DTM Takes on Challenge in Munich Olympic Stadium

The DTM race at the Olympic Stadium in Munich has become a unique round in motorsport. The series basically takes a break for a weekend to celebrate its fans. Instead of having a full race, the teams hold two events. This is just the second year that the DTM is running the event. No championship points are awarded for the event.

The first is on Saturday. The drivers qualify two at a time. The fastest four drivers from each manufacturer, 12 in total, move on to the next round. Then the manufacturers assign those drivers into two car teams. The event is held like a relay race. There are six laps total. As the third lap finishes, the drivers pull in, and the other driver takes off for three laps. The winning team moves on to the next round. Because there are six teams and three rounds, there are not enough teams to fill out the half final. Therefore, if one manufacturer was not fast enough to move on to the half final, then its car will move to the second round. If all of the manufacturers are in, then that spot will go to the fastest losing team. It is quite a spectacle.

On Sunday, there will be an individual tournament for all of the drivers. It is similar to the race of champions.

Here is the course layout

© photo by DTM, licence: Attribution

The stadium course is split into two identical 614m long sections, and the course if different from last year. The course is relatively simple this year, though. There is a central straight with corners on either hand. On one side, the corner has two different radii and on the other end there is a single radius. 

Below are the results for the qualifying for the Saturday round:

1. Jamie Green - Roberto Merhi: Jamie Green won the round. 

2. Susie Wolff - Gary Paffett: Wolff won the opening sprint, but it did not matter. Paffett had a one-car lead after the first half lap and just extended it from there. 

3. Ralf Schumacher - David Coulthard: Schumacher won handily for the entire round. He was several seconds faster than Coulthard. Schumacher was 3.415 seconds faster than Coulthard. 

4. Christian Vietoris - Robert Wickens: Vietoris has a car length after the first two circuits. Vietoris won by 1.4 seconds. 

5. Timo Scheider - Miguel Molina: Scheider won by a tenth of a second

6. Filipe Albuquerque - Edoardo Mortara: The two were neck and neck through the second lap, but Mortara pulled out a larger lead by the third round. He won by 0.8 of a second. 

7. Adrien Tambay - Mike Rockenfeller: Tambay by half a length in the first lap and extending it to a full length by the second. Tambay won by a second. 

8. Mattias Ekström - Rahel Frey: Ekström dominated. Even through the first round he had several lengths on Frey. He won by over two seconds. 

9. Augusto Farfus - Andy Priaulx: It was close in the first round with Farfus in a slight lead but Prialux took in back in the next. He held it by about a car length in the next, but Farfus got it back in the next. Farfus took a huge win by winning by two seconds. 

10. Martin Tomczyk - Joey Hand: Hand had a half a length by the second lap and pulled it out to a half a second by the third. Hand won by 2.5 seconds. 

11. Bruno Spengler - Dirk Werner: The two were close with Spengler taking a slight lead. Spengler had a 1.5 second lead with 3/4 done and won by 2.3 seconds. 

Quarter Finals:

1. BMWBMW M3 DTMGermany, 2012 > present4 photos
1 video
Augusto Farfus - Bruno Spengler/ AudiAudi A5 DTMGermany, 2012 > present12 photos
Adrien Tambay - Timo Scheider: Farfus did not pull in to exchange with the teammate knocking the team out the tournament. Tambay and Scheider won by default. 

2.Audi Mattais Ekström - Miguel Molina/ MercedesMercedes-Benz DTM ChallengerGermany, 2011 > present2 photos
Jamie Green - Ralf Schumacher: Schumacher and Molina start. Molina won the sprint, but Schumacher had a 1.5 second lead on the second lap. That gave Green a major 2.3-second lead. Green pulled out the lead to 3 seconds and won by over 4 seconds. 

3. BMW Joey Hand - Dirk Werner / Mercedes Christian Vietoris - Gary Paffett: Paffett was in the lead 0.8 seconds through the first lap and extended it to 1.2 seconds in the second lap. BMW has a 1.2 second deficit to make back, but was unable to. Vietoris won by 2.7 seconds. 

Half Final:

One small change to the half final was that two laps were added. It was now an 8-lap race with the change happening on the 4th lap. 

4. Mercedes Gary Paffett - Christian Vietoris / Mercedes Ralf Schumacher - Jamie Green: Green and Schumacher move on to the finals. Schumacher had a strong start over Paffett, and Green was able to keep the lead beating Vietoris by about 0.8 seconds. 

5. Audi Timo Scheider - Adrien Tambay / BMW Joey Hand - Dirk Werner: Scheider had a 1.3 second lead over Werner at the end of the second lap, but Werner was gaining. There was only a 0.7 second difference at the change. Hand was not able to beat the Audi lead. The final gap was 0.8 of a second between Hand and Tambay. Tambay took the win. 

Third Place:

6. Mercedes Gary Paffett - Christian Vietoris / BMW Joey Hand - Dirk Werner: Scheider: These teams are competing to decide who will be third place. The set-up is the same as in the half final with a total of 8 laps, four for each driver.

Paffett and Werner started. They were neck and neck in the first lap and again in the second. The distance between them was 0.059 seconds. Paffett pulled a 0.5 second lead on the third lap, and Werner cut the lead to 0.3 seconds in the last of his laps. Hand got a poor start. He was about 1.3 seconds slower than Vietoris on his first lap. Hand cut that nearly in half to 0.8 seconds in the next lap. In the end Vietoris won by 0.7 seconds. That puts Paffett and Vietoris in third place. This was by far the closest and the best race of the day to this point.

Final:

The final will be a Mercedes and Audi race between Ralf Schumacher and Jamie Green for Mercedes and Timo Scheider and Adrien Tambay in the Audi.

The setup was changed once again for the final to 12 laps. The drivers would do three laps, then change. That meant there would be two changes in the round, and each driver would get six laps.

7. Mercedes Ralf Schumacher - Jamie Green / Audi Timo Scheider - Adrien Tambay: Schumacher and Scheider start. The first lap was close with Schumacher in the lead. Schumacher was barely ahead at the first change. Jamie Green was clearly ahead on his first lap. Green was ahead by 0.6 in the next lap. Schumacher had the better start at the change. He had a 0.5 seconds lead in the first lap and the same in the second lap. The lead was down to 0.3 at the final change and stayed that way in the first lap and the second. Tambay got the difference down to 0.25 at the end, but it was not enough. Mercedes won.

Check back tomorrow, and we will be covering the individual races from Munich.