Bruno Spengler (Mercedes Classe C) lost the championship battle in Shanghai, while Gary Paffett took victory, and Paul Di Resta clinched the 2010 DTM title.
The Canadian driver Bruno Spengler, who was forced to start from 17th place on the grid after he hit the wall in qualifying, could only hope trouble would find Paul Di Resta and Gary Paffett, his championship rivals, during the race.
Spengler and his team gambled with two early pit stops in the beginning of the race, which could have paid in case of safety car. Unfortunately, no major incident occurred in race, and Spengler could not do better than 13th place at the finish.
That was obviously insufficient to take DTM crown at the end of the race, as Gary Paffett and Paul Di Resta secured 1-2 at the finish, which gave the 2010 title to the Scot, Di Resta. Gary Paffett even moved up to second in final championship standing after his win. Timo Scheider’s Audi took third place, and fourth position overall in the standing.
Bruno Spengler missed championship win after he led from the second round in Valencia, in May, until Hockenheim in October where he had his first retirement of the season (suspension failure). In the penultimate round in Adria, Spengler had managed to take the lead with a third place finish. The Canadian driver had a three points advantage before coming to Shanghai, but he lost everything when he hit the wall in qualifying.
“It’s hard, he told auto123.com. I did everything to move up today, the strategy of my team was excellent, and it could have paid with a safety car. But there were not major incident on the track, everyone stayed quite cautious after the accidents of yesterday.
“I would like to thank my mechanics, who are the heroes of the week-end. They have done miracles to fix my car yesterday after my crash in qualifying, and I wish I could offer them a better gift today, unfortunately it was not possible. I’m still glad that Mercedes has won the title this season since that was our goal this year.
“This is a difficult experience for me, but that's motor racing, and everything can happen. In qualifying, I made a small mistake while trying to take some tenths of seconds: I put a wheel off the line, and the car slid into the wall at 20 km/h. It could have ended a better way, but the damages were too important.
“We must now concentrate on next season. I'm sure that one gets stronger and twice as motivated after a season like this. See you in 2011.”
Shanghai – Race classification:
1 - Gary Paffett (Mercedes C Klasse 09) - HWA - 51'57"657 in 49 laps
2 - Paul Di Resta (Mercedes C Klasse 09) - HWA + 3"751
3 - Timo Scheider (Audi A4 09) - Abt + 4"212
4 - Martin Tomczyk (Audi A4 09) - Abt + 5"341
5 - Miguel Molina (Audi A4 08) - Abt + 16"306
6 - Jamie Green (Mercedes C Klasse 08) - HWA + 18"152
7 - Markus Winkelhock (Audi A4 08) - Rosberg + 19"469.
8 - David Coulthard (Mercedes C Klasse 08) - Mucke + 21"835
(…)
13 - Bruno Spengler (Mercedes C Klasse 09) - HWA + 36"120
Etc.
Championship (final):
1. Di Resta 71 points; 2. Paffett 67; 3. Spengler 66; 4. Scheider 53; 5. Ekström 35; 6. Green 32; 7. Rockenfeller 22; 8. Tomczyk 20; 9. Jarvis 18; 10. Molina 15, etc.
The Canadian driver Bruno Spengler, who was forced to start from 17th place on the grid after he hit the wall in qualifying, could only hope trouble would find Paul Di Resta and Gary Paffett, his championship rivals, during the race.
Spengler and his team gambled with two early pit stops in the beginning of the race, which could have paid in case of safety car. Unfortunately, no major incident occurred in race, and Spengler could not do better than 13th place at the finish.
That was obviously insufficient to take DTM crown at the end of the race, as Gary Paffett and Paul Di Resta secured 1-2 at the finish, which gave the 2010 title to the Scot, Di Resta. Gary Paffett even moved up to second in final championship standing after his win. Timo Scheider’s Audi took third place, and fourth position overall in the standing.
Bruno Spengler missed championship win after he led from the second round in Valencia, in May, until Hockenheim in October where he had his first retirement of the season (suspension failure). In the penultimate round in Adria, Spengler had managed to take the lead with a third place finish. The Canadian driver had a three points advantage before coming to Shanghai, but he lost everything when he hit the wall in qualifying.
“It’s hard, he told auto123.com. I did everything to move up today, the strategy of my team was excellent, and it could have paid with a safety car. But there were not major incident on the track, everyone stayed quite cautious after the accidents of yesterday.
“I would like to thank my mechanics, who are the heroes of the week-end. They have done miracles to fix my car yesterday after my crash in qualifying, and I wish I could offer them a better gift today, unfortunately it was not possible. I’m still glad that Mercedes has won the title this season since that was our goal this year.
“This is a difficult experience for me, but that's motor racing, and everything can happen. In qualifying, I made a small mistake while trying to take some tenths of seconds: I put a wheel off the line, and the car slid into the wall at 20 km/h. It could have ended a better way, but the damages were too important.
“We must now concentrate on next season. I'm sure that one gets stronger and twice as motivated after a season like this. See you in 2011.”
Shanghai – Race classification:
1 - Gary Paffett (Mercedes C Klasse 09) - HWA - 51'57"657 in 49 laps
2 - Paul Di Resta (Mercedes C Klasse 09) - HWA + 3"751
3 - Timo Scheider (Audi A4 09) - Abt + 4"212
4 - Martin Tomczyk (Audi A4 09) - Abt + 5"341
5 - Miguel Molina (Audi A4 08) - Abt + 16"306
6 - Jamie Green (Mercedes C Klasse 08) - HWA + 18"152
7 - Markus Winkelhock (Audi A4 08) - Rosberg + 19"469.
8 - David Coulthard (Mercedes C Klasse 08) - Mucke + 21"835
(…)
13 - Bruno Spengler (Mercedes C Klasse 09) - HWA + 36"120
Etc.
Championship (final):
1. Di Resta 71 points; 2. Paffett 67; 3. Spengler 66; 4. Scheider 53; 5. Ekström 35; 6. Green 32; 7. Rockenfeller 22; 8. Tomczyk 20; 9. Jarvis 18; 10. Molina 15, etc.