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DTM - Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
England - Brands Hatch - Race Report - 20/5/12

Gary Paffett lifts the trophy at Brands Hatch

On a cloudy but dry day, the DTM cars lined up on the grid at Brands Hatch for the third race of the 2012 season. Making an all Mercedes front row were Britain's Gary Paffett in the Thomas Sabo car and 23 year old German Christian Vietoris. Behind them were Canadian Bruno Spengler in the BMW Bank M3 and Germany's Mike Rockenfeller in the Schaeffler Audi A5. After last year's incredibly wet race, the forecast was good for a dry race at the Kent circuit.

Off the line it was Paffett first into Paddock Hill followed by Bruno Spengler with German Mike Rockenfeller's Schaeffler Audi A5 third and Filipe Albuquerque in the TV Movie Audi A5 fourth. Mattias Ekström was down in 6th, but Jamie Green was the biggest loser with a terrible start, slipping back to 11th place in the early corners. At the end of the tenth lap the top four were holding station with defending champion Martin Tomczyk pushing hard in 5th ahead of Ekström. In a disappointing return to Brands Hatch, multiple touring car champion Andy Priaulx retired his Crowne Plaza Hotels BMW M3 on lap 14 with a broken front splitter.

As the race passed one quarter distance there was no change in the top 6. Behind them came Frenchman Adrien Tambay's Audi Ultra A5 and Augusto Farfus of Brazil in the Castrol Edge BMW M3. At this point we entered the pit stop window and the cars started to stream in. The top 3 all had fantastic stops and maintained position but with some of the slower cars staying out longer, the exact positions on track were somewhat distorted as we waited for normal order to be resumed.

At half distance, Paffett led from Spengler and Rockenfeller, with Edoardo Mortara in the Playboy Audi A5 4th and Miguel Molina in the Red Bull A5 5th. Behind these, the battle was fierce with places changing all of the time through the pit stops. As the race drew to a close and the pit stops ended, the field settled down again. At the flag it was a sensational home win for Mercedes' Gary Paffett in a race he led from start to finish. Bruno Spengler finished second for BMW and Mike Rockenfeller third for Audi.

In the DTM championship, Gary Paffett extends his lead with 68 points from Bruno Spengler on 43 and Mattias Ekström 3rd on 35, just one point ahead of Britain's Jamie Green on 34. The championship now moves on to the Red Bull Ring at Spielberg in Austria in 2 weeks time, the 3rd of June.

The champagne flows for race winner Gary Paffett

Susie Wolff flying the flag for Scotland

Bruno Spengler finished 2nd for BMW

Published 20 May 2012 by MJP Media

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