Mercedes Benz

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Nuremberg, Germany, Jun 29, 2008

§ Jamie Green (Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class) won the fifth round of the 2008 DTM at the Norisring in Nuremberg. After 74 thrilling laps, he won 0.4sec ahead of Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class); it was the second 1-2 victory for Mercedes-Benz this year and the third win in a row after Jamie Green’s and Paul Di Resta’s 1-2 in Mugello and Di Resta’s victory at the Lausitzring. At the Norisring, Mercedes-Benz clinched the sixth consecutive win. Mercedes-Benz won 144 out of the brand’s 305 DTM-/ITC races since 1988.

§ Jamie Green is the first driver this year to win two races. In the overall ranking, he is second with now 31 points; one point behind leader Timo Scheider (Audi). Paul Di Resta (AMG Mercedes C-Class), who came home sixth today, is third with 26 points. Bruno Spengler is fifth on 22 points, 10 points behind the leader.

§ The results of the other C-Class drivers: Gary Paffett (stern AMG Mercedes C-Class) was the best driver with a 2007 car in fifth place. Bernd Schneider (Genuine Parts AMG Mercedes C-Class) ended up seventh; Mathias Lauda (Pixum AMG Mercedes C-Class) finished ninth ahead of Maro Engel (JungeSterne AMG Mercedes C-Class) and Susie Stoddart (TV Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Class). Ralf Schumacher (Trilux AMG Mercedes C-Class) was ninth when he retired at the Grundig hairpin due to fading brakes and thus missed his best ever DTM result.

§ Six Mercedes-Benz C-Class cars came home in the points, seven in the top ten and eight among the top 11.

§ According to an official announcement of the organisers, a total of 140,000 spectators attended the fifth round of the 2008 DTM at the Norisring season during the weekend.

The start: Bruno Spengler started from his second consecutive Norisring pole position, with Jamie Green and Paul Di Resta lining up second and third on the grid. Green was faster off the line and took the lead at the Grundig hairpin ahead of Spengler and Di Resta. Bernd Schneider was eighth after the opening lap ahead of Gary Paffett, the fastest driver of a 2007 car.
Lap 10: Jamie Green held the lead with 2.8sec ahead of Bruno Spengler who was challenged by Paul Di Resta fighting for third place.
Lap 12: Gary Paffett overtook Bernd Schneider and was eighth.
Lap 14: Paffett passed Martin Tomczyk and moved up to seventh.
Lap 17: Bernd Schneider, too, overtook Tomczyk and improved to eighth.
Lap 21: Paul Di Resta spun at the Grundig hairpin and dropped from third to seventh behind Gary Paffett.
Lap 24: Bruno Spengler came in for his first pit stop, followed by Jamie Green and Gary Paffett on lap 25, Paul Di Resta and Susie Stoddart on lap 26, Bernd Schneider on lap 27, Mathias Lauda on lap 28, Maro Engel on lap 28 and Ralf Schumacher on lap 29; on the lap before his pit stop he led a DTM race for the first time.
Lap 30: After the first round of pit stops, Jamie Green was in the lead again ahead of Bruno Spengler. Gary Paffett was sixth ahead of Paul Di Resta and Bernd Schneider who fought for seventh place.
Lap 35: Gary Paffett and Bernd Schneider were the first Mercedes-Benz drivers to come in for their respective second stops; Paul Di Resta followed one lap later.
Lap 39: Second pit stops of Bruno Spengler and Susie Stoddart, Jamie Green pitted one lap later. When he left the pits, his fuel can got stuck. Green continued and lost the can under braking at the Grundig hairpin.
Lap 42: Bruno Spengler posted the fastest lap of the race with 48.446sec – a new lap record for the DTM at the Norisring.
Lap 45 until 47: Mathias Lauda, Maro Engel and Ralf Schumacher concluded the second round of pit stops.
Lap 50: Jamie Green held the lead half a second ahead of Bruno Spengler. Gary Paffett was sixth ahead of Paul Di Resta and Bernd Schneider.
Lap 53: Jamie Green was under pressure of Bruno Spengler and Mattias Ekström.
Lap 55: Gary Paffett outbraked Tom Kristensen at the Dutzendteich hairpin and was fifth.
Lap 57: Paul Di Resta overtook Tom Kristensen and was sixth.
Lap 59: Bernd Schneider passed Tom Kristensen and improved to seventh.
Lap 61: Ralf Schumacher and Mathias Lauda overtook Maro Engel and moved up to ninth and 10th respectively.
Lap 70: Ralf Schumacher spun under braking at the Grundig hairpin and retired.
Finish (lap 74): Jamie Green won ahead of Bruno Spengler; Gary Paffett was the best driver with a last year’s car in fifth place followed by Paul Di Resta and Bernd Schneider.

