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DTM Lausitzring 2012: Race - One second gap as Gary Paffett finishes second

By Adji | Published Sunday, 6 May 2012

Gary Paffett (THOMAS SABO Mercedes AMG C-Coupé), managed to get on the podium again a week after his win in the opening race of the new DTM Era in Hockenheim. The British driver came 2nd in the second race of the 2012 DTM season at the Lausitzring. Bruno Spengler (BMW) won the race. After the first two races of the season, Paffett leads the drivers' standings with 43 points from Jamie Green (Mercedes AMG C-Coupé / 30 points). The team standings are headed by the Team THOMAS SABO / Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG. Mercedes AMG are in second place with 37 points. Mercedes-Benz also leads in the DTM manufacturer championship with 96 points to BMW’s 54 points and Audi, 52 points.

Jamie Green, 2nd in the opening race of the season Hockenheim a week ago, came 4th. Green posted a time of 1:19.025 minutes, the fastest lap of the race at the Lausitzring. This is the second time he has done it at this track. In total, Mercedes has clocked eight out of thirteen fastest laps in DTM races at this track since 2001. It was also the 164th quickest lap for Mercedes-Benz since 1988.

In his 45th DTM race, Ralf Schumacher (Mercedes AMG C-Coupé) moved up the field from 16th place to P10 and so finished in the points. Christian Vietoris (Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Coupé) and David Coulthard (DHL Paket Mercedes AMG C-Coupé) finished in P11 and P12. In his second DTM race, Roberto Merhi (Junge Sterne Mercedes AMG C-Coupé) came home in 16th place. Susie Wolff (TV Spielfilm Mercedes AMG C-Coupé) was 21st, Robert Wickens (stern Mercedes AMG C-Coupé) did not finish.

A total of 72,000 spectators attended the DTM race weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun) at the Lausitzring.

Race summary

The start: Gary Paffett moves up one position at the start into P2. Jamie Green overtakes Mike Rockenfeller on the first turn and is fifth. Vietoris moves up the field four places from 18th on the grid.
Lap 8: Green goes by Edoardo Mortara (Audi) and is in fourth place.
Lap 11: Ralf Schumacher and Christian Vietoris overtake Adrien Tambay (Audi).
Lap 13: The pit stop window is now open. Roberto Merhi, Schumacher and Vietoris come in for their first mandatory stop.
Lap 15 : First set of fresh tyres for Paffett.
Lap 18: Mehri wins through against Tambay in the scrap for 19th position.
Lap 21: Green now leads the race from Bruno Spengler (BMW) and Paffett.
Lap 25: Second pit stop for Merhi.
Lap 26: Green still in the lead but comes in now to make his first pit stop.
Lap 28: Schumacher makes his second mandatory pit stop.
Lap 30: Vietoris overtakes Rockenfeller.
Lap 31: Schumacher goes by Rahel Frey (Audi). Paffett comes in for final mandatory pit stop.
Lap 33: Green in P2 turns into the pit lane.
Lap 36: Paffett four tenths down on Spengler in second place.
Lap 48: Robert Wickens coasts to a halt at the side of the track.
Final lap: After 52 laps and a total distance of 180.856 kilometers, Gary Paffett and Jamie Green are second and fourth. Ralf Schumacher is tenth.

Comments after the race:

Gary Paffett (THOMAS SABO Mercedes AMG C-Coupé), Second:
„It's such a pity. My THOMAS SABO Mercedes AMG C-Coupé had enough speed to win again today. I was just a bit too far behind at the pit-stop. Having said that, my car was really quick and had a brilliant set-up, a tribute to the team. I was also so close to Bruno Spengler's car that I was losing a bit of down force. However, I did give it my all and being second on the podium within the space of a week is a great result for us, especially after the win in the opening race.“

Jamie Green (Mercedes AMG C-Coupé), Fourth:
„My Mercedes-AMG C-Coupé was just terrific today. Augusto Farfus drove a fantastic race. I was behind him most of the time, but despite the great pace of my car, I couldn’t get past. Now the focus of my attention has to be on my home race at Brands Hatch where I’m hoping to get back on the podium again.“

