Mercedes Benz

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Stuttgart, Germany, Aug 26, 2008

 Lewis Hamilton will return to his roots this coming Sunday when he pays a visit to the DTM race at Brands Hatch. For two years, he used to race in the Formula 3 Euro Series staged as a part of the DTM events and he won the F3 title in 2005. Now, Lewis will visit his Mercedes-Benz driver colleagues in the DTM. In addition, he will drive a couple of demonstration laps with his Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-23, will sign autographs and will attend the race live at site.
 The race in Brands Hatch marks the 50th encounter between the Mercedes-Benz and Audi brands in the DTM since Audi entered the series as a manufacturer in 2004. After 49 races, Mercedes-Benz leads with 31 victories ahead of Audi with 18. Out of the seven races in the 2008 season so far, Mercedes-Benz drivers have won four.
 Brands Hatch is located in Kent. The 1.929-kilometre short track of the former Grand Prix circuit is the shortest circuit on the DTM calendar.
 Going into the Brands Hatch race, four drivers are at the top of the ranking covered by seven points: Jamie Green (Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class) is second overall with 40 points, four points behind leader Timo Scheider. Paul Di Resta (AMG Mercedes C-Class), second in the previous race at the Nürburgring, is fourth overall with 37 points. Brands Hatch will be followed by the races in Barcelona, Le Mans and Hockenheim.
 Compared to the 2008 Audis, the 2008 AMG Mercedes C-Class will carry an additional weight of 10 kilograms; Mercedes added five kilos compared to the basic weight of 1,050 kilograms, Audi has five kilos less. The weight of both manufacturers’ 2007 cars will be 1,040 kilograms each.


Bernd Schneider, the winner in Brands Hatch one year ago, holds the DTM lap record there with a time of 43.408sec. With a total of three wins in Donington (two) and Brands Hatch (one win), Bernd Schneider is the most successful DTM driver of the 14 DTM and ITC races held in England.

Brands Hatch will be the home race for the four British Mercedes-Benz DTM drivers: Gary Paffett (stern AMG Mercedes C-Class), the 2005 DTM champion, lives in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. Jamie Green lives in Market Harborough, Leicestershire. Susie Stoddart (TV Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Class) and Paul Di Resta (AMG Mercedes C-Class) are Scottish; Susie was born in Oban, Paul is from Bathgate.

Comments on the Brands Hatch race by Bernd Schneider, winner of the last race at the Nürburgring and last year’s winner in Brands Hatch, Jamie Green, third at the Nürburgring and second in the championship, and Nobert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

Bernd Schneider, Genuine Parts AMG Mercedes C-Class: “I look forward to Brands Hatch and with my victory last year I have good memories of this track. My win at the Nürburgring motivates me even more. The race on the short circuit will not be an easy one; however, I am fit, well prepared and I want a podium finish.”

Jamie Green, Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class: “Completing 82 laps on this short track require one hour of maximum concentration. I look forward to my home race in front of hopefully packed grandstands.”

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “The challenges of the less than two kilometres long Indy circuit in Brands Hatch are quite different from those recently experienced at the Nürburgring. Apart from good speed, tactics and pit stop strategies are particularly important here, because after a couple of laps, there will be probably no situation without traffic. The race is also physically very demanding - 82 laps in a row is something you don’t even see in a Formula 1 race. Lewis Hamilton’s visit and his demonstration laps with his Formula 1 car are a thank you to the DTM spectators at Brands Hatch. They all can look forward to a great race and an awesome show – with Lewis as well as with his driver colleagues in the DTM.“

Copyright © 2008, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.