Jamie Green (2008Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class), winner: “What a great result. Two years ago, I was on pole but then I was not able to convert it into a good result, therefore it’s even better that I won here today. It was a tough race. I started well, but after the pit stops I struggled a bit with the balance of the car and the traffic. I also made two small mistakes and Bruno closed the gap. However, in the end everything went well – I thank my team for this great performance.”

Bruno Spengler (2008 Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class), second: “My start was not bad, but also not perfect. Maybe on the inner line I would have been able to stay ahead of Jamie at the Grundig hairpin. I hope that my streak of bad luck has ended now. I am 10 points behind the leader, I will continue to push hard and look forward to the next six races.”

Gary Paffett (2007 stern AMG Mercedes C-Class), fifth: “I am really happy. The car was great and I was able to race with the 2008 cars. In the traffic, I was not able to improve further, but that’s ok.”

Paul Di Resta (2008 AMG Mercedes C-Class), sixth: “The car ran really well, but after I had touched the wall during the opening stage, Bruno was able to open a gap because my car was damaged. This was also the reason for my spin. After third place in qualifying I am of course not happy with sixth position in the race, but the championship is still long.”

Bernd Schneider (2008 Genuine Parts AMG Mercedes C-Class), seventh: “With a better start a better result might have been possible. Towards the end I had problems with the brake ducts and had to back off a bit, therefore I was not able to improve.”

Mathias Lauda (2007 Pixum AMG Mercedes C-Class), ninth: “I’m quite happy – ninth is my best result so far this year and I finished among the top ten for the first time in 2008. During my first stint, my speed was not perfect but that improved later and I enjoyed the fight with Ralf very much.”

Maro Engel (2007 JungeSterne AMG Mercedes C-Class), 10th: “I started well and we had a good strategy. Towards the end I struggled with brake problems and Mathias was able to pass me. It’s a shame, points were possible today.”

Susie Stoddart (2007 TV-Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Class), 11th: “I am satisfied. 11th place is a good result, particularly because all 2007 and 2006 Audis are behind me. I thank the Persson team for their great job.”

Ralf Schumacher (Trilux AMG Mercedes C-Class 2007), retired: “At the start I almost stalled the engine and I dropped from 11th to 17th place. Towards the end my brakes faded and suddenly at the Grundig hairpin I was not able to decelerate. I managed to spin the car around and therefore nothing happened. It’s a pity; ninth place would have been a reasonable result.”

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “Compliments to Jamie who showed a great race and opened a gap of up to three seconds at the beginning. I am proud of him and Bruno who like Lewis Hamilton completed our Junior programme in the Formula 3 Euro Series a few years ago. I thank the HWA team headed by Gerhard Ungar and Hans-Jürgen Mattheis for our sixth Norisring victory in a row. The performance of our drivers with 2007 cars was also remarkable, particularly that of Gary Paffett who finished fifth. Ralf Schumacher drove an aggressive race. He improved from 17th on the opening lap to ninth and posted the sixth fastest lap of the race. Unfortunately he missed his best DTM result due to a faulty brake pad. Audi didn’t make winning here easy for us. The overall ranking with five drivers within 10 points, three of them Mercedes-Benz drivers, is a nice parallel to Formula 1 with currently four drivers being within 10 points. Jamie is one point behind the leader and we took the lead in the teams‘ ranking. I thank the organizing MCN under Gernot Leistner and the ITR who did a great job preparing this event. Hopefully our result will be topped significantly in a few hours when the German football team wins the European Cup tonight.”






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