Lausitz, 25 May, 2003
During the fourth round of the 2003 DTM an Abt-Audi driver again stood on
the winners rostrum: At the EuroSpeedway, in the scorching heat and in front
of 62,000 spectators Mattias Ekstroem fought his way to third position.
Defending champion Laurent Aiello started in the Abt-Audi TT-R of his team
colleague Martin Tomczyk after an accident in practice and collected a point
by finishing eighth. With ninth position, Christian Abt provided the best result
for a year-old car in the 2003 DTM.
The race at a glance
Weather
sunny, hot, 34 degrees Celsius
Spectators
62,000
#14 Tomczyk and
#15 Terting not on the grid after handing over their cars to
#1 Aiello and #2 Abt
Start
#5 Ekstroem drops from second to fourth position
#1 Aiello jumps to sixth position
#2 Abt ninth
#6 Wendlinger eleventh
Lap 4
#5 Ekstroem benefits from a mistake under braking by #9 Fässler, and
improves to third position
Lap 7
#5 Ekstroem and #2 Abt make first compulsory pit stop
Lap 8
#1 Aiello stalls his engine during the first pit stop
Lap 11
After the first compulsory pit stops:
3rd Ekstroem; 7th Aiello; 10th Abt; 13th Wendlinger
Lap 17
#1 Aiello now sixth after spin by #8 Menu
Lap 19
#5 Ekstroem (3rd) completes his second pit stop
Lap 20
#1 Aiello stalls engine again during second pit stop, drops behind #4 Albers
Lap 22
After the second round of compulsory pit stops:
3rd Ekstroem; 8th Aiello; 10th Abt; 12th Wendlinger
Lap 30
Spin by #6 Wendlinger, drops back to 13th
Finish
3rd Ekstroem; 8th Aiello; 9th Abt; 13th Wendlinger
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