Mercedes-Benz's driver Bruno Spengler offers the readers of Auto123.com his views of the last DTM race, which was held at the Norisring on Sunday.
Hi everyone!
I'm off to Lausitzring to participate in two days of testing and, in the meantime, I'd like to share with you my experience at Norisring last weekend, where I went through all kinds of emotions on my way to second place.
I departed for Nuremberg on Thursday morning. That's three and a half hours away from my home in Strasbourg, France. In the afternoon, I beat some thirty other people from DTM in a golf tournament held by Dunlop! What a way to kick off the weekend! However, Mother Nature had already started to act up and, once again, we anticipated inclement weather conditions for the qualifying rounds and the race. Of course, that's exactly what happened…
As usual, despite the fact that there are no more free pratice sessions on Friday, we had our hands full with team meetings and various promotional events for Mercedes, especially in a place like Nuremberg. I was happy to be back on the Norisring, which I absolutely love. Like any road course, the atmosphere is quite particular, with legions of spectators sitting and standing right next to the drivers. After all, watching up close as the machines come within a hair of touching the concrete walls, with their engines resonating through nearby streets, makes for a spectacular show.
I've always posted good finishes at Norisring. In fact, I won my first race here in 2006 and I successfully defended my title in 2007 -- both times after starting from the pole. I think the course suits me well, with powerful accelerations and heavy braking. Plus, driving so fast and so close to the walls is a challenge that excites me. I really feel comfortable on this track. What's more, Mercedes-Benz has always brought competitive machines here, which explains our dominance over the past couple of years.
Late Friday afternoon, I hit the track for the traditional half-hour rollout session, but rain started to pour only 15 minutes in, completely flooding the tarmac and leaving major puddles right in the middle of the straightaway. I had to be careful for fear of aquaplaning. Afterwards, we decided to relax a little. I'm a huge tennis enthusiast (I regularly take part in tournaments), so I kicked back and watched live action from Wimbledon on TV.
On Saturday morning, I was back on the course for more open lapping. There was no rain this time around, although the session was disrupted by an incident which seemed a little trivial at first but could have had some serious consequences -- a manhole cover moved out of place, right on the straightaway that leads to the stands. It sent Katherine Legge's Audi literally flying and violently snatched the rear suspension of Markus Winkelhock's. This was getting extremely dangerous. The session was interrupted for nearly 90 minutes. Of course, we had to make significant adjustments to our test program.
After a short breakfast, it was time to prepare for qualifying. One lap here is completed in less than 50 seconds, so each tenth of a second lost can have disastrous impacts on a driver's starting position. Making matters even more difficult, another shower hit the course just 15 minutes prior to the session.
Hi everyone!
I'm off to Lausitzring to participate in two days of testing and, in the meantime, I'd like to share with you my experience at Norisring last weekend, where I went through all kinds of emotions on my way to second place.
 |
I departed for Nuremberg on Thursday morning. That's three and a half hours away from my home in Strasbourg, France. In the afternoon, I beat some thirty other people from DTM in a golf tournament held by Dunlop! What a way to kick off the weekend! However, Mother Nature had already started to act up and, once again, we anticipated inclement weather conditions for the qualifying rounds and the race. Of course, that's exactly what happened…
As usual, despite the fact that there are no more free pratice sessions on Friday, we had our hands full with team meetings and various promotional events for Mercedes, especially in a place like Nuremberg. I was happy to be back on the Norisring, which I absolutely love. Like any road course, the atmosphere is quite particular, with legions of spectators sitting and standing right next to the drivers. After all, watching up close as the machines come within a hair of touching the concrete walls, with their engines resonating through nearby streets, makes for a spectacular show.
I've always posted good finishes at Norisring. In fact, I won my first race here in 2006 and I successfully defended my title in 2007 -- both times after starting from the pole. I think the course suits me well, with powerful accelerations and heavy braking. Plus, driving so fast and so close to the walls is a challenge that excites me. I really feel comfortable on this track. What's more, Mercedes-Benz has always brought competitive machines here, which explains our dominance over the past couple of years.
Late Friday afternoon, I hit the track for the traditional half-hour rollout session, but rain started to pour only 15 minutes in, completely flooding the tarmac and leaving major puddles right in the middle of the straightaway. I had to be careful for fear of aquaplaning. Afterwards, we decided to relax a little. I'm a huge tennis enthusiast (I regularly take part in tournaments), so I kicked back and watched live action from Wimbledon on TV.
On Saturday morning, I was back on the course for more open lapping. There was no rain this time around, although the session was disrupted by an incident which seemed a little trivial at first but could have had some serious consequences -- a manhole cover moved out of place, right on the straightaway that leads to the stands. It sent Katherine Legge's Audi literally flying and violently snatched the rear suspension of Markus Winkelhock's. This was getting extremely dangerous. The session was interrupted for nearly 90 minutes. Of course, we had to make significant adjustments to our test program.
After a short breakfast, it was time to prepare for qualifying. One lap here is completed in less than 50 seconds, so each tenth of a second lost can have disastrous impacts on a driver's starting position. Making matters even more difficult, another shower hit the course just 15 minutes prior to the session.
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