Ralf Schumacher (Mercedes AMG C-Coupé), 10th:
„Our C-Coupé was pretty quick today. The car performed flawlessly and the same applies to the strategy and the pit stops. This enabled us to progress from 16th to 10th place. If I can get a better grid position in the next race, I'll hopefully not get stuck in traffic and be able to compete with the front runners.“

Christian Vietoris (Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Coupé), 11th:
„We were not quite as quick as at the season opener in Hockenheim. There was a lot of dirt on the track which cost us more than we expected. It’s a bit annoying that we just missed a points finish, but hopefully things will go better for us in two weeks time at Brands Hatch.“

David Coulthard (DHL Paket Mercedes AMG C-Coupé), 12th:
„I had to be careful at the start of the race not to collide with any other cars and make sure my car wasn't damaged. I gave it my all and got the best possible result. I just couldn't have managed any more than that.“

Roberto Merhi (Junge Sterne Mercedes AMG C-Coupé), 16th:
„I think the race went well but I would have preferred to have been further up the field. I'm hoping that things will be better for me at Brands Hatch given a bit more preparation.“

Susie Wolff (TV Spielfilm Mercedes AMG C-Coupé), 21st:
„I had a bit of a disappointing race. Straight after my first pit stop I realised that there was no way I could make any great progress in the race. I’ll just have to draw a line in the sand now and look to the future.“

Robert Wickens (stern Mercedes AMG C-Coupé), retired
„Unfortunately I skidded off the track on lap 48. However, I have made some progress despite this. I'll now focus all my efforts on Brands Hatch and hopefully pick up my first DTM points there.“

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport:
„Both Gary and Jamie had the speed to secure P1, but at this track it is not enough to simply go faster to be able to overtake. Gary started the race from third place, a mere 0.043 seconds adrift of pole position. He immediately moved up one position as the race began but was subsequently unable to get past the rear of Spengler’s car, which he was then forced to follow for about 50 laps.

„Congratulations to BMW and Bruno Spengler on their victory and many thanks to our team for their sterling work since the beginning of the season, which has enabled us to head all three championship standings – the drivers’, the team and manufacturers’ championships.

„As in Hockenheim, our C-Coupé and our drivers were highly competitive and we want to make a concerted effort to build on that.“

* Official photos and details courtesy of Mercedes-AMG GmbH *

Copyright © 2012, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

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DTM Lausitzring 2012: Qualifying - Gary Paffett to start from second row, Jamie Green on third row

By Adji | Published Saturday, 5 May 2012

Gary Paffett (THOMAS SABO Mercedes AMG C-Coupé) will start 3rd on the grid at the second DTM race of the 2012 season Sunday at the Lausitzring (Start: 14:00, Live on ARD, Germany from 13:45). The winner of the opening race of the season drove a time of 1:18.820 at the end of individual qualifying. Bruno Spengler (BMW / 1:18.777) will start from Pole Position. The first three drivers in qualifying were separated by only 0.043 seconds. Last weekend at the Hockenheimring, Paffett took the THOMAS SABO Mercedes AMG C-Coupé to victory from sixth place on the grid at the first race of the new season.

Jamie Green (Mercedes AMG C-Coupé) will start the second race of the 2012 season from sixth place on the grid. Placed second at the season opener in Hockenheim, he secured a time of 1:18.461 in Q3.

Qualifying Part 1: Christian Vietoris secured the third best time of 1:18.977 minutes in the first qualifying session. Ralf Schumacher (Mercedes AMG C-Coupé / 1:19.506), Roberto Merhi (Junge Sterne Mercedes AMG C-Coupé / 1:19.557), Susie Wolff (TV Spielfilm Mercedes AMG C-Coupé / 1:19.584) and David Coulthard (DHL Paket Mercedes AMG C-Coupé / 1:19.672) finished in positions 17 to 20 respectively. A mere seven and a half tenths of a second covered P1-P20.

Qualifying Part 2: Gary Paffett achieved the second best time in the second qualifying session with a 1:18.420 minutes. Robert Wickens (stern Mercedes AMG C-Coupé / 1:18.840) and Christian Vietoris (Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Coupé / 1: 18.862) will start from position 15 and 16 respectively in the second race of the season on Sunday. The first and sixteenth places were once again only separated by seven tenths of a second.

