Timo Scheider lead an Audi domination in Sunday’s DTM race at Barcelona, extending his lead in the championship to 12 points, with only 20 up for grabs left this season.
Scheider made a blinding start, taking the lead at the first turn from 5th on the grid, taking the outside line while the Top 4 argued over the inside line. Tom Kristensen followed Scheider out of Turn 1, and followed him to the finish line in second place. “My start was good,” said Kristensen afterwards. “I already saw Paul Di Resta and Martin Tomczyk in my mirror and was quite surprised to suddenly see Timo pass me on the left, and I thought he might have jump-started.”
Paul Di Resta‘s day turned from bad to worse, initally holding the final podium place, got jumped by another four driver before the race was out, and two points for 7th place was all he managed: “I started well but Timo Scheider started even better, so I lost one place. We had problems with the balance of the car and therefore my speed was not quite as good as that of the two leaders.”
Martin Tomczyk jumped Di Resta at the first pitstops and never looked back, securing Audi’s fourth podium lockout of the year.
Behind the leading trio though, a battle emerged for 4th place with only a few laps remaining, between the Mercedes’ of Gary Paffett and Bruno Spengler, plus the Red Bull Audi of Mattias Ekström. Ekström caught 4th placed Paffett and tried his hardest to find a way past the Brit, only for Spengler to catch both of them. A failed overtaking attempt by Ekström on Paffett gave Spengler the opportunity he needed to pass the Swede and claim 5th place by the end of the race.
Alex Premat scored the final point in 8th, with Oliver Jarvis on his tail in 9th and Maro Engel‘s 2008-spec Mercedes following the Audi pair not far behind.
