomczyk - 6pts.
=. Adrian Sutil - 6pts.
12. Bruno Spengler - 5pts.
=. Tetsuya Yamano - 5pts.
=. Alexandros Margaritis - 5pts.
=. Jean Alesi - 5pts.
=. Jamie Green - 5pts.
17. Alexandre Premat - 2pts. 
18. Neel Jani - 1pt.

Now that Winkelhock has won his first race, German racing fans are in for an epic championship battle. On one side, we have the veteran, who's already won four DTM championship. On the other side, we have a 2nd generation racer from a highly renowned racing family and who had to suffer a bitter loss, when his father, the late great Manfred Winkelhock, tragically died in Mosport in 1984. Not to mention that these two drivers are Germans. But Mika Häkkinen and Tom Kristensen are still in the hunt and especially Audi will be hell-bent to push Kristensen right back into winning circle. After all, his other Abt team mates are suffering from a disappointing season, especially Ekström. How will things unfold? Don't miss the next DTM round at the Nürburgring to find out.

And now for some news:

"Hello, I'm Andrew Marriot! You may remember me from commentating Formula One and Group C racing on Eurosport, or for being the English commentator for the DTM. Either way, I'm here to present to you the latest news from the DTM on 'DTfm'!"

Red Bull to launch their own team in 2007
"This year's DTM grid has a lot of driver that come from Red Bull's racing academy. All of them are very talented, even though some like Sebastian Vettel couldn't show it so far. However, Red Bull's racing coordinator Dr. Helmut Marko is well aware of that and has decided to act. From 2007 on, Red Bull's activities will be bundled into a single team, a Red Bull junior team for the DTM. While Red Bull will continue to sponsor Abt Sportsline, it will also give extensive support to their new partners. Rumours have it that Red Bull wants to team up with an experienced DTM team, so expect to see a current team fielding Red Bull coloured cars in 2007. Interested teams are probably on their way to Austriaby now, to apply for becoming their partner team."

Changes to the race format?
"The current DTM race format includes one single race that goes roughly for a hour. But ITR chairman Hans-Werner Aufrecht revealed that they may change it for 2007. 'We don't know for sure how we'll change our format, but we aim to enhance the experience over a weekend for both the fan on the track and in front of the TV.' However, it depends on how the series German TV partner 'Das Erste' will react. Das Erste has pushed forward the current race format, because it fits perfectly into their schedule and it's similar to Formula One. So it remains to be seen how this will play out."

[TomWazzleshaw]

Triple 8 in talks with Red Bull

Up until now, Triple Eight Race Engineering's foray into DTM has been an uphill challenge, with both Kiwi Craig Baird and Red Bull young driver Neel Jani struggling to score many meaningful results of the team's outdated 2004 C-Classes. However, that might be all about to change with growing rumours that Triple 8 are favourites to become the much-hyped Red Bull-backed team for 2007. As championship leaders with both Fabrizio Giovanardi in the British Touring Car Championship and Craig Lowndes in the V8 Supercar Championship, many believe its only a matter of time before Triple 8 find similar levels of success in the DTM championship as well. As part of the building process, it's been reported in the Austrian media that Triple 8 Team Principal Ian Harrison has been seen in meetings with both Red Bull and Mercedes representatives over a possible deal, with Red Bull providing backing and Mercedes promoting Triple 8 to a semi-works team for 2007 should a deal be struck before the end of 2006. While neither Harrison nor Red Bull racing coordinator Dr Helmut Marko were available for comment, it's believed that any Triple 8-Red Bull tie-up for 2007 would rely on the team retaining the services of Jani, as well as hiring young German talent Sebastian Vettel to replace Baird for next season.

[TomWazzleshaw]

If nobody has any objections, I'd like to take over Alt-DTM for the rest of 2006 and beyond