Audi Lausitzring race report

In extremely low temperatures the two drivers for Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, Mattias Ekström and Timo Scheider, started the race from grid positions eight and twelve.

Mattias Ekström, ABT Sportsline Audi A5 DTM

Photo by: xpb.cc

Ekström in the Red Bull Audi A5 DTM improved by one position right at the start, thanks to a better first pit stop moved past Martin Tomczyk in the BMW and ultimately overtook Edoardo Mortara as well. In the final phase, Ekström on position five was able to drive similar times as the front runners. Mattias Ekstrom

"We didn’t have the pace today to win the race but we again learned a lot,” said the Swede after crossing the finish line. "This is the most important thing. In addition, I scored more valuable points.” Ekström, with 25 points after two rounds, has an equal score as Bruno Spengler, who is ranking third in the standings.

Timo Scheider drove a strong race as well. After starting from P12 on the grid, the two-time DTM Champion in his AUTO TEST Audi A5 DTM advanced to ninth place as early as on lap one. With a long first stint he improved to sixth place. After the second pit stop, Scheider fought a brief duel with Mattias Ekström for fifth place. Afterward, he concentrated on bringing the eight points for sixth place home.

With Edoardo Mortara (Playboy Audi A5 DTM) and Filipe Albuquerque (TV Movie Audi A5 DTM) taking eighth and ninth place, the two drivers of Audi Sport Team Rosberg scored points as well. Albuquerque pushed forward into the top ten after starting from position eleven on the grid. After a good start, Mortara was running in fourth place at first but then complained about a lack of grip and lost four positions.

Audi Sport Team Phoenix that celebrated victory at the Lausitzring last year was unable to score any points. Mike Rockenfeller started from the second row in his Schaeffler Audi A5 DTM but hit the outside curbs hard in turn one and afterwards – also due to a problem during the second pit stop – dropped all the way to position 13. His team-mate Miguel Molina (Red Bull Audi A5 DTM) lost valuable time in the pits too and finished the race in 15th place.

After his early retirement that was no fault of his own at Hockenheim, Adrien Tambay (Audi ultra A5 DTM) finished his second DTM race on position 18 after many duels. Rahel Frey (E-POSTBRIEF Audi A5 DTM) drove consistently fast lap times and on position 20 clearly won the ladies’ duel against her rival Susie Wolff.

The assessment by Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich: "Obviously, we can’t be satisfied with the result because we again failed to get the tires on our cars to work properly in the race. Mattias (Ekström) and Timo (Scheider) made the best of their less than optimal grid positions today and improved by several places – and with very good lap times in some of the phases. Still, we’ve got to gain a better understanding of our A5 and fully exploit the potential. We’re going to work hard on this. Congratulations to BMW! I’ve always said that they’ll be competitive in the DTM right from the outset.”