Mercedes Benz

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Lausitzring, May 18, 2008

§ Paul Di Resta (AMG Mercedes C-Class) won the fourth round of the 2008 DTM at the Lausitzring; his first win in the championship in his 14th DTM race. Following the 1-2 victory of Jamie Green and Paul Di Resta in Mugello two weeks ago, it was the second consecutive win for Mercedes-Benz within two weeks this year and 143rd for the brand out of 304 DTM/ITC races since 1988. After four races of the 2008 season, Mercedes and Audi are tied on victories with two each.
§ Paul Di Resta is the second youngest winner in DTM history; today he won at the age of 22 years and 32 days. Only his cousin Dario Franchitti was younger when he achieved his first DTM win; in Mugello 1995 he won with an AMG Mercedes C-Class at the age of 22 years and two days.
§ After 51 laps, Jamie Green (Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class) finished fifth, 15.911sec behind Di Resta. Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class) ended up sixth ahead of Bernd Schneider (Genuine Parts AMG Mercedes C-Class).
§ In the overall ranking, Paul Di Resta who started from pole position and posted the fastest lap of the race moved up from fourth to second place; with 23 points he is three points behind leader Timo Scheider (Audi/26 points) who was second today. Jamie Green is third overall with 21 points and Bruno Spengler follows in sixth with 14 points.
§ The other C-Class drivers: Gary Paffett (stern AMG Mercedes C-Class) came home 10th and was the best driver with a 2007 Mercedes-Benz. DTM rookie Maro Engel (JungeSterne AMG Mercedes C-Class) came home 11th ahead of Mathias Lauda (Pixum AMG Mercedes C-Class) and Ralf Schumacher (Trilux AMG Mercedes C-Class). Susie Stoddart (TV Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Class) stopped in the pits on lap 41 due to brake problems.
§ A crowd of 80,000 attended the fourth round of the 2008 season during the weekend, a new record for DTM races at the Lausitzring.

The start: Paul Di Resta started his 14th career DTM race from his first pole position; Bruno Spengler lined up beside him on the first row. Di Resta accelerated into an immediate lead and was first after the opening lap followed by Spengler. Jamie Green, fifth in qualifying, dropped to sixth. Ralf Schumacher had to avoid a collision in front of him and lost four positions from 13th to 17th.
Lap 3: After an accident of Markus Winkelhock (Audi) the Safety Car was deployed.
Lap 6: Re-start.
Lap 7: Bernd Schneider overtook Mike Rockenfeller (Audi) at the first corner for seventh place.
Lap 10: Paul Di Resta was in the lead with 4sec ahead of Bruno Spengler; Jamie Green followed in sixth place ahead of Bernd Schneider.
Lap 16: First pit stops of Bruno Spengler, Jamie Green and Gary Paffett.
Lap 17: Paul Di Resta was in the lead with a gap of 8.5sec when he came in for his first pit stop. Also Mathias Lauda and Ralf Schumacher pitted followed by Maro Engel and Susie Stoddart one lap later.
Lap 18: Paul Di Resta posted the fastest lap of the race with a 1m18.938.
Lap 19: Bernd Schneider was the last of the nine Mercedes-Benz drivers to make his first mandatory stop.
Lap 22: Jamie Green opened the second round of pit stops.
Lap 24: Second pit stops of Bruno Spengler and Ralf Schumacher; Bernd Schneider and Mathias Lauda pitted one lap later.
Lap 28: Maro Engel and then leader Paul Di Resta and Gary Paffett one lap later completed the second round of pit stops for Mercedes-Benz.
Lap 32: All drivers had completed their respective two mandatory stops and Paul Di Resta was in the lead with 7.8sec ahead of Timo Scheider. Jamie Green was fifth ahead of Bruno Spengler and Bernd Schneider. Gary Paffett drove in 11th place ahead of Maro Engel, Mathias Lauda and Ralf Schumacher; Susie Stoddart was 16th.
Finish (lap 51): Paul Di Resta won his first DTM race, Jamie Green came home fifth ahead of Bruno Spengler and Bernd Schneider. During the post-race scrutineering, Alexandre Prémat (eighth place) was excluded from the race due to a tyre which was not allowed for his car.

Paul Di Resta (2008 AMG Mercedes C-Klasse), winner: “I am really happy and I cordially thank my team for a great job throughout the weekend and for a perfect car. Our pit stops were great. The race was not as easy as it might have looked like; I had to stay focussed and another Safety Car period would have destroyed my advantage. After second place in Mugello and my victory here I hope this will continue. Now I look forward to the next race at the Norisring.”

Jamie Green (2008 Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Klasse), fifth: “An interesting race. In the beginning, there were five cars very close together behind Paul. I had the chance to overtake Martin Tomczyk ahead of me, but then I didn’t want to take chances. My grid position determined my result.”

Bruno Spengler (2008 Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Klasse), sixth: “I suffered from oversteer throughout and was therefore not able to go Paul’s pace. Also my pit stops were not perfect. It’s a pity – starting from the front row I had hoped for a better result. At least I wanted to score more points. Now I hope for the Norisring race in six weeks time. There are still seven races ahead of us and everything is possible.”

Bernd Schneider (2008 Original-Teile AMG Mercedes C-Klasse), seventh: “My start was good and the car ran great. However, if you want to achieve a better result and score more points in the DTM you need a better grid position.”

Gary Paffett (2007 stern AMG Mercedes C-Klasse), 10th: “From 16th on the grid the 10th place is still ok. It’s a shame that I didn’t score points – with a better qualifying yesterday I would certainly have achieved a better result today.”

Maro Engel (2007 JungeSterne AMG Mercedes C-Klasse), 11th: “I was quick off the line and improved by a couple of positions. In the course of the race, however, I suffered from oversteer and the balance was not ok. Therefore, Gary was able to pass me.”

Mathias Lauda (2007 Pixum AMG Mercedes C-Klasse), 12th: “I made a good start and pushed hard from the beginning, that helped me to improve from 19th on the grid to 12th. No driver overtook me on the track and the fight with Ralf was really fun.”

Ralf Schumacher (2007 Trilux AMG Mercedes C-Klasse), 13th: “I started well, but I had to avoid the accident of Tom Kristensen and lost several positions. My car had a good speed, but on this track overtaking is almost impossible, therefore I was not able to move up. I will try to qualify higher up the grid for the next race; that should be the basis for a better race result.”

Susie Stoddart (2007 TV-Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Klasse), retired: “I had brake problems throughout the race which got worse and worse. Towards the end it was just impossible to continue and I had to give up.”

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “What a race and what a win of Paul – victories so clear and superior are rare in the DTM. Congratulations to him on his first win in his 14th DTM race; he will certainly remember this weekend with yesterday’s pole position and today’s fastest race lap and win for a long time. Paul did an outstanding job, he had the perfect set-up and his team had the optimum strategy. Thank you to the HWA team headed by Gerhard Ungar and Hans-Jürgen Mattheis for their work during the last couple of weeks which was rewarded with two victories in two consecutive races. We have a strong competition and will all continue to work hard to be again well prepared for the season highlight at the Norisring in six weeks and to preferably add to our five wins within the previous five years.“





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