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00:30Hello.
00:31Hi.
00:32Hi, I'm Jamie Green.
00:32My name is Mike Rockenfeller.
00:34Bruno Spengler, Eurion Hockenheim.
00:35Welcome to Brands Hatch.
00:36To Mighello.
00:37I hope you enjoy this show at De Nürburgring.
00:39The Eurospeedway.
00:40Thank you for supporting us, guys.
00:42Have fun.
01:37Hello and welcome to our review of the 2007 DTM Series.
01:45Ten races.
01:47Five different countries.
01:50Yes, the waiting had finally come to an end for DTM fans on Sunday the 22nd of April 2007.
01:58After a long winter break, the new 2007 DTM season began in Hockenheim, heralding the second
02:05instalment in the eagerly awaited prestige duel between Audi and Mercedes-Benz.
02:11Five drivers.
02:13Indeed, 25% of the starting field were making their DTM debuts on this weekend.
02:19Alexandra Primat, Lucas Lohr, Mike Rockenfeller and Adam Carroll were all new at Audi.
02:25While at Mercedes-Benz, the debutant was Paul de Resta, replacing the retiring Jean-Alazy.
02:37Traditionally, of course, the DTM starts at Hockenheim and ends at the same track.
02:42In 2007, it was no difference.
02:46There is Bruno Spengler, now perhaps Mercedes-Benz's top driver.
02:54And a look at this.
02:55A serious accident shortly after the start meant the race was immediately stopped.
03:01Alexandra Primat crashed hard into Tom Christensen.
03:04Dr Ulrich Havaldi filled in the detail.
03:08I met Adam Carroll coming on his way already back to his team, so he was without any troubles.
03:15And then it was possible to me to talk to both of the drivers, Tom Christensen and Alexandra
03:20Primat, but to make sure that everything is fine.
03:24We've been bringing them to hospitals where they will be checked in all the way it is necessary.
03:29It appeared that Tom Christensen had just been clipped by Timo Scheider, causing him to spin.
03:37After the restart, it was Martin Tomczyk who took a narrow lead from Paul de Resta in a two-year
03:44-old car.
03:45The DTM novice was certainly going very quickly in front of Bruno Spengler and Matthias Ekstrom.
03:51The Swedish ace was, however, to stamp his authority on this race.
03:55Not that anyone noticed it happening as he slipped to the back of the field after making his mandatory pitch
04:01stops very early on in the space of seven laps.
04:05The reward for this unusual strategy was a clear track of perfect racing conditions.
04:11By contrast, Martin Tomczyk had lost the lead at lap five after locking up.
04:16Bruno Spengler and Paul de Resta gratefully accepted the chance to go past.
04:22The Mercedes pair now turned in lap times much quicker than that of Tomczyk or Timo Scheider.
04:28The gap grew wider with every lap.
04:39Pit stop for Bruno Spengler and he really should have expected to finish in second place.
04:47With five laps to go, he had a clear advantage over Timo Scheider, who, along with Martin Tomczyk, had benefited
04:53from a catastrophic to rest a pit stop.
04:57Places one through four appeared to be settled, but the last lap had one final twist to offer.
05:05Ekstrom was already bearing down on the finish line when the action poiled over again behind him.
05:10Spengler and Scheider tangled, leaving Tomczyk to race into the gap and take second place.
05:16Timo Scheider was not a happy man.
05:19Here we see it again.
05:21And after evaluating the incident, the stewards agreed with Scheider and handed Canadian ace Spengler a 50-second penalty.
05:30Mercedes immediately appealed the verdict, but the protest was rejected.
05:34And it proved to be a very costly incident indeed for the Canadians.
05:41So, an Audi 1-2 and a tactical masterclass for Matthias Ekstrom.
05:51It's really amazing.
05:53I mean, I got my tenth DTM victory today and I really feel in good shape.
05:58As well as the car is very good and the team did a perfect strategy and a two perfect pit
06:02stops.
06:02So, I think it's a well-deserved victory for us because we all worked hard the whole winter.
06:07Last year, all of us had a tough time, but it's nice to be back on the top of the
06:12podium.
06:13And there was the final result with the Audi 1-2 for Red Bull, Ekstrom and Tomczyk.
06:19Spengler shown there in third place.
06:22La Rosa, however, was promoted to that position.
06:25And indeed, it cost six vital points for Spengler.
06:30So, we move on to the second race of the season.
06:35Moving eastwards to Osher Schleben.
06:40Well, this is a normally sleepy rural landscape, but it comes to life on a DTM race weekend.
06:55After the bad crash in Hockenheim, regular ALMS series drivers Marco Werner and Frank Bieler deputised for Tom Christensen and
07:04Alexandra Primatt.
