Sep
12
It is always nice to be racing back in the UK for me and the fans. The DTM is a great series and the crowd we get when it visits the UK is growing year on year. You really have to see it to believe it.
I first raced at Brands in 1998 and learnt a lot of my car racing skills competing there. It is a really challenging track and even though we use the 1.2 mile Indy circuit that has just 5 corners, every one of them has a unique challenge. Paddock Hill Bend is one of the most impressive corners in the world and, as I was reminded while doing a piece of filming with CNN on Thursday morning, you can only appreciate how steep it is by walking down it. Brands doesn’t benefit from the modern trend of vast tarmac run off areas so you really have to take a calculated risk with regards to how hard to push. I ended up in the tyre wall at Druids in qualifying in 2008 after a small mistake under braking, and so have many others; this track really does pose one of the hardest challenges for the drivers of the whole year.
One other perk of racing in the UK is that I don’t have to wait around at an airport and get on a plane. So Thursday morning I jumped in to my car and started the relatively short 1.5 hour drive down to Kent. Being my home race I had a few PR events to do, so the normally very quiet set up day was a more hectic affair. The majority was a piece of filming with Don Riddle from CNN which will be aired soon; more proof that the DTM is growing in stature.
In the afternoon it was back to the usual meetings with the engineers and a track inspection on the scooter. After the encouraging race speed at the Nürburgring, everyone was very motivated for this weekend’s race.
Once the work was done I ventured down to the outer paddock and got myself set up in a rather nice motorhome supplied by Stingray RV. This would be my home for the weekend and it made a very nice change not having to travel out to a hotel and back every day.
Friday morning was cold but it soon warmed up and by midday was quite hot – much to the surprise of most of the paddock that seem to think it always rains here in England!
The first test was completely dry and we did a lot of good work on the race setup. The car felt good from the start and towards the end of the session I completed a long run of 55 laps. As it is such a short lap, we have a race distance of 98 laps and keeping up your concentration for that long is very important around this tight and twisty circuit. Tyre wear is normally pretty high here so it’s important to get a good amount of laps on a set of tyres to see how they might wear in the race. The long run pace was good and I finished the 1st test of the weekend in 11th place just ahead of my team mate Bruno Spengler.
On Friday night we had the usual team get together and a selection of videos put together by Mercedes which revealed what the drivers had been up to in the summer break. Most of us went to Stuttgart and Berlin for two separate events with Mercedes, where we showcased the DTM car and Mercedes road cars by giving lucky fans taxi rides around a makeshift circuit at the old Berlin Tempelhof airport. My highlight was being taken round in a C63 AMG by Jamie Green who managed to get through a set of rear tyres in about two and a half laps, good effort!!
On Saturday morning we focused more on Qualifying set up and again the car felt good. I finished the second test in 2nd position just 0.009s behind team mate Ralf Schumacher. And with just 0.3s separating 1st and 15th position it was going to be a tough Qualifying session.
Q1 was brought to an abrupt end when Felipe Albuquerque buried his car in the gravel at Druids. I had just started a timed lap as the red flag came out and returned to the pits. As the session had been prematurely stopped, all cars progressed through to Q2. Q2 was a good session and I set the second fastest time again just behind Schumacher.
As always, with just one set of tyres allowed in Q3 we all waited in the pits until the later part of the session hoping to get the best of the track conditions. I didn’t manage as good a time as I did in Q2 but it was enough for P4 and a place in the top four shoot-out.
In Q4, I was the first out and I did a pretty good lap but I certainly could have gone a bit faster. Mike Rockenfeller was second out and he beat my time by 0.2s with a great lap. Martin Tomczyk and Jamie Green both set times that were just slower than mine and I would line up on the front row of the grid for the second time this year and the first time here at my home race.
On Saturday evening we had the very entertaining David Coulthard hosting the evening dinner which as always was good fun especially when DC is asking the questions! Then it was back to the motorhome for a good night’s sleep before the race on Sunday.
The warm up on Sunday went well and the car was feeling good. I finished the dry session in 1st place again, with just hundredths of a second separating the drivers in the top seven positions. Just before the race we were thrown a bit of a curve ball. The heavens opened and what started as light drizzle soon turned into a downpour. This was going to be the first time I had ever driven a DTM car in the wet around here, as it would be for most of the drivers. We usually go well in these conditions so I was still confident of a good chance at winning the race.
We completed two formation laps to get some heat into the tyres and then lined up on the grid. As I arrived on the grid, the windscreen wiper stopped working and the screen also started to mist up because of the hot air inside the car. The lights went out and I got an average start. Mattias Ekstrom got ahead into turn 1 and heading up to Druids I had nearly no visibility and was struggling to judge braking points which allowed Tomczyk and Mortara to get past over the next lap.
The screen started to clear with the cool air flow but the wiper was finished for the day. Visibility was still poor but I could finally see where I was going and set about closing the gap to the four Audis in front of me who had got away because of my problems. I managed to stabilise the gap but was really struggling with grip on the wet track and they started to edge away. After 20 or so laps Rockenfeller had slipped down to 4th and I started to reel him in. By lap 40 I was right with him and trying to find a way past with Schumacher closing on me. Rockenfeller made his first pit stop on lap 43 and I stayed out to try and get the advantage of a clear track. I pitted two laps later on lap 45 and came out right in front of him. I held him off while I got my tyres up to temperature and behind me Rockenfeller and Schumacher touched and Rockenfeller spun out, losing a lot of time.
My second set of tyres felt much better and I started to pull away from Schumacher and close in on 3rd place Mortara. Mortara and I pitted on laps 71 and 70 respectively. I was lapping about half a second a lap faster than him for about 10 laps and closing the gap down to under three seconds but then my tyres started to go off and the gap stopped closing. I finished the race in 4th position just 2.4s behind 3rd and 6s in front of Schumacher who I had been racing in the early laps.
It was a disappointing result after qualifying on the front row as I had expected to be on the podium at least, but I was the fastest Mercedes driver and the Audi guys just did a better job of setting the cars up for the conditions.
Generally I leave Brands Hatch very happy. I led the Mercedes charge in Qualifying and race and hope I can take this speed on to the last three races of the year and secure a couple of podium finishes.
The next race is at the Motopark Oschersleben circuit near Magdeberg, a circuit where I have won in a new and old car in 2005 and 2007 so I am looking forward to challenging for a win again in 2011.
Gary
Follow Gary on Twitter @garypaffett
