By taking victory around the Norisring on Sunday, Jamie Green ensured that he gave Mercedes-Benz its tenth consecutive win around the city circuit in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters.
Green came from second on the grid to take his fourth victory at the Norisring – despite losing out at the chaotic start of the race and being forced to play catchup thereafter. The 30 year-old finally took the lead of the race at the final corner on the final lap – denying BMW’s Martin Tomczyk his first win of the year in the process.
“My tyres were giving excellent grip on the last ten laps and my pace was very strong,” said Green. “My Mercedes AMG C-Coupé was running superbly, and I was grinning from ear to ear on those last few laps. At the end of an amazingly exciting race, I capped it all off by overtaking Bruno Spengler and Martin Tomczyk. I am absolutely delighted about this win. It’s my fourth on this track and also the tenth on the trot for Mercedes-Benz at the Norisring. So a fantastic day all round.”
With Mercedes team-mate and championship leader Gary Paffett only finishing in fourth – thanks to a spin at the first corner in which Green made contact with Paffett – the gap between the two at the top of the table now stands at 26 points. Paffett’s lead has actually increased at the top of the table thanks to the retirement of Mattias Ekström, who had formerly been second in the standings.
“Congratulations to Jamie and Mercedes-Benz on their victory in this action-packed race,” said Paffett. “I got off to a good start but was rear-ended and so fell right back down the field. I was able to battle my way up into fourth place during the race which was brilliant, especially since I have now extended my lead in the championship.”
Mercedes’ strong day at the Nürnberg circuit was made all the more sweeter with David Coulthard scoring his best-ever finish in the DTM in fifth.
“Fifth place is a decent result for me,” said former Formula One driver Coulthard. “The fastest driver wins at this track and that was unfortunately not me today but nevertheless, I would like to congratulate Jamie on his fourth win at this circuit! That was truly an outstanding performance! As a team too, we achieved good results overall, especially in view of the difficult conditions.”
23 year-old Christian Vietoris had been set for a fifth placed finish when he changed his race strategy and made an extra pit stop for slick tyres. Ultimately the strategy didn’t work, leaving him to finish in eighth, although Vietoris was adamant that the decision was the right one.
“I had a good race today, though the second pit stop was not brilliant,” explained Vietoris. “We took a bit of a risk and switched to slicks. Unfortunately, the rain came down harder after that, but the decision was the right one because if the rain had held off, then the strategy would have worked well.”
Canadian Robert Wickens scored his first-ever points in the DTM in Sunday’s race with a ninth-placed finish. The 2011 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Champion admitted after the race that he was pleased with his performance.
“I am immensely pleased to have scored my first DTM points,” said Wickens. “For a time, I was actually running fifth in the race, but then my tyres started to degrade and I dropped back to ninth. Even so, I’m very happy with my best DTM result to date, and I’m optimistic that further points will follow during the rest of this season.”
The result means that Mercedes now hold a 1-2 position in the driver’s championship, with Paffett leading on 95 points from Green on 69 points. The marque are also 1-2 in the team’s championship, with the two HWA-run teams on 119 and 76 points respectively.