07:06And Christensen really was suffering from very bad concussion indeed.
07:12So, there are the two new drivers.
07:15There's Frank Bieler, hugely successful in the past in the DTM, of course.
07:22And nice sentiments from that flag presented by the Audi team.
07:32Mika Ackerman's second pole position in the DTM underlined his ambitions to go on and win the race.
07:39However, all eyes turned to events further down the field at the start when reigning champion Bernd Schneider stayed stationary
07:48on the grid and was lucky not to be ran from behind.
07:54However, there was an incident at the front of the grid too, behind the red Audi of surprise front row
08:00starter Mike Rockenfeller.
08:02We see that Matthias Ekstrom clearly jumped the start.
08:07He was able to exploit Hackenden's poor start and overtake the fin.
08:12On viewing the replay, the stewards had no choice but to punish the Hockenheim winner.
08:18Ekstrom's race was over before it really started.
08:20A bitter disappointment for a driver with genuine title ambitions.
08:27So, instead of fighting it out at the front of the field, Ekstrom raced some 30 seconds off the lead.
08:32Meanwhile, Hackenden there, it is 2007.
08:37Mercedes ran behind Rockenfeller's old Audi for lap after lap.
08:44Bruno Spengler in third slipped further and further behind.
08:48But many eyes had been taken off a man who was making a big charge.
08:53Gary Paffet appeared on the scene when leader Rockenfeller came in for his first pit stop after 13 laps.
09:002005 champion Paffet had made his pit stop seven laps earlier and enjoyed a clear track.
09:08But it was to get worse for Rockenfeller.
09:10Micah Hackenden had taken on fresh tyres and turned in some blistering laps.
09:15As a result, Paffet opened up a significant lead over the double Formula One world champion as well as Mike
09:22Rockenfeller.
09:24But there were problems to come.
09:26The pair suddenly involved with Vanina Ricks.
09:30Clipped there by Jamie Green.
09:32No one was hurt and Green got a drive-through penalty.
09:35But he wasn't very happy about the stewards decision.
09:42But actually when I lifted off and turned to the left, she lifted off to let me past.
09:48Which was really unlucky because then I hit her and she spun.
09:51So it was, yeah, it was a bit of a shame that she lifted off.
09:56I didn't expect that.
09:59Meanwhile Bruno Spengler retired from the race.
10:01Problems with the power-assisted brakes.
10:06Paul de Resta though was having a much better time of it.
10:09The Formula 3 European champion delivered another superb performance in the 2005 Mercedes.
10:16Putting in some excellent lap times in a very long middle stint and even on very worn tyres.
10:23As a result, he had rejoined the race after his second stop ahead of Hackenden and Rockefeller.
10:29Meanwhile, a technical problem prevented stand-in driver Frank Bieler from making it to the finish.
10:34But Marco Werner gave a fine account of himself.
10:37Before his final stop, he was an Indian very exciting duel with Bern Schneider and ultimately came in 15th.
10:45After overcoming clutch problems, Schneider rose through the field to take sixth place.
10:51However, the winner was Gary Pappitt with Paul de Resta in second place.
10:56A great day for the Brits.
10:59Shortly after the finish, Hackenden's duel with Rockefeller ended when the Finn lost a rear tyre.
11:06You know, after winning today, you've got to say our aim has changed a bit.
11:10But, you know, you've still got to go to every race and be really competitive.
11:13And that's going to be harder and harder.
11:14The more success you have, the heavier your car gets.
11:17So it's going to be harder.
11:18It allows the string to do it.
11:19But we're going to be pushing to try and get another podium and maybe another win.
11:23Yeah, and that's a great result for the Persson team.
11:27But Tomczyk now leading the championship with 12 points along with Paul de Resta.
11:32What a surprise.
11:36Moving on to race three then.
11:40The Lauschitzring, the superb new facility.
11:44The oval is little used these days.
11:49But the road course provides a great venue for the DTM brigade.
11:54A Red Bull Formula One car was the guest of honour.
12:01Matthias Ekstrom and Formula One test driver Michael Amemuller tried each other's cars
12:08and kept the fans on their feet.
12:15Yet another highlight, at least for the men.
12:18New Lara Croft actress Karina Adabibi was a VIP guest at the DTM, or to be more precise,
12:24a guest of Martin Tomczyk.
12:26The hero of the Team Raider computer game looked pretty good in an Audi A4 as well.
12:36Mike Rockefeller's race started badly.
12:39The 23-year-old in the Audi suffered a spin on the warm-up lap.
12:44Qualifying has certainly not been kind to Audi.
12:48Indeed Mercedes dominated the year weekend up to that point with seven C-class cars on the first
12:54four rows of the grid.
