DTM at Nürburgring: Race Review
August 20, 2012
Championship leader Gary Paffett finished the sixth race of the season at Nürburgring in P6, retaining his 20-point lead, while Jamie Green claimed an impressive fourth place after starting from seventh on the grid.
After a difficult qualifying session, Jamie Green (Mercedes AMG C-Coupé), climbed three places and narrowly missed out on a podium finish to BMW’s Martin Tomczyk.
With searing track temperatures of 50 degrees, drivers faced extreme conditions during the 49-lap race in the Eifel. After the race Green said: “That was a tough race in high temperatures and against some tough competition. A P4 finish after starting from seventh on the grid is a respectable result – I’m quite satisfied under the circumstances. I’m third in the drivers’ standings and am only 22 points behind P1, which puts me in an excellent position.”
Gary Paffett (THOMAS SABO Mercedes AMG C-Coupé) ran a strong race despite starting from P11 and later experiencing a hiccup during the second pit stop. Commenting on the result he said: “Today’s race went much better than qualifying. My THOMAS SABO Mercedes AMG C-Coupé was very fast, the team did a great job in preparing the car and I got away well. In view of my P11 on the grid, sixth place is a decent result, but more points might have been possible given our pace today.”
Meanwhile DTM rookie Robert Wickens (stern Mercedes AMG C-Coupé) secured P7 – his best result to date and his second points-finish in a row.
Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, was satisfied with the team’s performance saying: “Considering where we started from on the grid today, I think we have done rather a good job. Gary advanced from eleventh to sixth, Jamie from seventh to fourth and Robert from ninth to seventh.” He concluded: “In one week, we meet again at Zandvoort, so we’ll take it from there.”
Once again, the DTM turned out to be a fantastic crowd-puller with a total of 89,000 fans attending the Nürburgring. The next round of the season takes place at Zandvoort in the Netherlands on August 26th.
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