Bruno Spengler moved his BMW Team Schnitzer M3 DTM up from eighteenth on the grid to finish sixth in the DTM race on the Zandvoort circuit in the Netherlands, salvaging a difficult weekend for the BMW teams. Two more BMW racers finished in the top ten; Dirk Werner and Augusto Farfus were eighth and ninth.
Audi’s Edoardo Mortara won the race, which was punctuated by rain and two safety car periods. Audi took the top five grid positions and swept the podium.
Defending DTM champion Martin Tomcyzk, who was engaged in a battle for third with Gary Paffett’s Mercedes and Mattias Ekstrom’s Audi, collided with Paffett during the rainy period in the race. Tomczyk, who retired his M3 DTM as a result of the incident, was later given a five-position grid penalty for the next race. Paffett, the series points leader, was able to continue. He worked his way up to seventh at the end of the race, retaining his points lead, ahead of his teammate Jamie Green and BMW’s Spengler.
Andy Priaulx and Joey Hand finished thirteenth and fourteenth. Priaulx’s car was slowed by damage suffered early in the race, and Hand was set back when his crew changed his car to rain tires late in the race, but had to bring him back in when the rain did not come.
The series returns to Germany for a race in Oschersleben on September 16.—Brian S. Morgan