12:57Indeed it was Mercedes at the front.
12:59Bigger Ackermann managed to take the lead from Bruno Spengler.
13:04And Spengler overtaken by Scotland's Paul de Resta.
13:10The ultra-tight first corner is new this year, it's been altered.
13:16No problem for Ackermann and Spengler.
13:20But big problems for Marcus Winklehock, the Spiker Formula One test driver in this incident.
13:29There he is, he'd clashed with Matthias Lauda.
13:33The clearing up operation was difficult as the A4 was blocking the ideal line.
13:38Even so, three more laps passed before the stewards upgraded the local yellow flags to a safety car phase.
13:45And the safety car came out in the wrong place.
13:47Meanwhile, Ekstrom using this at neutral phase to make one of his two pit stops.
13:52However, the Swede acted too quickly.
13:55The rules state that the pit lane remains closed until the field has fully lined up behind the safety car.
14:01There was confusion all round.
14:05One lap after Ekstrom, the rest of the field came in for stops in accordance with the rules.
14:10And most of the drivers used the ten-minute safety car phase to compete both their mandatory stops.
14:17Bruno Spengler was a little unlucky.
14:19The 23-year-old was waiting at the pit lane exit for the red lights to go out.
14:23A lap later, this incident.
14:25Primat and Gary Paffett.
14:28Gary, not happy.
14:31Yeah, Alex Premat was crazy.
14:33I mean, he was behind me on the straight and he just didn't brake.
14:35He just drove straight into the back of my car.
14:37I've got half the back of my car missing now.
14:39So, it's crazy.
14:40I used to realise what happens in Slipstream because it's stupid, you know.
14:43The safety car came out again on lap 30.
14:47This time to sort the field out correctly after the mishap in the first phase.
14:51Took another ten minutes to line the cars up in the correct order.
14:55After this, Matthias Ekstrom came in for its third stop, but the first had been invalid.
15:01The Swede finished tenth behind Martin Tomczyk.
15:04Shortly before the finish, Christian Abt brushed the wall and was forced to retire.
15:10By now, Mika Hakkinen was off into the distance.
15:13The Formula One world champion of the past followed his Spa win in 2005 for the second DTM Triumph.
15:19The rest of Spengler and Schneider completed a Mercedes-Benz lockout.
15:25For the team, it was more difficult than for me.
15:29More or less, the team gave me instructions what to do.
15:33But for the team to understand what was going on, it was a big challenge, I tell you.
15:38And they did the right work. They did the very good work.
15:41Afterwards, the stewards decided to award half points.
15:44No surprise after such a complex and very untidy race.
15:49But Hakkinen the winner from Diresta and Spengler.
15:57And there Hakkinen receives the applause of the crowd.
16:02Three races down, all in Germany. We were off to Brands Hatch.
16:11And we'll be racing on the Kents IndyCar circuit.
16:15It will be tight and it will be dramatic.
16:19There had been severe consequences following the chaos at Eurospeedway Lauschitz.
16:24Indeed, the German Motorsport Association
16:27decided to sack a number of the culprits in the incident,
16:31including the well-known clerk-of-the-course Roland Brauschneider.
16:50And there, Vicka Hakkinen.
16:52Well, maybe he wouldn't have saluted in quite the same way if he knew the points were cut to half.
17:02Brands Hatch, of course, just 30 kilometres south-east of London.
17:08And running a DTM race for a second year running.
17:14Everyone hoping for a British victory here.
17:26Fine weather greeted the large crowd at the circuit.
17:33And it was Bruno Spengler who made the best start in his silver Mercedes-Benz.
17:40Off they go into Paddock Hill Bend.
17:44The early race order. Spengler from Hakkinen and Ekstrom.
17:49Look at that smoke.
17:51An incident. Paul de Resta involved.
17:55In the race, we got a fantastic start, made up a few positions.
17:59Was making up a few at Druids, the second corner, number two.
18:03And I got touched by Schneider and then next it was my team-mate Alex who just tapped me when
18:11I was braking to avoid the incident.
18:13And it was unfortunate because I think we had quite a good race car.
18:18Yeah, we can see it again.
18:22And there to rest this car right into the gravel.
18:25Adam Carroll also involved, as was Mike Rockenfella.
18:30The crash prompted the stewards to send out the safety car.
18:36Daniel La Rosa came into the pits too early.
18:39And it cost the German driver dearly.
18:44The pit stop deemed to be invalid.
18:47The race restarted on the seventh lap.
18:53Gary Paffett showed how to overtake at Brands Hatch.
19:07There he is, giving Matthias Lauder a bit of a nudge.
