Edoardo Mortara scored his maiden pole and Audi’s first win of the 2012 DTM season at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, while two times champion Mattias Ekstrom jumped into second place in the championship.
Mortara began the weekend by taking to the skies as a passenger in a Flying Bulls helicopter piloted by Siegfried ‘Blacky’ Schwarz who performed a loop the loop in the chopper:
"This was incredible for me. It was one of the best experiences in my life. Thank you Audi, Red Bull and ‘Blacky’!"
It’s the start to a high-flying weekend for the Italian who went on to take his first pole and first victory in DTM”
“After the best time in yesterday’s qualifying, my first victory today – that’s a very special moment for me. But for Audi, too, this is a great moment in the new DTM era. I can hardly find words for this wonderful situation.” Edoardo Mortara (again) after his first win in DTM.
Reigning champion Martin Tomczyk scored his best finish for BMW with second place:
“It was another fantastic weekend at the Red Bull Ring for me. Right from the outset, everything came together perfectly. At the start I really had to push hard in order to hold my ground. After that I was able to pull off a few nice overtaking manoeuvres and move into second. With a little bit of luck we could even have scored a victory.”
Championship leader Gary Paffett extended his lead with third place:
“The scraps today were sometimes quite tough going and by the end of the race, my radiator was totally clogged up with grass. Nevertheless, I am very pleased with my four podium finishes in the first four races of 2012 – a first-class start to the season. ”
Mattias Ekstrom finished just off the podium, but scored enough points to lift him into second place in the drivers’ championship:
“It’s a bit disappointing that I didn’t finish on podium and manage to score big points but 12 points from Spielberg and second place in the championship are good. The most important thing today, though, was that we were very competitive.”
Jamie Green nursed his Mercedes AMG C-Coupé to fifth place, and now lies third in the championship:
“I moved up two places at the start and was heading for the front of the field. Unfortunately, I lost quite a lot of time after a contact with another car. My pace was not too bad but not enough for victory.”
Timo Scheider finished sixth having crashed out and recovered, re-taking 10 places on his way back and enjoying a very eventful afternoon in Spielberg:
“Our performance was sensational, the car was awesome. I’ve never had such a good car in a race this year. With a good strategy and two perfect pit stops we recovered 10 places today – that was sensational in the circumstances!”
One place further back, Mike Rockenfeller also couldn’t stop smiling:
“That was one of the craziest races I’ve ever experienced in DTM. We had a tough weekend and the first lap was very turbulent. Considering this, I’m really happy with seventh place in the race.”
Mercedes driver Ralf Schumacher, down in 11th, was also full of smiles:
“That was an action-packed race with plenty of scraps and exciting action – the fans certainly got their money’s worth today!”
Damage to Miguel Molina’s Audi spelled an early end to proceedings for the Spaniard:
“I had a really good start and overtook a few rivals right on the first lap. After the safety car period I wanted to attack again but my car got damaged a bit. I tried to continue but the damage to my car was too severe.”
Molina was in good company, joining David Coulthard in the garages: “I never thought that this weekend in Spielberg would turn out like this but that's motor racing. I had trouble with the brake balance and couldn’t continue. I’ll just have to draw a line under this weekend and look forward to the next race in Nuremberg.”
Want more?
Find more on the official DTM Site.
Comments
Add a comment