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Mattias Ekström has claimed his third win in four races with another lights-to-flag display in his Audi to win the DTM Race of Valencia, heading home an Audi 1-2-3-4-5-6 that saw the carmaker’s own Martin Tomczyk claim the Drivers’ Championship, sealing the crown by finishing in third place.
Having secured a comfortable pole position yesterday, Ekström led from the get-go and quickly built himself an early lead over second-placed Filipe Albuquerque before the first of his two compulsory pit stops.
And as impressive as Ekström’s win was, it was also the performance of Albuquerque that was equally eye-catching, with the Portuguese driver showing that his qualifying pace was no fluke in the older-spec Audi en route to finishing a fine second. It was his first-ever DTM podium finish.
Tomczyk secured his championship crown – the first in the series’ history for a driver running an older-spec car – courtesy of an outstanding start from his tenth-placed grid slot.
He gained four placed in the opening lap, and then leapfrogged three drivers in his second pit stop to move into third place. And with Tomczyk merely needing to finish in the points in front his main championship rival Bruno Spengler, the championship crown was assured with Spengler’s run to seventh place.
Timo Scheider claimed fourth place off the back of a long first stint, with his pace on more worn tyres proving sufficient to vault ahead of the race’s early third- and fourth-placed runners, David Coulthard and Renger van der Zande.
Van der Zande and Coulthard actually finished fifth and sixth on the road respectively, but the pair was racing under appeal from their original top-four grid slots after their Mercedes cars were found to have failed post-qualifying scrutineering checks. Their results will not be formally classified unless their appeals to series’ officials are accepted.
As it stands, the points’ positions are therefore completed by the Audi pairing of Miguel Molina and Oliver Jarvis, while Spengler claimed seventh place on the last lap when he was let through by Jamie Green, who fell to tenth behind Gary Paffett and Mike Rockenfeller..
————————————————————————————————————-
2011 DTM Race of Valencia Final Classification (45 laps):
Driver | Entrant / Car | Result | |||
1. | Mattias Ekström | ![]() |
Abt Audi A4 DTM 2009 | ![]() |
1:10:45.452 |
2. | Filipe Albuquerque | ![]() |
Rosberg Audi A4 DTM 2008 | ![]() |
+ 18.103 |
3. | Martin Tomczyk | ![]() |
Phoenix Audi A4 DTM 2008 | ![]() |
+ 33.950 |
4. | Timo Scheider | ![]() |
Abt Audi A4 DTM 2009 | ![]() |
+ 34.346 |
DQ. | Renger van der Zande | ![]() |
Persson Mercedes C-Class 2008 | ![]() |
|
DQ. | David Coulthard | ![]() |
Mücke Mercedes C-Class 2008 | ![]() |
|
5. | Miguel Molina | ![]() |
Abt Audi A4 DTM 2008 | ![]() |
+ 39.788 |
6. | Oliver Jarvis | ![]() |
Abt Audi A4 DTM 2009 | ![]() |
+ 40.655 |
7. | Bruno Spengler | ![]() |
HWA Mercedes C-Class 2009 | ![]() |
+ 41.238 |
8. | Gary Paffett | ![]() |
HWA Mercedes C-Class 2009 | ![]() |
+ 41.791 |
9. | Mike Rockenfeller | ![]() |
Abt Audi A4 DTM 2009 | ![]() |
+ 44.671 |
10. | Jamie Green | ![]() |
HWA Mercedes C-Class 2009 | ![]() |
+ 45.971 |
11. | Susie Stoddart | ![]() |
Persson Mercedes C-Class 2008 | ![]() |
+ 49.720 |
12. | Christian Vietoris | ![]() |
Persson Mercedes C-Class 2008 | ![]() |
+ 50.736 |
13. | Ralf Schumacher | ![]() |
HWA Mercedes C-Class 2009 | ![]() |
+ 52.686 |
14. | Rahel Frey | ![]() |
Phoenix Audi A4 DTM 2008 | ![]() |
+ 1:02.877 |
15. | Maro Engel | ![]() |
Mücke Mercedes C-Class 2008 | ![]() |
+ 1:16.230 |
16. | Edoardo Mortara | ![]() |
Rosberg Audi A4 DTM 2008 | ![]() |
3 laps behind |
[Images via DTM official site]
Richard Bailey
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