19:12Lauder son of the former Austrian world champion.
19:16Lap nine, and Bernstein came in for his first pit stop.
19:20Very early stop, but you remember that the drivers had to compete 82 laps of the short circuit.
19:28The trick here was to try and find some clear track.
19:32And timing of pit stop, absolutely vital.
19:39Mick Ackenden seemed to get that right.
19:43Here he is exiting the pits.
19:54The real race leader was the silver C-class, driven by Bruno Spengler, followed by the apt
20:00Audi of Matthias Ekstrom, and indeed his teammate Martin Tomczyk.
20:05Hackenden made his second stop on lap 31.
20:09He still had 50 laps to go on his final set of tyres.
20:16Hackenden's fresh rubber certainly worked early on.
20:20There he is, up against Ekstrom, who at this point was still on his first set of tyres.
20:25Very different strategies indeed.
20:34Meanwhile, Wiederyx was in the wars again, Gary Paffet giving her a nudge.
20:41And the English driver got a warning for the stewards for that.
20:49Burn Schneider in the silver C-class now had his second stop and was racing behind Hackenden, both with the
20:57very latest 2007 AMG-built vehicles.
21:05Spengler and Ekstrom continuing their battle there, the 2004 champion Ekstrom making his second mandatory pit stop.
21:15And it was a mega stop, just 4.5 seconds.
21:21Hackenden and Schneider chased each other over the start-finish line.
21:25Both the Finn and the German remained at the front, so this tactic was not going to bring a race
21:31win.
21:31Perhaps it would help in the head-to-head with Spengler.
21:35The Canadian pitted a lap after Ekstrom and was sent on his way by the AMG crew a little faster,
21:41but Spengler briefly stole the engine.
21:44In a race liable to be decided by hundreds of a second, it counted as a bad error.
21:50Ekstrom was through and the unfortunate tactics brought Spengler nothing better than fifth place in the end.
21:57Internal team tactics explained why Schneider sailed past Hackenden on lap 54.
22:05It even led to another tough duel.
22:08The world champion joined in a fight with Ekstrom in the Audi.
22:16The race was decided on lap 62.
22:19Leader Martin Tomczyk made a very fast pit stop.
22:22Schneider and Ekstrom dashed down the home straight at full racing speed.
22:26And Tomczyk rejoined behind Schneider and Ekstrom in second.
22:31Race order at the finish.
22:34Schneider, Tomczyk, Ekstrom.
22:35A good result for Audi was second and third places.
22:39And it was Schneider's 32nd DTM win.
22:43After disappointing qualifying being sixth yesterday, I didn't expect here to win.
22:52And that's the reason I'm so happy that the team made a perfect strategy.
22:56We came out always without traffic and I could push really hard.
22:59And in the end, I had to defend my lead against the Audis.
23:03But the car was good and I made no mistake.
23:06Four races, four different winners.
23:07The championship looking like this.
23:09Tomczyk at the top with 20 points.
23:11Ekstrom on 18.
23:12Birg Schneider in third place.
23:15Back then to Germany.
23:18To the famed Norris Ring.
23:20Always a massive crowd here.
23:22A great festival feel.
23:29And for many, there was a very big surprise.
23:33A famous film star was on hand.
23:36Yes, the name's Bond.
23:38James Bond.
23:39Film legend Sir Roger Moore spent the weekend at this DTM race at the Norris Ring.
23:4479-year-old Briton joined his fourth wife, Christina Tholstrup, to watch the afternoon qualifying.
23:53And then spent the rest of the time as an honoured guest.
23:57He even joined the DTM VIP party in the evening.
24:06There he is with Christina.
24:18On to the race for Mercedes at the front.
24:22And also the blue Audi of championship leader Tomczyk back in 11th place.
24:29Spengler won the duel at the start from Hackenden.
24:32And with none of the field for once making mistakes here, Tomczyk was forced to line up in the
24:37middle of the pack approaching the Grundig bend.
24:44Two tyres destroyed, a ruined under tray.
24:48That was Tomczyk's reward after just 400 meters on the road.
24:53There was no way out after Susie Stoddard pushed Paul de Resta.
24:59After the crash Tomczyk had no choice but to leap home and park up in the pits.
25:05The race was short, really short for me, up to the first corner.
25:08I went through the corner with Paul de Resta, side by side.
25:12And then I got a hard hit from the left side, from Susie.
25:16She crashed into my car, so the whole under four was crashed and both tyres were flat.
25:23So I couldn't rejoin the race anymore and I have to give up.
25:28When the girl from Oberden, Scotland, barged into Ix four laps later, the stewards handed out a drive-through penalty.
25:35However, Stoddard's C-class team launched its own protest against the rough treatment.
