The 2009 DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters) season has produced its
share of twists and turns, and this weekend's race at Zandvoort added to
the tally. While Gary Paffett was the hero at the Dutch seaside track,
the DTM race stewards disqualified four of the eight Audis running at
the finish, and were still investigating others.
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Gary Paffett, Team HWA AMG Mercedes C-Klasse . Photo by xpb.cc.
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"I am really happy about my second win of the year," said the Mercedes
pilot after the race. "My car and the pitstops were perfect. I was
clearly faster than Oliver Jarvis, but it took me some time to overtake
him. Afterwards I had a flawless race and it is great to arrive at the
upcoming race in Oschersleben as the overall leader."
Jarvis had had his own moment of glory on Saturday, winning the pole
position with his year-old Audi A4, the first time an older car had won
an DTM pole. He held the lead for fourteen laps, but on the fifteenth
he slipped under Paffett's pressure, making a brief agricultural
expedition.
Paffett needed no further invitation, and he slipped past his fellow
Briton into the lead. After that, it was clear that Jarvis couldn't
quite match the pace of Paffett's Mercedes, which slowly edged into the
distance.
Jarvis seemed to have the measure of his other rivals, though, keeping
Alexandre Premat -- also in a 2008-spec Audi -- and others behind him.
However, Mattias Ekstrom used a pit strategy with an extended first
stint to his advantage, not making his first stop until after Jarvis had
made both of his, and just before Paffett made his second stop.
By lap 30, Paffett had a four-second lead over his countryman, but
Ekstrom was quickly catching up, and as both Premat and Jarvis slowed
down, Ekstrom -- one of the Audi works drivers -- slipped past them.
In the meantime, further back in the field, Markus Winkelhock, also in
a 2008-spec Audi, slowed down, allowing Martin Tomczyk to make an easy
pass, and slowing down Mercedes driver Bruno Spengler, who was being
pursued by Audi's Martin Tomczyk.
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Oliver Jarvis, Audi Sport Team Phoenix Audi A4 DTM, leads Alexandre Prémat, Audi Sport Team Phoenix Audi A4 DTM . Photo by xpb.cc.
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These passes were what precipitated the initial stewards' investigation,
as DTM regulations explicitly forbid the use of team orders, and
Ekstrom's and Tomczyk's moves past the two 2008-spec Audis seemed just
a little too easy. The decision on this does appear to be several days
away, however.
But while five Audis -- Ekstrom, Jarvis, Premat, Tomczyk and Winkelhock,
respectively -- crossed the line after Paffett, giving the Ingolstadt
team five of the top six positions, bar the victory, things changed soon
thereafter.
Winkelhock's car was found to be underweight in post-race scrutineering,
and curiously another three Audis, those of Premat, Timo Scheider and
Christian Bakkerud, either failed to show up at the post-race weigh-in,
or arrived there significantly too late.
All four were subsequently disqualified, elevating Tomczyk to fourth,
and Mercedes drivers Spengler and Paul di Resta to fifth and sixth
places, respectively.
The end result of all these shenanigans is that Paffett, Ekstrom and
Spengler all move past the erstwhile championship points leader,
Scheider. Paffett now leads with 24, with Ekstrom at 22 and Spengler at
20 points.
All that, of course, may change once the stewards finish reviewing the
evidence for the team orders question.
