17th April 2005
Mercedes-Benz Kicks Collective Audi and Opel Ass, Celebrates a
1-2-3 victory in DTM Season Opener.
The winner of the 2005 DTM seasons first round is Jean Alesi. For
the French Mercedes-Benz driver, todays victory represents his
second DTM triumph at the Hockenheimring as he also succeeded in
winning here, back in 2003. Following the turbulent race, the
former Formula One ace was accompanied on the podium by his
brand-mates, Gary Paffet (runner-up) and Bernd Schneider (third),
with reigning champion Christian Ekström (Audi A4 DTM) finishing
fifth behind his team-mate Christian Abt. While Marcel Fässler
(Vectra GTS V
, the best Opel driver, secured ninth
place.
Christian Abt had an extremely tough raceIn addition to the ten
points for winning the season opener, there will be an additional
reward Alesi and his brand-mates will have to cope with in the
forthcoming DTM round, at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz: ten kilos
ballast weight. From this season, all 2005 spec cars of the winning
brand will have to take this ballast weight aboard for the
following race. Whereas Opel as third placed make may reduce the
weight of its cars by ten kilos.
The season opener turned out to be exactly what the 116,000
spectators had hoped for, with the 20 drivers entertaining the
crowds with thrilling battles and great overtaking manoeuvres.
Following a first-corner pile-up, Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen
(both Audi A4 DTM) and Laurent Aiello (Opel Vectra GTS) had to
retire. In the course of the race, Gary Paffet, Marcel Fässler and
the reigning champion, Mattias Ekström, were involved in several
thrilling battles with one another. Whereas four-time DTM Champion
Bernd Schneider was penalised with a drive-thru penalty for a
jump-start, thus losing valuable seconds.
In his maiden DTM race, two-time Formula One World Champion Mika
Häkkinen secured eighth place and his first DTM point. Allan McNish
(Audi) came eleventh, and Opels Heinz-Harald Frentzen collided
with the AMG-Mercedes C-Class of DTM rookie Alexandros Margaritis.
Later in the race, the German spun and returned to the box to
retire.
The top-three positions in the overall rankings are held by three
Mercedes-Benz drivers: Jean Alesi (10 points), Gary Paffet
( and Bernd Schneider (6). Christian Abt was rewarded
with five championship points for his fifth place while Ekström had
to make do with four points.
