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| Mike Rockenfeller - Audi A5 DTM |
- Round three of the 2012 DTM at Brands Hatch near London
- All Audi drivers like the shortest circuit of the year
- Extremely narrow gaps expected / one-two-three victory last year
DTM events are following each other in rapid succession. Only 14 days after the race at the Lausitzring the third round of the popular touring car racing series at Brands Hatch (Great Britain) on May 20 is on the calendar. After a third and a fifth place Audi’s DTM squad is leaving no stone unturned to be in contention for victory on the shortest track of the year.
Nobody at Audi Sport in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm, and at the three Audi factory teams in Kempten, Meuspath and Neustadt had the chance to take a deep breath. Several gigabytes of data were read and analyzed, and the race cars dismantled and prepared again before they were sent on their way to England on Tuesday. In addition, the agenda included track tests aimed at making better use of the potential of the new Audi A5 DTM and the Hankook tires – particularly in race trim.
After Hockenheim and the Lausitzring, Brands Hatch is another race track on the calendar with very special characteristics. The so-called “Indy Circuit” is merely 1.929 kilometers long and has clearly more right-hand than left-hand turns. 98 laps have to be completed in the race, challenging the teams to make all the right strategic decisions. At no other circuit proper timing of the two mandatory pit stops is as important as it is at Brands Hatch.
Audi won the British DTM round in 2006, 2008 and 2011, and even took the entire podium last year. All eight Audi drivers have fond memories of the track and are looking forward to the race – spearheaded by Mattias Ekström, who won the DTM’s debut race at Brands Hatch in 2006 and shielded Martin Tomczyk to the rear on Tomczyk’s important victory on the way toward the champion’s title.
Timo Scheider’s personal Brands Hatch track record reflects a victory (2008) and a second place as well. Mike Rockenfeller clinched his first pole position in the DTM at Brands Hatch last year, and Edoardo Mortara his first podium. In 2010, Miguel Molina achieved the best result in his DTM debut season at Brands Hatch. And Filipe Albuquerque, Rahel Frey and Adrien Tambay like the circuit in the English county of Kent too.
Mattias Ekström is traveling to the United Kingdom as the Audi driver with the highest points score. The Swede was also responsible for the first pole position and first podium of the Audi A5 DTM on its debut at Hockenheim in late April. At the Lausitzring he finished in fifth place after having started from position eight on the grid.
As early as on Saturday the event at Brands Hatch will be a special thriller, as merely two hours separate free practice and qualifying this time. Plus the time gaps on track should be minimal. Experts even expect to see the tightest field in DTM history.
ARD will broadcast the qualifying session on Saturday (May 19) live starting at 13:35 on “Das Erste” and the race on Sunday (May 20) as usual at 13:45. Due to the live TV broadcast to Germany the race start has been moved forward to 13:00, local time (14:00 CEST). 1.28 million ARD viewers watched the Hockenheim season opener live and 1.66 million the race at the Lausitzring.
Quotes by the officials
Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): “Our aim is to get back – preferably as early as at Brands Hatch – to where we were in all the years, which is being in contention for victory. That’s why between the Lausitzring and Brands Hatch we’ve got two intensive weeks of hard work that we’re making optimum use of. Clearly, at Brands Hatch, due to the short track, the field will be even closer together than at the first two races.”
Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): “After three consecutive weekends we finally had the chance to go home and to carefully analyze the whole situation. We made a step in the race at the Lausitzring – and we want to continue this way at Brands Hatch. Team performance was very good at the first two races, the squad made no mistakes. That’s a basis to build on. We continue to be motivated and will try everything we can to take Audi back to the very front again.”
Ernst Moser (Team Director Audi Sport Team Phoenix): “Last year we won as a team at Brands Hatch and ‘Rocky’ clinched pole. We’ve definitely got the clear aim of continuing where we left off in in 2011. Brands Hatch is a special track. 98 laps – that means our task will be to never hit traffic in the race. But before anything else we’ve got to try to be at the very front of the grid.”
Arno Zensen (Team Director Audi Sport Team Rosberg): “I’ve got fond memories of last year when Edo (Mortara) was on podium. And that’s exactly where we want to be again. We’re working hard to achieve this. We’ve now had the chance to practice pit stops. Before the season we couldn’t do that because we had neither the material nor the time for practicing. We’ll try and make further improvements and are looking ahead.”
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| Brands Hatch - Indy |
Track info
Track length: 1.929 km
Race distance: 98 laps = 189.042 km
DTM track record in qualifying: Paul Di Resta (Mercedes-Benz), 41.278s = 168.235 km/h (Sep 04, 2010)
DTM track record in the race: Miguel Molina (Audi), 41.896s = 165.753 km/h (Sep 05, 2010)
Pole position 2011: Mike Rockenfeller (Audi), 42.090s = 164,989 km/h
Fastest lap 2011: Martin Tomczyk (Audi), 49.805s = 139,432 km/h
Turnout 2011: 21,000
TV live rating 2011: 1.24 million/9.8 % market share (source: ARD)
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| Mattias Ekstrom - Audi A5 DTM |
Mattias Ekström about Brands Hatch: “A classic English race track. It’s narrow and bumpy in some places. You can’t afford to make any mistakes because there are hardly any run-off areas. Personally, I’ve had good and bad experiences there. Like the Norisring, Brands Hatch has only a few turns. But they are very special, particularly turn one. The circuit – which, by the way, is the shortest one on the DTM calendar – offers only few opportunities for overtaking. Although there’s a lot of talk about the typical English weather we’ve only had rain there once with the DTM. Brands Hatch normally has good grip but the organizers always made a few minor modifications in recent years so that we often encountered some small surprises in the first practice session.”
