2001 Spielberg Feature Race

2001 Spielberg Feature Race
The A1-Ring made its DTM debut in 2001.
Race Information
Date	9 September 2001
No.	32
Event	Rundstreckenrennen A1-Ring 2001
Location	A1-Ring Spielberg, Styria, Austria
Format	100 km / 40 min (Feature Race)
Lap length	4.326 km (2.688 mi)
Distance	24 laps / 103.824 km (64.513 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	{{{{{natp}}}}} Unknown
Team	{{{{{natpt}}}}} