DTM Lausitzring 2012 - The analysis

B MW sports director Jens Marquardt was completely over the moon . 'Absolute madness!' He exclaimed in an exuberance of emotions. 'It was super close. An amazing race. I'm so proud of the team. It's ... amazing!' Whoever manages to slip into the role of the pike in the second race in the DTM pond has every reason to celebrate.

BMW had already indicated its potential a week earlier in Hockenheim. Because of some jostling, in which the M3 drivers were mostly blameless, this was not rewarded with anything countable. Sixth place for Andy Priaulx and a lot of scrap, that was BMW's balance sheet at the season opener.

'On Monday after Hockenheim, I had some doubts whether we would really get all the cars back on time for the Lausitzring', revealed Marquardt in Lausitz. 'In terms of parts, we were practically completely sold out.' But the BMW technicians won the race against time. In qualifying, Bruno Spengler and Augusto Farfus thanked the mechanics in their own way - with starting positions one and two.

Mercedes with little downforce on the road

An inspection of the starting grid brought the euro -Speedway interesting findings: Although it is actually forbidden, mechanics clad in black from the HWA team tried their best to block uninvited lapwings from the rear wing of the C-Coupés by Gary Paffett and Jamie Green. But if you looked closely you could still see it: The Mercedes start with a much flatter rear wing than the two BMW M3s in the front row.

The resulting increase in top speed was quickly apparent: Gary Paffett zoomed in on the straights always extremely close to the rear of the Spengler-M3. Jamie Green, for his part, studied the rear of the Farfus BMW closely. But no matter how hard the two Brits tried in Mercedes-Pay - neither one nor the other could ride a promising attack on the man in front.

'If you are close to the man in front, you lose the downforce', complained Paffett. 'No chance.' In addition, the BMW drivers showed strong nerves. Neither Spengler nor Farfus allowed themselves the slightest lack of concentration.

Both Mercedes lost tenths of a second again and again in the middle part of the route, probably a result of the flat rear wing. The advice given by technical director Gerhard Ungar to Paffett is uselessSubmitted: 'Gary, drive a closer line in the infield. We're losing two tenths there. Try something different.'

BMW makes no mistakes

The third reason for the BMW victory was the routine of the mechanics: Even when things got really tight, the Schnitzer men did not let themselves get out of the proverbial bring Bavarian beer rest. You handled Spengler twice without errors. 4.0 and 3.7 seconds for changing the four tires, that is really impressive in the competitive environment. The times of the HWA pit crews ranged from 3.3 seconds (Paffett's second stop) to 7.1 seconds on Green's first visit to the pit.

Paffett did not unpack the crowbar. The Briton has of course also mastered the arithmetic of points in the DTM: He refrained from making too energetic attacks and instead seized the opportunity to significantly extend his championship lead after his victory at Hockenheim with 18 points for second place. No clever championship aspirant accepts the risk of failing miserably after an unsuccessful attack and writing a clear lap.

Audi bankruptcy in Lausitz

Already drew on lap eight that Audi could experience a debacle in Lusatia. Edoardo Mortara had to bow to the onrushing Jamie Green in the battle for fourth place. The Italian lost sight of the British’s Mercedes frighteningly quickly. 'No grip,' Mortara complained. In the end, Mattias Ekström was the best from the four-ring camp, in fifth place, a sobering 21 seconds behind the winner.

'Of course we can't be satisfied with the result because we have this time too the tires on our cars didn't work properly in the race, 'grumbled sports director Wolfgang Ullrich:' Mattias Ekström and Timo Scheider made the most of their less than ideal starting positions and improved by several places - with very good lap times at times. Nevertheless, we have to understand our A5 better and utilize its full potential. We will work hard on that. '

The bankruptcy of Lausitz showed that the Audi's lack of speed probably has nothing to do with the weather:' In Hockenheim it was warm, here it was cold, 'noted Ekström. 'So the problem must be somewhere else.' His boss promised: 'The guys are fully motivated and they want to be at the front again, as we always did in the DTM. We simply haven't found a setup for the race yet.'

BMW Boss warns of new DTM territory

BMW sports director Marquardt enjoyed the triumph of the Lausitzring to the full. But he also warned: 'We are well advised to keep both feet on the ground. The start of our comeback season has certainly gone off perfectly. However, there are still many races awaiting us on tracks on which we have not driven a single test kilometer are. '

The Brands Hatch circuit,which is on the program as the third event of the season (May 20th) is one such example. 'This is new territory for us,' said Marquardt. 'That is why it is possible that things can quickly turn in a different direction.'

You can find the best photos of the race in Lausitz in our picture gallery.