Mercedes-Benz - Spengler in shape for DTM
An extra weight of 20 kilograms couldn’t stop Bruno Spengeler on his Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class who will start sixth on the grid in tomorrow’s race.
The weight handicap for the 2009 C-Class is the consequence of two wins and a second place in the previous three races. Nevertheless Spengler set a time of 1m22.249 in today’s qualifying.
Paul Di Resta (AMG Mercedes C-Class) was the second fastest Mercedes driver at the qualifying for the fifth round of the 2009 DTM at Oschersleben with a time of 1m22.373; he missed the third part of qualifying by eight thousandths of a second and will line up ninth on the grid. Behind him are Jamie Green (Junge Sterne AMG Mercedes C-Class/1m22.405), Maro Engel (GQ AMG Mercedes C-Class/1m22.512) and championship leader Gary Paffett (Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class/1m22.582) in positions 10 to 12; Ralf Schumacher (Trilux AMG Mercedes C-Class/1m22.849) qualified 14th.
Qualifying, part 1: Di Resta was the fastest C-Class driver (1m22.289) in fourth place, 67 thousandths of a second behind Ekström’s best time in this session. Mathias Lauda (stern AMG Mercedes C-Class) qualified 16th with a 1m23.353 and Susie Stoddart (TV Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Class) was 17th with a 1m23.431; both did not make it to the next round.
Qualifying, part 2: The only Mercedes drive to improve to round three was Spengler (sixth) with a 1m22.225.
Gallery
Bruno Spengler (2009 Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class), sixth (1:22.249): “Sixth is not the optimum grid position; however, considering our 20-kilo weight handicap it is still OK. Tomorrow I will fight to make the best out of it.”
Paul Di Resta (2009 AMG Mercedes C-Class), ninth (1:22.373): “That’s annoying. I felt comfortable with the car, but somehow we didn’t find together. I didn’t make any significant mistakes, but my time was just not good enough. Tomorrow I will give it my all.”
Gary Paffett (2009 Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class), 12th (1:22.582): “The first session was OK, but in Q2 I lacked grip and was not able to improve. However, I am optimistic – tomorrow I want to end up in the points.”
Ralf Schumacher (2009 Trilux AMG Mercedes C-Class),14th (1:22.849): “I was able to improve compared to this morning’s practice; however, I was not good enough. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to drive a 100 percent clean lap. Our 20-kilo weight handicap is really significant here.”
Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “As expected we have a difficult weekend here in Oschersleben. After three Mercedes victories out of four races so far we experience the additional weight of 20 kilos and the resulting three and a half tenths per lap quite significantly. Over the race distance we should be better.”
Let’s see if the extra weight is really that much of a problem during tomorrow’s race or if the Mercedes-Benz cars will continue dominating this year’s DTM like in the previous races.
