Round nine of the championship took us to Spain and the circuit of Valencia. Last year we raced here in the DTM for the first time but I know the circuit very well as it is regularly used as a winter testing venue for Formula 1 teams.

At last year’s race we struggled against the Audis in the hot conditions and this year we were determined to be more competitive. After two disappointing races for the team in the wet at Brands Hatch and Oschersleben the weather was forecast to be dry for the whole weekend and with temperatures rising to the high 20s for the weekend it was going to be hot.

The single biggest battle this weekend was for the Championship between my Mercedes team mate Bruno Spengler and Audi’s Martin Tomczyk. After Bruno’s retirement at Oschersleben he was now nine points behind Tomczyk with just two races to go. He had to beat Tomczyk this weekend to keep his hopes alive.

In the first 90 min test session on Friday I was determined to get on with things and due to the wet conditions at the last race all of the tyres I had to use were new as we have to carry over two sets from the previous race weekend.

I pushed hard from the very first lap and set a time of 1:31.811 which put me second fastest just 0.04 behind local hero Miguel Molina. The car balance felt good but the grip level was poor. It seemed that the new Hankook tyres for this season were not working well on the hot track surface at Valencia and as the session went on as the temperature rose it was impossible to get close to the times we had set at the start of the session. I finished the test in P2; 0.04 behind Molina and an unusually large gap of 0.2 seconds back to 3^rd placed Ekstrom. Championship contenders Spengler and Tomczyk finishing up 6^th and 10^th respectively and with the four works HWA Mercedes cars in the top six it was a good start to the weekend for the team.

In the second test on Saturday morning Molina continued his good form by topping the timesheets once again; setting a time 1.3 seconds quicker than he had the day before. I finished the session in 8^th position; just 0.1 seconds behind Bruno who was 0.3 back from the quickest. Tomczyk only managed a time quick enough for P11 but with Audis in the top 5 positions it seemed we were slipping back down the order a little. I was however happy with the car balance once again and we just seemed to be lacking overall grip in the hot temperatures. The four HWA cars were separated by just 0.2 of a second showing that we all had a similar speed in the car, but we just couldn’t match the times of the quickest Audi cars.

For Qualifying, the temperature went up even more and the track was getting very hot and slick.

In Q1 I set a really good time on my first run which put me 2^nd initially just behind the Audi of Albuquerque but I was knocked down to 3^rd by the end of the session; just beaten by Ekstrom on his second set of new tyres. A lot of drivers struggled and had to do a second run to get through to Q2. The session ended with Engel, Vietoris, Frey and Stoddart being knocked out. Coulthard and Van Der Zande just made it in to Q2 in 13^th and 14^th positions.

Q2 was cut short after Eduardo Mortara, who was looking pretty strong, put his Audi in the gravel on the exit of turn 12 which brought out the red flag. All cars would now progress through to Q3 to battle it out for the top four places to get into the Q4 pole position shoot out. I was half way through my fast lap when the flag came out so managed to save an extra bit of life on this set of tyres for the race tomorrow.

In Q3 you are only allowed to use one set of tyres and I made a few small mistakes on my fast lap and only managed a time fastest enough for P9. I was obviously very disappointed with the result after being 3^rd fastest in Q1 and having a well-balanced car I was just under one tenth of a second off 5^th placed Rockenfellar.

The rest of the Qualifying result was also a bit mixed showing that the track was proving to be difficult and inconsistent.

Ekstrom scored a dominant pole position with Albuquerque continuing his good form in P2. Van Der Zande and Coulthard who had just made it through to Q2 did a great job and finished up 3^rd and 4^th respectively.

I did finish up as best HWA 09 Mercedes with Schumacher, Green and Spengler in 10^th, 12^th, and 13^th positions. Martin Tomczyk had qualified in P11 just ahead of Spengler in the Championship fight.

On Sunday morning we did some setup work for the race to try and extend the life of the tyres as in the hot conditions they were having a tough time. We set pretty good lap times but still struggled to match the form of the Audis at the front of the field.

As we prepared for the race the temperature really increased. You would never think that it was the start of October. Standing on the grid pouring ice cold water over my head while sitting in the shade it felt a lot more like the middle of summer. With just over five mins to go I got in the car and prepared for what promised to be a hot and tough afternoon.

I got a good initial start but had to lift slightly to avoid Jarvis who had pulled over in my direction and by the time I had pulled across to the right Tomczyk had got alongside and just in front before turn one. I tried to go round the outside of him into turn two but I ran wide losing a place to Green in the process. On the run down to turn four Spengler had a look down the inside and I didn’t put up much of a fight allowing him to try and chase after Tomczyk. Just behind me was the Audi of Mortara.

As the race progressed there was little movement. The whole field was still closely packed and it wasn’t until the first round of pit stops that thing changed.

Jarvis and Mortara pitted at the earliest opportunity and made good use of their new tyres to make up places; Jarvis getting ahead of Green and Mortara getting a jump on both me and Bruno.

At the second round of stops Bruno managed to beat Mortara in the pit lane and on lap 30 I passed Mortara into turn two and then started to pull a gap while closing in on the back of Spengler once again.

While we were sitting in the lowly positions of 10^th and 11^th Tomczyk had managed to make his way up into 3^rd position with good speed and a good strategy. This was disastrous for Bruno’s Championship chances and with the race nearing its end only a mechanical failure for Tomczyk would save his chances.

There was no such failure and he came home in 3^rd place, taking the DTM title as well as the six points. The only other drama on the last lap was Jamie’s enthusiastic passing attempt on Jarvis into turn two which saw him lock up and run wide through the gravel losing thre places in the process.

Ekstrom romped home the winner 16 seconds clear of Albuquerque with Tomczyk 3^rd. I finished up in 10^th positions but was promoted to 8^th pending an outcome of an appeal by Coulthard and Van der Zande’s teams as the rear wings on their cars were found to be outside of the regulation measurements after Qualifying.  Although this would give me a point it would be a shame as they both deserved the 5^th and 6^th places in which they had finished.

So the 2011 DTM champion has been crowned and Martin Tomczyk really has done an amazing job this year. Relegated from a works car to a 2008 spec, no one expected him to be fighting for the Championship but with the 25kg weight advantage and some very consistent fast driving he has beaten all and become the first person to win the series in an older spec car. Well done!

With just one race to go in three weeks we are going back to where we started the season; the Hockenheimring where all drivers will be pushing to go into the winter break having won the last race and there is still the teams Championship up for grabs in which mine and Spengler’s team are currently in 2^nd position just five point behind the Audi Abt team of Ekstrom and Rockenfellar.

Follow Gary on Twitter @garypaffett 

Posted in DTM Top News
No Comments Yet Posted by Gary Paffett