Audi clinch double victory at Zandvoort
Date: Sunday, September 05, 2004 @ 16:42:10 BST
Author: audioc
Topic: Audi in Motorsport
In front of a record turnout of 73,000 spectators Audi celebrated their second one-two victory in a row in the DTM. Having clinched his third victory in the season, Audi driver Mattias Ekström took another step towards winning the DTM title this year. With two races remaining, the Swede in his Audi A4 DTM now has a 13-point lead.

At Zandvoort, Ekström was the dominant driver: having gone into the race from pole and having pulled off a perfect start, he took the lead right away. The Swede was setting the pace at the front of the field until the race was stopped due to a crash and restarted later. Following the restart, the Audi driver mastered the decisive ten-lap sprint with a superior performance as well, clinching a start-finish victory.

Martin Tomczyk - having worked his way up from fourth to second place after the start - was the second driver to lock in Audi's 1-2 victory at Zandvoort. Tom Kristensen finished sixth, although a spin that was no fault of his own had caused him to fall behind considerably. Emanuele Pirro - finishing seventh - scored points, too, and Frank Biela barely missed scoring a point. Christian Abt in his Audi A4 DTM was also fighting at the front of the field, but had to retire early because his fire extinguisher went off during the second pit stop.

Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt / Audi A4 DTM #5)
1st place
"The toughest thing today was the race being stopped. A new start always harbours a new risk, but everything went perfectly. I made no mistakes, and - as always - the pit crew did a fantastic job. The only critical thing was the first lap after the second start: my tyres were dirty, that's why things got really tight in the first turn. Today means a major step towards the Championship title, thanks - also - to Martin, whose second place-finish took valuable points away from those chasing me."

Martin Tomczyk (Audi Sport Team Abt / Audi A4 DTM #6)
2nd place, + 0.805s
"This was a thrilling race with a happy ending. Everything was running perfectly. I had a good start and was able to work my way up quickly from fourth to second place. I was able to keep this position after the restart as well. In that respect, the last ten laps were relatively easy. The important thing was that in the first part of the race I was able to overtake Bernd Schneider right after his second pit stop. The fighting was very tight but very fair as well. All the more delighted I am about this fantastic result."

Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): "Today truly put everyone's nerves to the test, and our boys kept cool. Mattias rendered another absolutely brilliant performance, and the whole squad did a super job. All I can say is, I'm simply happy."


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