25:42Tomczyk had to watch as his lead in the standings melted away.
25:47Bernsteider in third place and Ekstrom in fifth were the likely candidates to take over the lead at the top
25:52of the championship table.
25:53Both made early pit stops.
26:02Ferdina Ix once again assisted in the changes of fortune.
26:06Here she is, the victim of an incident with Matthias Lauda.
26:12The safety car phase followed, just as leader Bruno Spengler was making his first pit stop.
26:18It brought back memories of the chaos at Lauschitz.
26:23Spengler, indeed, broke a red light in rejoining the race, but the stewards decided against a penalty.
26:31By contrast, Micah Hackenden had yet to make a stop and was badly disadvantaged by the safety car phase.
26:37After the restart, he led the field, but his lead had shrunk from half a lap to just a few
26:43metres as the field closed up behind the safety car.
26:46His pre-race strategy was in tatters.
26:50Instead of a potential second place, Hackenden rejoined in 11th.
26:54He skillfully battled his way up to 9th, but not into the points.
27:03Second place and thus the lead in the championship ended up being decided in the pits between Schneider and Ekstrom.
27:11Schneider retained a narrow lead. Ekstrom slotted for a slicer into the gap between the reigning champion and Paul de
27:18Rester.
27:19In any event, the Scot was pursuing a lost cause after the crash at the start.
27:25Overtaking was scarce. Schneider was unable to threaten Ekstrom and the Swede could not apply pressure to Spengler.
27:33There were points for Paffid in fourth and for Tom Christensen.
27:37On his comeback after the bad accident in Hockenheim, he finished in fifth place.
27:42However, after missing four races, his goal was simply a decent placing at the end of the season.
27:54Victory, though, to Bruno Spengler, the fifth different winner in five races. And a change of fortune.
28:03Today I'm very, very happy. I mean, it's my second win here in Noir's Ring and also the first of
28:07the season again, like last year.
28:09And, you know, these points, these ten points, I was looking for them since the beginning of the season.
28:13Always really near to them and couldn't get them.
28:16But anyway, you know, now I got them and I'm really, really happy about it.
28:20And I'm back in the play for the championship and, you know...
28:24Yes, let's look at those championship points. Schneider leading from Ekstrom and Tomczyk.
28:29But Spengler definitely back in the hunt on 17.
28:37Championship moved on to Italy, to the circuit of Mugello.
28:46Sixth round of the championship, second half of the season.
28:50And following a break of more than ten years, the DTM was back at the track.
28:55The 5.245 kilometre circuit, located to the north of the Italian city of Florence,
29:02weaves its way through a typically picturesque and hilly Tuscan landscape.
29:08From 1994 to 1996, Mugello was the venue for a total of six DTM races.
29:15And one of the drivers on the current DTM grid succeeded in winning two of those rounds.
29:20And there it is, of course, Bernd Schneider.
29:27The start, Audi's first, second, third and fourth.
29:32But Spengler muscled his way past Timo Scheider.
29:38And the Audi ace slipped from fourth to ninth.
29:52Margaritas, meanwhile, testing the Tuscan gravels track.
29:57Here is a replay of the start.
30:01Lots of Audi's at the front.
30:03But look at the French-Canadian certainly pushing very hard.
30:20Schider in the gravel trap.
30:23And he was soon to retire from the race.
30:27That followed a clash with Bernd Schneider.
30:31Lucas Lohr also forced to give up after a single lap with a broken chassis.
30:36Lohr and Schneider both fell victim to on-track battles.
30:40But Jamie Green retired without any other vehicle being involved.
30:45At that point, he was lying in fifth place.
30:53Meanwhile, everything was looking good for Audi.
30:56Ekstrom and Tomczyk set the pace with Tom Christensen a little further back,
30:59followed by a big gap to the best-placed Mercedes-Benz of the hard-charging Bruno Spengler.
31:06Ekstrom's chief rival in the standings, champion leader Bernd Schneider,
31:09was now back in seventh place.
31:12It all remained incident-free for another four laps.
31:15And then Feniner X was in the gravel trap again.
31:21Christensen started to drop down the field after a problem pit stop.
31:31Problem was two for Martin Tomczyk.
31:36With his lollipop man.
31:38And Alexandra of Margheritas off into the gravel.
31:43And into the tyre wall.
31:46The safety car came out.
31:48And it was a situation which Mika Hakkinen immediately exploited.
32:00Suddenly, the fin had moved up the field.
32:06So, an excellent strategy move by Mika Hakkinen.
32:18Once the pit lane reopened after that safety car phase,
32:21the entire field came in for tyres with one exception.
32:25Now everyone knew Hakkinen would have a say in the final outcome.
