Mercedes-Benz’ Jamie Green took a dramatic win in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters race at the Norisring – taking victory from BMW’s Martin Tomczyk at the final corner on the final lap.
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The race took place on a wet and slippery circuit – with the result being chaos at the start of the race as the field fed into the tight first corner hairpin. Pole man Gary Paffett was turned around at the first corner by Green, who in turn was tapped by Mattias Ekström. Paffett ended up facing the wrong way as the field passed by him, with Augusto Farfus, Edoardo Mortara, Dirk Werner and Timo Scheider all getting held up due to the blockage.
The incident caused the deployment of the safety car for laps two to three and when the race resumed it was Ralf Schumacher who was leading the field, with Tomczyk in second – the duo having started in fifth and sixth on the grid.
In the opening laps it was the leading trio of Schumacher, Tomczyk and Bruno Spengler who managed to pull away, with Green leading the chasing pack in fourth. However on the sixteenth lap Schumacher experienced a problem when exiting turn four, allowing the three drivers behind him to pass. The problem, later revealed to be an electrical issue, would cause his retirement from the race on lap 45.
With Tomczyk therefore left leading the race he began to open up a small lead over the chasing Spengler. However as the track continued to dry, it was Green who became the fastest driver on track and in the closing laps the Brit set about catching and passing the leading duo, eventually completing the move for the lead at the final corner of the final lap. Tomczyk held on to finish in second, just 0.687 seconds behind with Spengler taking his third podium of the year in third.
Paffett recovered superbly from his first lap spin to finish in fourth and minimise the damage to his championship lead. The Brit had put in a long stint on wet rubber in the first part of the race, allowing him to emerge from his pit-stop in fifth.
David Coulthard finished in a career-best fifth position, ahead of Mike Rockenfeller in sixth. Andy Priaulx scored his second point finish of the year with a seventh-placed finish, ahead of Christian Vietoris. The German had been running in fourth but a late gamble to switch to slick tyres didn’t pay off and he had to settle for eighth.
Taking their first-ever DTM points in ninth and tenth respectively were Canadian Robert Wickens and German Dirk Werner.
Former double champion Timo Scheider had a race to forget, finishing down in 16th position, two laps down on the leaders. The German had started from 21st and like several other drivers was severely held up at the first corner, from which he was unable to recover during the race.
Edoardo Mortara, winner last time out in Austria, had a difficult race after getting held up at the first corner. The Italian would later retire on the 41st lap after contact from Roberto Merhi.
Also retiring from the race early on was Susie Wolff, who pulled into the pits to retire on the 20th lap following contact from Adrien Tambay.
Green’s win means that he has narrowed the points gap to leader Paffett to 26 points. Spengler moves up to third in the championship on 58 points, whilst Tomczyk moves up to fourth on 54. Ekström was the biggest loser at the Norisring, dropping from second to fifth.