Comments on qualifying:

Gary Paffett (THOMAS SABO Mercedes AMG C-Coupé), Third (1:18.820):
„The new DTM Era is an unbelievably hard fought one. When you consider the strength of the competition and the closeness of the times, I'm quite happy with my 3rd place on the grid. If you look at which drivers have already been eliminated, I think that is quite an achievement because everyone had the necessary speed to get up the grid. This year's challenge will be to get a great lap-time in every session and that won't be easy. Congratulations to BMW, Bruno Spengler and Augusto Farfus. Motor racing is full of surprises! However, I am not far behind them and will be pushing them hard during the race.“

Jamie Green (Mercedes AMG C-Coupé), Sixth (1:18.461):
„After our great results in the opening race, I was hoping to do well here so I am really not satisfied with sixth place. I would of course liked to have beaten Gary in the internal team duel but at least his result has shown that our DTM C-Coupé is quick here as well. Gary showed in Hockenheim that you can also win a race starting from 6th place. With that in mind, I am quite optimistic going into this race.“

Robert Wickens (stern Mercedes AMG C-Coupé), 15th (1:18.840):
„It was a useful experience to have been in the second qualifying stage again. I am really getting to grips with the Stern Mercedes AMG C-Coupé now and am hoping that I will improve even more during the next races.“

Christian Vietoris (Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Coupé), 16th (1:18.862):
„Qualifying did not go according to plan. The whole session was jinxed, from start to finish – maybe we left going out on track a little late? 16th place means that the charge that I began in Hockenheim must now continue at the Lausitzring.“

Ralf Schumacher (Mercedes AMG C-Coupé), 17th (1:19.506):
„My qualifying result is, of course, disappointing. The first run was okay, the second for some reason was not quite so good and I could not achieve the necessary time. But still, all is not yet lost. The race is very long and anything can happen on the first few turns. We will now carefully analyse the quali and just do our best tomorrow to move well up the field.“

Roberto Merhi (Junge Sterne Mercedes AMG C-Coupé), 18th (1:19.557):
„During my quick lap one of the drivers came off the track. That incident spoiled that lap unfortunately. I am really disappointed to have only landed in 18th position on the grid. But never mind, tomorrow is another day as they say, let's see how it goes. Anything can happen during the actual race.“

Susie Wolff (TV Spielfilm Mercedes AMG C-Coupé), 19th (1:19.584):
„I never thought that qualifying at the Lausitzring would turn out quite like it did. Someone hit me from behind, completely ruining my lap. Nevertheless, we all finished very tightly bunched – I was just six tenths adrift of fastest time in Q1. I'm still optimistic about Sunday’s race, though, since our race pace seems to be better than in qualifying.“

David Coulthard (DHL Paket Mercedes AMG C-Coupé), 20th (1:19.672):
„Of course, I had promised myself a better starting place on the grid for the second race of the season. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Now I will have to sit down with the team and take a good look at what happened and then we’ll see what still might be possible in the race itself. I would love to secure a decent result for the team – Mücke Motorsport – at their home race.“

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport:
„This qualifying was certainly a thriller and could not have been any more exciting. Gary Paffett missed pole position by 0.043 seconds, or 1.80 metres at this 3.478 kilometre circuit. The winner from Hockenheim finished 0.05 seconds adrift of second place, but we can all, and that includes Gary himself, most certainly live with starting on the second row tomorrow.

„Two BMWs, two Mercedes C Coupés and two Audis will occupy the first three rows of the grid tomorrow. At the first race in Hockenheim, the three brands qualified first, second, third - Audi, Mercedes and BMW.

„Gary won at Hockenheim from sixth place and I think tomorrow he has as much chance of a win as Jamie Green had – but that probably also applies to a dozen other drivers on the grid in this top class field.

„Congratulations to BMW and Bruno Spengler on his first pole position and to Augusto Farfus on his second place. We will do our best to alter the finish order tomorrow, but I cannot guarantee that we will succeed.“