Audi one-two-three victory at Zandvoort

Audi is the first manufacturer to have achieved a one-two-three victory in the 2012 DTM. At Zandvoort/Netherlands Edoardo Mortara (Playboy Audi A5 DTM) triumphed in front of his two brand colleagues Mike Rockenfeller (Schaeffler Audi A5 DTM) and Mattias Ekstr?¶m. (Red Bull Audi A5 DTM). With that, a driver from all three Audi teams was on the podium.

Overall 39,000 spectators watched a spectacular DTM race in extremely difficult conditions. Despite repeated rain showers the race track was never wet enough to switch to rain tires. “In such crazy conditions, you can fly off the track in any corner,� said Edoardo Mortara, who celebrated his second victory of the season and reduced the gap to the current championship leader Gary Paffett to 35 points. “I’m very happy. I want to thank everyone at Audi Sport and Audi Sport Team Rosberg for the superb work. It was a fantastic race!�

In a fierce duel, Edoardo Mortara prevailed against Mike Rockenfeller (Audi Sport
Team Phoenix) who commandingly controlled the race for a long time. However, when rain set in again, Mortara managed to close the gap and overtook him on lap 32 in the famous “Tarzan Bocht.�

Mattias Ekstr?¶m (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline) perfected Audi’s one-two-three result. The Swede won a nail-biting duel across several laps with leader of the standings Gary Paffett. Adrien Tambay (Audi ultra A5 DTM) scored his first points in the DTM. The 21-year-old youngster shone by taking fifth place. Filipe Albuquerque was classified in 15th place. Following a collision between Martin Tomczyk and Gary Paffett directly in front of him, the front splitter of his A5 was damaged and the Portuguese was forced to return to the pit in lap 34.

The quickest in qualifying, Timo Scheider, experienced a pitch-black day. At the start, the two-time DTM Champion dropped from first to 14th place and in a collision with David Coulthard damaged the front of his AUTO TEST Audi A5 DTM.

Right on the starting lap, the race was over for Miguel Molina (Red Bull Audi A5
DTM) and Rahel Frey (E-POSTBRIEF Audi A5 DTM) following collisions with the Mercedes of Canadian Robert Wickens.

Despite the four retirements it was a great day for Audi at Zandvoort. Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich said “Now we’re back in the position we always want to be in: in contention for victory.�

TS
27.08.2012
Ingolstadt - Zandvoort - Dubai