Adenau, 25 May, 2003

As at the last race in Italy, Audi driver Laurent Aiello impressed with his fight through the field, Laurent Aiello drove a strong race to take third from 11th on the grid. Out of luck on the day was Mattias Ekström: Two botched pit stops cost a possibly victory, after the Swede had been leading convincingly during the early stages of the race. After having fallen back to seventeenth place, he fought his way up to finish seventh. Christian Abt also collected a point despite being barged into by a competitor on the opening lap and falling back to 19th position. Premiere for Audi Junior Peter Terting: At 19-years of age, the youngest driver in DTM history led a DTM race for the first time. Team colleague Martin Tomczyk, fastest Audi driver in qualifying, lost his chances of scoring points because of a “Drive Through” penalty.

The race at a glance

Weather
cloudy, 12.7 degrees Celsius

Spectators
38,000

Start
#5 Ekström heads the field after an explosive start from the second row #14 Tomczyk starts well, colliding gently with Albers under braking for the Castrol ‘S’
Lap 1
#2 Abt and #6 Wendlinger spin after being touched by competitors in the first lap melee, and drop back to 19th and 20th positions
Lap 3
Safety Car, the tyre barriers were partially blocking the track at the NGK Chicane.
Ekström leads, 4th Tomczyk, 10th Aiello, 17th Abt, 18th Terting, 19th Wendlinger
Lap 6
Restart, #5 Ekström remains in the lead
Lap 7
#1 Aiello makes first compulsory pit stop
Lap 8
#14 Tomczyk and #6 Wendlinger in the pits
Lap 10
#5 Ekström increases lead to 10.8 seconds
Lap 11
#5 Ekström makes first stop, problem on right hand rear wheel
Lap 14
#15 Terting makes first pit stop as leader
Lap 15
All drivers have completed their first pit stops, 5th Ekström, 6th Tomczyk, 7th Aiello, 13th Abt, 17th Terting, 19th Wendlinger
Lap 16
“Drive Through” penalty for #14 Tomczyk for crossing the white line on the pit lane exit. Tomczyk falls from sixth to 14th position
Lap 22
#5 Ekström makes second pit stop, further problems with the right hand rear wheel, loses more than 15 seconds, now only 17th.
Lap 23
#2 Abt completes his second tyre change
Lap 24
#1 Aiello rejoins the circuit immediately in front of #3 Schneider after his second compulsory pit stop
Lap 26
#15 Terting makes second pit stop
Lap 28
#1 Aiello and #3 Schneider pass and re-pass each other, #2 Abt and #5 Ekström in front of #16 Winkelhock
Lap 29
All compulsory pit stops completed, 3rd Aiello, 8th Abt, 9th Ekström, 12th Tomczyk, 15th Terting, 18th Wendlinger
Lap 32
#14 Tomczyk spins twice falling to 18th position from twelfth
Lap 36
#2 Abt and #5 Ekström oust #7 Reuter from seventh place together, and now lie in points scoring positions
Lap 41
#5 Ekström passes #2 Abt
Finish: 3rd Aiello, 7th Ekström, 8th Abt, 14th Terting, 16th Wendlinger; 18th Tomczyk

Laurent Aiello Team Hasseröder Abt-Audi TT-R #1
“This is a great result, considering my start position. My car was very fast in the race, and thanks to both an excellent strategy and perfect pit stops I was able to finish third. We simply need to understand our car better, because it functions perfectly in the race but not in qualifying. I am driving to win the championship – if we want to keep up with the leaders, I have to start closer to the front.”

Peter Terting S line Audi Junior Team Abt-Audi TT-R #15
“I am over the moon to have finished again. I didn’t spin or make any big mistakes. I was able to overtake opponents in a DTM race for the first time and I even led briefly – which was a fantastic feeling and was a real kick, I hope it continues like this. I learnt a lot again this weekend and am obviously even more motivated and more confident for the race at the EuroSpeedway.“

Martin Tomczyk S line Audi Junior Team Abt-Audi TT-R #14
“My Audi was first on the grid, and the last to cross the finish line – after the perfect qualifying session that was obviously not my goal. It should have been possible to score points in the race, even after the first pit stop, which took longer than usual, and the “Drive Through”, which was clearly my fault – I simply forgot about the white line. After the second pit stop, I rejoined the circuit directly behind Bleekemolen. Although I was quicker, I couldn’t get passed. In the end this is why I made a mistake.”

Hans-Jürgen Abt Abt Team Director
“That wasn’t a particularly good day for us, however, we can be pleased with Laurent’s third place. Because of the enormous tension during the pit stops mistakes can always happen. Laurent’s stops were perfect, Mattias’ not. I’m really sorry for him. It could have been his big day. Christian also drove a good race. Congratulations to Peter Terting: He worked outstandingly well, was very fast in the race. He is on his wy to the top.”

1 Christijan Albers

2 Marcel Fässler

3 Laurent Aiello

4 Bernd Schneider

5 Peter Dumbreck

6 Alain Menu

7 Mattias Ekström

8 Christian Abt