One-two-three result and lead of the standings for Audi

Press release

Published September 6th, 2011 - 08:35 GMT

Al Bawaba

After two days of summer-like weather rain set in just before the start of the race on Sunday. Since the DTM had never before raced at Brands Hatch on a wet track the teams and drivers were faced with a tricky task, which the Audi squad handled perfectly. From the beginning the Audi drivers set the pace. The previous front runner, Bruno Spengler (Mercedes), was almost 40 seconds behind when he crossed the finish line.

Aside from a small slip on lap 22 Tomczyk was controlling the pace throughout, securely brought his third win of the season home and also set the fastest race lap. “I’m overjoyed, the whole weekend was perfect,” said Tomczyk. “It wasn’t easy because the rain was not consistently heavy throughout the race and the rain tires didn’t have very much grip on the first laps. But my Audi A4 was sensational again today – it was fun to drive. I want to thank my team for a great set-up and a perfect strategy.”

Nürburgring winner Mattias Ekström clinched second place for Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline and moved forward to third place in the standings. Edoardo Mortara from Audi Sport Team Rosberg finished third and thus achieved the first podium result in his DTM career. With a score of now 15 points the Italian who lives in Switzerland is by far the best rookie of the year.

Audi’s chances for a 1-2-3-4 result were thwarted by Ralf Schumacher: The former Formula 1 driver touched the rear of Mike Rockenfeller’s car and forced the quickest in qualifying into a spin. “I don’t understand that he didn’t receive a penalty for that,” complained “Rocky”, who dropped to sixth place and in the final phase kept Bruno Spengler at bay.

For Audi this marked as much as the fifth victory, clinched at the seventh race. The next round will be held two weeks from now at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.

Martin Tomczyk will travel to the venue with a one-point advantage over Bruno Spengler. Mattias Ekström, Timo Scheider and Mike Rockenfeller still have theoretical chances for the title as well.

Background Information

Audi

Audi is a German manufacturer of a range of automobiles, from supermini to crossover SUVs in various body styles and price ranges that are marketed under the Audi brand. The company is headquartered in Ingolstadt, Germany, and has been a wholly owned (99.55%) subsidiary of Volkswagen AG since 1966.

Currently, Audi's sales are growing strongly in Europe. Its 2007 worldwide sales have been released as 964,151 vehicles sold - a record for the brand. In 2008, Audi has achieved the 13th record year in a row passing the 1 million unit mark with 1,003,400 sold units.