Mixed feelings for Audi after Race 1 in Hockenheim

Audi Sport went back to their winning ways today in Hockenheim, host of the final round of the 2015 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season. Two-time champion Timo Scheider clinched his first victory in over five years, with Jamie Green completing an Audi 1-2.

Team Phoenix’s Timo Scheider started the race from second place on the grid. After the safety car period, the German driver pushed and overtook BMW’s Maxime Martin for the lead. From then, Scheider was able to pull away, winning the race by a comfortable margin.

Timo Scheider was overjoyed to be back on the top step of the podium after such a long time: “To finally stand at the very top again after such a difficult season is a great feeling. I’m very happy about it, especially for my guys in Audi Sport Team Phoenix who, just like I, had to wait for a long time for this moment. Obviously, it’s a shame for Audi that we weren’t able to keep the title race open in the drivers’ classification.”

Jamie Green was second after also managing to overtake Martin. Mike Rockenfeller was fifth, with Edoardo Mortara having to retire after two collisions. Mattias Ekström was ninth after recovering from a collision in the early stages of the race. Unfortunately for the Swede, the result wasn’t enough to keep the fight for the championship open, as Mercedes’ Pascal Wehrlein finished ahead of him.

The joint result made Audi Sport the highest scoring manufacturer today, with a total of 55 points, overtaking Mercedes AMG in the classification and reducing the gap to BMW to just 56 points.

Dieter Gass, Head of DTM, was happy to see Timo Scheider winning again, but lamented his drivers lost the option to continue fighting for the title: “We had the strongest car in the field once more. I’m incredibly pleased that Timo has found the form again that made him a two-time DTM Champion. Jamie, as well, finally wasn’t unfortunate today and showed two strong overtaking maneuvers. Obviously, it’s disappointing that our two candidates for the title lost all their chances right at the beginning. We’d have liked to keep the Championship open for the fans until tomorrow. Now we’ve still got a small chance of winning the manufacturers’ classification like we did last year.”