The DTM has once again proven an exhilarating event and motorsports fans at Oschersleben has been able to witness an impressive display of driving prowess courtesy of Mike Rockenfeller who is Audi’s youngest factory driver at age 23. The clash between the 23 year old driver and Mika Hakkinen was heart-stopping but ended in Hakkinen’s favor when he clinched a podium position on the second last lap.



The winner of the season opener was Mattias Ekstrom who dropped to the rear of the field after incurring a drive-through penalty for a jump start but was able to regain seventh place and successfully defended his lead in the standings. The best-place driver of a 2007-spec Audi A4 DTM was Timo Scheider who finished ahead of Martin Tomczyk.



Audi Team in Valencia…
The Swiss Spirit Team was able to grab a podium result in the debut race of the Lola-Audi B07/10 in the Le Mans Series. For the 1000-kilometer race at Valencia, Spain the Swiss drivers Jean-Denis Deletraz, with Marcel Fassler and Iradj Alexander was able to obtain third place despite the damage tire. The LM P1-Lola of the Swiss team was equipped with the TFSI engine derived from the successful Audi R8.



Audi in Belgium…
For the Fourth Belgian Touring Car Series the drivers that have shown strong performance includes Jean-Francois Hemroulle and Tim Verbergt in the Audi A4 Silhouette. The Belgian Audi Club finished as runner-up despite a drive through penalty despite the fact that it has experienced gearbox problems days before the race proper. Thankfully no other problems were reported in terms of other parts like for instance on its VW timing parts.



Here are some results and points for the DTM:



Oschersleben (D), 6 May, DTM round 2



1 Gary Paffett (Mercedes) 44 laps in 1h 03m 30.763s

2 Paul di Resta (Mercedes) + 3.753s

3 Mike Rockenfeller (S line Audi A4 DTM) 15.044s

4 Timo Scheider (GW:plus/Top Service Audi A4 DTM) + 19.306s

5 Martin Tomczyk (Red Bull Audi A4 DTM) + 19.818s

…

7 Mattias Ekström (Red Bull Audi A4 DTM) + 22.808s

9 Adam Carroll (Audi A4 DTM) + 25.567s

10 Christian Abt (Playboy Audi A4 DTM) + 27.910s

12 Lucas Luhr (Philips Audi A4 DTM) + 32.443s

15 Marco Werner (Audi Bank Audi A4 DTM) + 45.648s

18 Frank Biela (Siemens Audi A4 DTM) - 2 laps

Positions after 2 of 10 rounds: 1 Ekström, 12 points; 2 Tomczyk and di Resta, each 12;

4 Paffett, 11; 5 Rockenfeller, 6.



Next race: EuroSpeedway Lausitz (D), 20 May



Valencia (E), 6 May, Le Mans Series round 2

1 Lamy/Sarrazin (Peugeot) 235 laps in 6h 01m 22.555s

2 Charouz/Mücke/Yoong (Lola-Judd) - 3 laps

3 Deletraz/Fässler/Alexander (Lola-Audi) - 4 laps

4 Barbosa/Hall/Short (Pescarolo-Judd) - 5 laps

5 Boullion/Dumas (Pescarolo-Judd) - 6 laps

Positions after 2 of 6 rounds: 1 Lamy and Sarrazin, each 16 points; 3 Boullion, 12;

4 Gene and Minassian, each 10; ... 8 Deletraz, Fässler and Alexander, each 6.