32:35When the safety car came back in, Hakkinen was in the lead from Ekstrom,
32:39who had controlled the race along with Tomczyk up to that point.
32:43Tomczyk had fallen back now to 10th place.
32:50Martin Tomczyk's race came to a premature end after a spin entirely of his own making.
32:55Gary Paffet and Christian Apt were the unwilling victims.
32:58The disappointing end for all three was caused by Tomczyk's tyres.
33:03Apparently losing grip.
33:05Just got too cold under the safety car.
33:10For the remaining 20 laps, everyone was on the same tyres.
33:14The Audis had been quicker all weekend.
33:17Ekstrom moved to attack Hakkinen.
33:22Meanwhile, Schneider was having problems with understeer caused by an incident early in the race.
33:28And he was down in the 11th place.
33:30However, it would still be a good result for Mercedes.
33:33As Bruno Spengler and Daniel La Rosa took fourth and fifth between the top three.
33:39Hakkinen, Ekstrom and Diresta.
33:42Bad luck at Norris Ring.
33:43Now you're winning because of pit stop strategy.
33:45What is your opinion about that?
33:48If you ask me now, it's fantastic.
33:52Audi, meanwhile, were despondent.
33:54But Ekstrom was still at the top of the table with 32 points.
33:58Schneider was on 25 and a half.
33:59Then it was Spengler on 22.
34:01And Diresta also on 22.
34:07Next race on the calendar.
34:09We're off to the seaside venue of Zandvoort in Holland.
34:15Many years ago, of course, the venue for a regular Dutch Grand Prix.
34:20Always a very challenging track, indeed.
34:31Before the race at Zandvoort, the DTM took a detour to Amsterdam as rivals Mercedes and Audi proudly
34:39sailed on the Amstel.
34:42A little bit incongruous, perhaps, but it certainly made a very good photo opportunity.
34:54Lights out.
34:55A great start for Ekstrom.
34:58First into the Tarzan bend.
35:01Scheider was second from Tomczyk.
35:04Everyone making a good getaway.
35:07Until this incident of the first turn.
35:10Christensen was effectively shunted into Diresta by Spengler.
35:14He spun and went to the back of the field.
35:17There is Diresta.
35:21After the first pit stop, Spengler found out about motor racing as a contact sport.
35:25After coming together with Christian Apt in the pit lane.
35:29Spengler felt like the victim of a mugging, but Apt described the incident as an unlucky bump.
35:35The stewards decided to hand out a yellow card, a warning for Apt,
35:40who was heading on for his best race of the season and a fifth place finish.
35:47Shortly after the start, Tom Christian had to give up any aspirations,
35:51falling from fourth to tenth place, despite being blameless in the earlier incident.
35:59He was determined not to lose another place when Berg Schneider came challenging.
36:06The carbon fibre went flying and Christensen won the jewel, but Schneider was not happy.
36:15Pole-sitter Timo Scheider had been overtaken but tried everything to find a way past Spengler.
36:20Without success, the Audi man used every ounce of his cunning as he chased the Canadian's AMG
36:25Mercedes for 11 laps before finally pulling off the overtaking manoeuvre he needed for a potential podium.
36:35The stewards viewed the manoeuvre as a normal racing incident,
36:38although the first contact seemed to come before there was space for the overtake.
36:45Matthias Ekstrom's celebrations were even more intense as the championship leader
36:49found a way past the Canadian on the last lap.
36:52Was Spengler the victim or was he trying to be the criminal?
36:58Christensen and Schneider crossed swords again at the end.
37:02Schneider refused to give way on this occasion.
37:06And Christensen had had a bent track rod in the front steering.
37:10On the last lap Matthias Ekstrom managed to get past McGa-Hackenden.
37:19The team tactics too at the end as Alexandra Premat slowed up to allow Martin Tomczyk to pass.
37:27As did Timo Scheider and Matthias Ekstrom.
37:35It was not an order from the team. It was myself. I take the risk to let pass Tomczyk because
37:44for sure
37:44he needs a lot of points for the championship to come back and to fight with Ekstrom.
37:49So let's see what it did to the championship. Ekstrom on 38. Tomczyk now on 30.
37:55And Spengler on 26. It was still wide open.
38:03So for round seven the DTM moved back to Germany. To the home of the European Grand Prix.
38:10The German Grand Prix. Yes the Nürburgring.
38:18There is the famous Schloss which sits upon the hill. Beneath it of course the famous Nordschleife.
38:28The modern Grand Prix track has been booming since Formula One returned there in 1995.
38:35And there's been major reconstruction over the past two years to make the new paddock even larger.
38:41The DTM very much at home here.
