|
DTM
- A1-Ring Perfect Paffet on Friday and Saturday, but Timo Glock was the dominating force on Sunday
In the first session, the one for Sunday, Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi, winner of last week's round of the Italian F3 Championship, achieved second place in the grid, followed by Belgian Jeffery van Hooydonk. In the Saturday session local hero Bernhard Auinger conquered the slot at the side of Paffet and his fellow countryman Norbert Siedler came third. The
races: One for Paffet, one for Glock Behind the winner Austrian Norbert Siedler and Timo Glock fought hard for second position in the first eight laps, but then Glock spun into the gravel, spun another time, damaged his car and had to retire. So Siedler could cruise home to his best F3 result so far, followed by young Finn Kimmo Liimatainen. "A great race", Siedler cheered afterwards, "it's absolutely gorgeous to make it on to the rostrum at your home race. Unfortunately I made a mistake in lap two and lost one position. And when I was back in second place Paffet's lead was already too big." Kimmo Liimatainen was satisfied too: "Well, you have to admit, that my third place is a little lucky. But on the other hand I have deserved this result. I was fighting hard right from the start - and was able to take it easy during the closing laps. I have been using nearly the same set-up as Gary. At the beginning of the season our chassis set-up was completely different often, but now this has changed." Markus Winkelhock in his Dallara Mercedes came fourth, the last points for positions five and six were scored by Australian Ryan Briscoe and Japanese Kousuke Matsuura. Bernhard Auinger instead wasn't able to make use of his grid position, stalled the engine at the start and later in the race he had a collision and hat to retire with a damaged suspension. Sunday:
Glock wins - and no points for Paffet At this point, after eight laps, Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi was still hoping to score his first win in the German Championship. He had won the start against pole-sitter Paffet and defended his lead against his attacking opponents. First against Paffet, then against Belgian Jeffrey van Hooydonk and last but not least lap after lap against German Timo Glock. Until lap twelve he was able to keep Glock behind him, but then he was out braked b the German on the inside. The battle was over and Glock, who had started the race from seventh grid position, crossed the line as the winner seven laps later. "My start wasn't too good", said Glock later, "and I didn't hope on a great result during the first laps, as it is very difficult here at the A1-Ring to overtake out of the slipstream. But then I realised that my car was getting better lap by lap. So I was superior to Liuzzi and was even able to choose the point were I wanted to pass him. And he was really fair. He was fighting hard but left me enough room when he realised that I was faster than him. This was one of my nicest races ever." Although he couldn't score the victory he had hoped for Liuzzi was quite happy too: "This was a great race", he said, "although I wasn't able to win it. I was fighting like crazy to defend my position, but you can't do this successful over such a long distance." The third man on the rostrum was Kousuke Matsuura, but the young Japanese wasn't satisfied with his sixth rostrum result of the season. "My car was great, so a better result would have been possible", he said. Yet it was important for me to cross the line ahead of Paffet, and this at least I have achieved. Still the fight for the title seems to be nearly over as Paffet's lead is overwhelming, but the fight for second place is closer than ever, as Matsuura has got just two points more than Glock. Belgian Jeffrey van Hooydonk came fourth and scored three points, Norbert Siedler was fifth and German Marcel Lasée crossed the line in sixth position and scored his first point of the season. Gary Paffet instead delivered a really strange performance. The championship leader lost position by position in the first third of the race and was only seventh, when he seemed to return to form and fought back. Then, he was already back to fifth, he spun of the track and when he crossed the line he was tenth only. "I had no grip at all in the opening laps, that's why I lost so many positions", he said. "Later my car was great, but then I made a little mistake that cost me five positions." Bad
for him, good for Glock, who obviously still sees a small chance to
beat Paffet in the title chase. "You see that he is making mistakes
as well", Glock cheered, "maybe the championship isn't quite
over yet." Official report
from the Formula 3 association |
Qualifying:
Paffet invincible