Audi driver Mattias Ekström on the podium
Six races of the 2003 DTM season have taken place so far, on five occasions the Audi drivers have placed in the top three. At Donington, at the British DTM round, Mattias Ekström stepped on the winner’s podium for the third time. The Swede started the race from third place, but then lost two places during a bumpy start. “I did not have a good start. Thanks to the brilliant work of my crew, I was able to get my third place back,” explained Ekström. The Abt-Audi mechanics brought him ahead of the two cars in front of him with fast pit stops. In the final stretch of the race, the 25-year-old compensated for a 10-second lead that Bernd Schneider (Mercedes), who finished second, had on him, but in the end was unable to pass him. “It was such a shame, as soon as I was close enough for an attack they waved the checkered flag,” recalled Ekström. With 23 points Ekström is on the sixth place overall, the best among his Audi teammates.
The sixth race of the DTM through the spectacular natural course, filled with hills and valleys was a turbulent one that did not leave the Audi drivers undamaged. Christian Abt, Lauren Aiello and Martin Tomczyk suffered the most. Tomczyk was spun around during a chaotic start and hit by another car. Already after one lap the Audi Junior was sentenced to spectating. “My TT-R wouldn’t go straight anymore. And then that was it,” said the aggravated German. Two laps later, after having received several touches to his Abt-Audi TT-R, Laurent Aiello experienced damage to one of his tyres. At that moment, Christian Abt also passed the scene and was hit on the tail despite trying to avoid the accident by going wide on the grass.
While Aiello was able to battle until the 28th lap, before the damage to his car forced him to steer into the pits and give up, Christian Abt had to stop immediately. “That was so frustrating, because I had a fast car and would have really liked to have fought together with Mattias (Ekström) for the lead,” explained Christian Abt.
Audi Junior Peter Terting and Karl Wendlinger finished 14th and 15th. The 19-year old Terting was forced to work hard. Just after the middle of the race his Abt-Audi TT-R braked only on one side and the interior began to fill with smoke. “However, giving up was not an option,“ Terting added for the record.
Team manager Hans-Jürgen looked back upon the day’s events in a positive light, despite the retirements. “We are closer to Mercedes. After a racing distance of approximately one hour, we were 1.8 seconds behind – I can live with that. Our team is highly motivated. We’ll deliver the next pieces of evidence to prove this at the Nürburgring.”
Results
1 Jean Alesi (Mercedes) 36 laps in 55m 8.354s
2 Bernd Schneider (Mercedes) + 1.466s
3 Mattias Ekström (Abt-Audi TT-R) + 1.841s
4 Marcel Fässler (Mercedes) + 4.497s
5 Christijan Albers (Mercedes) + 5.459s