38:47Martin Tomczyk earned himself a great starting position in qualifying.
38:52And the Bavarian in the blue Audi A4 from pole position. But another incident.
38:57Marcus Winklehock. The field. Initially unaffected by this. Settled smoothly into the race order behind leader Tomczyk.
39:06But Marcus Winklehock was totally unable to move his car from that position.
39:10And so the safety car came out again.
39:19Exactly one and a half seconds after the start. Winklehock's race came to a premature end.
39:26Shunted there by Mike Rockenfella.
39:29It was a weekend. Winklehock would want to forget.
39:33After the safety car phase the restart came at the end of lap two.
39:37The leading group initially the same. Tomczyk, Schneider, Christensen.
39:41Three outies from Mercedes-Benz man Bruno Spengler in fourth.
39:48Now the pit stop strategies were coming into play.
39:51Timo Scheider and Bernd Schneider were first to make stop number one of the two.
39:56And that made space on the track for Bruno Spengler.
39:59He passed Tom Christensen as Mercedes made up ground.
40:03Spengler now second ahead of Christensen.
40:07Spengler now only had Martin Tomczyk ahead of him.
40:14But it all would be decided in the pits.
40:16Spengler was first in. His team did a great job.
40:19Change of tyres in 6.1 seconds.
40:28Spengler back out on the track.
40:32Tomczyk also made a very good pit stop.
40:39It was still very much game on.
40:44Ekstrom stayed out a long time.
40:48Audi strategy of course.
40:49Call by Dr Wolfgang Ulrich.
40:53And it seemed to be paying off.
40:58Then Ekstrom suddenly launched a surprise attack.
41:02While Jamie Green was busy trying to pass Timo Scheider.
41:06Ekstrom stink pass to take fourth place.
41:15Timo Scheider now had no chance against the new and faster tyres
41:19on Ekstrom's car.
41:20It wasn't really a battle for third place.
41:23More a friendly overtaking.
41:26There he goes.
41:29Schneider allowed Ekstrom to pass.
41:31Championship leader Ekstrom thus made it onto the podium.
41:39Away from all this, Martin Tomczyk continued his quick, error-free and solid race to the end.
41:44After winning in Zandvoort, the 25-year-old had now conquered the Nürburgring.
41:49I'm really happy about it.
41:50You know, the car was really perfect.
41:52I could control the race from beginning on up to the end.
41:56And once when you see seven seconds in front of the second car, you'll be much more relaxed then.
42:02But at the end, I have to say, the car was really brilliant.
42:05The pit stop strategy was perfect.
42:07And yeah, I could win the race at the end.
42:10So what did that do to the championship?
42:12Ekstrom on 44, Tomczyk his teammate on 40, Spenger on 34, Bruno Schneider on 27 and a half.
42:22The DTM headed, they hoped, south for the sun for this round, the circuit to Catalonia.
42:31Home of the Spanish Grand Prix, but using a slightly shorter circuit.
42:38Indeed, circuit length on this special version of the Grand Prix track, 2.949 miles.
42:46The track, of course, close to Barcelona.
42:53The DTM had raced successfully there in 2006 and were pleased to be back.
43:00At the track.
43:09There was time for a little bit of sightseeing.
43:15But all the action would happen in the paddock.
43:23At the start, Tomczyk won the duel with Mika Akkinen.
43:28Spengler overtook Bern Schneider for fourth.
43:32And Daniel La Rosa, he was the victim of some early bullfighting for position.
43:39There he is spinning in turn one.
43:48The young German finally gets underway.
43:54However, another car would soon spin off the track.
43:58This time it was Tom Christensen.
44:02Although he was able to continue the race.
44:11Christensen getting back into the battle.
44:17See it again.
44:20Just a bit too hot into the corner.
44:23Gary Paffitt having to take avoiding action.
44:28Lat seven saw one of two decisive incidents in the race.
44:35Akkinen missing his braking point.
44:37Attempting to overtake Tomczyk.
44:40Crashed hard into Martin's car.
44:46Akkinen's braking point for turn one.
44:49As he took the race leader, did not appear to be very well judged.
44:55Tomczyk meanwhile rejoined in 11th place.
45:00Meanwhile, Brulis Spengler in the lead.
45:03And a broken radiator.
45:05They're trying to call it in the pits.
45:08Motion's running high.
45:11And Tomczyk had to retire.
45:15Ekstrom starting from 10th place in this incident with La Rosa.
45:22The Audi Cam not happy.
45:24I was, after my first pit stop, wanted to overtake him.
45:27He left plenty of room into the corner.
45:29But then late mid corner, he turned in and we had a small touch.
45:32And my car got nervous.
45:34And then I was accelerating out to the next corner.
