In his 44th DTM race, Mike Rockenfeller scored his long overdue maiden victory in his 44th DTM race.

Photos: DTM

For the first time in his career, Mike Rockenfeller (Audi) has succeeded in winning a DTM race. In the second season round of the most popular international touring car series at Zandvoort in The Netherlands, the German crossed the finish line as the winner after 41 laps at the 4.307 kilometres long track. Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz), who had started from pole position, ended up second, 1.4 seconds down. Another Audi driver, Martin Tomczyk, completed the podium.

Starting from third place on the grid, Rockenfeller showed an error-free race with a perfect pit stop strategy and crossed the finish line as the winner after 41 laps. “I am relieved. Hockenheim was very frustrating after a good qualifying and the poor race. Fortunately, we have found the problem and solved it. The result was a good qualifying and a great race. Today, the foundation was the start, plus two excellent stops and a good pace”, an overjoyed Rockenfeller said.

Points’ leader Bruno Spengler with the AMG Mercedes C-Class finished second in the first foreign round of the current DTM season. Spengler started from pole position, but lost his first place after the first of two mandatory pit stops. At the finish, he just stayed ahead of third-placed Martin Tomczyk with his Audi A4 DTM in a fascinating battle. “Unfortunately, we have given victory away. Up to the first stop, the pace was good and I was able to pull clear from Mike. After the stop, however, Mike was ahead of me and wasn’t able to follow him anymore. Nevertheless, it isn’t a bad day. Finishing second at Zandvoort is something I haven’t achieved so far”, said Spengler, who won the season opener at Hockenheim and was able to extend his points’ lead in the overall standings.

In third place, Martin Tomczyk became the best-placed driver of a 2008-spec car and thrilled the spectators with spirited attacks and overtaking manoeuvres. His efforts were rewarded. In the points’ standings, he is currently third behind Rockenfeller. British driver Jamie Green lost his second place at the start and was also overtaken by Tomczyk during the race. The Mercedes-Benz driver finished fourth ahead of two times’ DTM champion Timo Scheider (Audi). Audi driver Edoardo Mortara from Italy already scored his first-ever championship points by finishing sixth in his second race. He was followed by Maro Engel (Mercedes-Benz) and Mattias Ekström with the Audi A4 DTM. The Swede started 16th and still scored one point by finishing eighth.

The third DTM race weekend of the year takes place at Spielberg in Austria from June 3rd till 5th.