45:36And in the middle of the corner, he came full power straight into my car.
45:41So the left rear broke.
45:42And for me, I think that's over the limit.
45:45If you are touching a little bit and we change colours of the cars and break a mirror or something,
45:50this is something we all accept.
45:51But today, my experience was that it was over the limit and also for my teammates.
45:58Despite a drive-through penalty for exceeding the speed limit under a yellow,
46:01Bruno Spengler looked well-placed to bring home a handsome number of points.
46:05Only third-place bike Rockenfeller could have prevented it.
46:08But Spengler overcame the Audi driver's stern resistance and found a way past.
46:14Three laps later, Audi ordered all their remaining cars into the pits.
46:19This shock development all but overshadowed Jamie Green's fast and error-free drive
46:24to an 11-second race win over Bruno Spengler.
46:28It was Green's long-awaited first DTM triumph.
46:33In the pits, meanwhile, discussions between the two team bosses.
46:37Behind Paul de S2 was third, was Margaritas, Paffet and Lauda.
46:42But no Audis, of course, finishing.
46:46We came here to Barcelona hoping for a great race, a great and fair race for the championship.
46:54In the first third of the race, the two guys that have been contenders for the championship
46:59from our team have been pushed from the racetrack in a way that I don't think that it should be
47:05done.
47:05It's not our style.
47:07And during the race, some other activities that, from my point of view, are not the way
47:11Audi wants to race happened.
47:13And then I had to take the decision to take my cars out of the race.
47:17Well, that is not my understanding and I do not have the understanding.
47:23I do not want to criticise the colleagues, obviously, but I cannot understand this action.
47:29I mean, it just happened when we were at 1-3.
47:32I don't know whether this is coincidence, no idea, but for me it was unnecessary.
47:39Well, despite Ulrich's order to withdraw, Lucas Lohr and Mike Rockenfella were still
47:42classified in the points.
47:44Bosses of both manufacturers vowed to hold torques to avoid any repeat at Hockenheim,
47:50the final round, where the championship would, of course, be decided.
48:04The tension at Hockenheim for this final round was absolutely electric.
48:09One hundred and fifty thousand people packed into the circuit over the three days.
48:22Despite the previous problems, Audi were in a confident mood.
48:31Matthias Ekstrom getting away from third place.
48:36Spengler, a championship contender, starting from a disappointing sixth.
48:42On the approach to the hairpin, Jamie Green launched his first attack on Martin Tomczyk.
48:48Left his braking late and slid through.
48:52The spin for Daniel La Rosa down the field.
49:01Here's Martin Tomczyk locking up at the end of the straight.
49:05He suffered a moment off the track and his championship hopes were over in that one incident.
49:12He then had to make an unscheduled pit stop to repair the front of the car.
49:18In the meantime, Christensen allowed Ekstrom to pass and focused on trying to hold off Jamie Green.
49:24It didn't last long though.
49:27On lap nine, Ekstrom allowed Green to pass.
49:32The Swede had no need to win the race, merely to finish ahead of Spengler to claim the title.
49:39There Green goes through.
49:41Talking of Spengler, he faced a series of hefty battles to make his way past a line of Audis.
49:50Marcus Winklehock getting in the way briefly.
49:53Spengler did manage to overtake.
49:59Tom Christensen also put up stiff opposition to the Canadian,
50:03who must have been ruining those points lost from the first Hockenheim.
50:09Le Dane trying everything to stay ahead.
50:13Spengler again came out the winner.
50:19There's that clash again.
50:28Finally, Spengler goes through.
50:31Rockenfeller then allowed Ekstrom to pass and take third place.
50:35However, Mercedes-Benz Berkschneider and Bruno Spengler had no trouble passing Mike Rockenfeller.
50:46After Schneider finally allowed Spengler through, the crowd witnessed a head-to-head duel for the championship,
50:52with Spengler closing up behind Ekstrom.
50:57But it was not to be.
50:59Green won the final race of the season at Hockenheim.
51:02Timo Scheider finished second.
51:04And thus, the DTM champion was Matthias Ekstrom.
51:09The Swede repeating his victory from 2004.
51:16I would say last time I won the championship, I felt that I was by far the greatest performer,
51:23because I was already a championship winner, the second last race.
51:27I won the second last two races that year.
51:30And it was compared to this one, that championship was easier.
51:34Hard as this, I would never expect, and I never had a feeling like this before.
51:40So Ekstrom, the winner on 50 points, Spengler, a fine runner-up.
51:45And with that, farewell from the 2007 DTM Series.
51:48It was an exciting, occasionally curious, but above all, incident-packed championship.
51:54We'll see you all again in 2008.
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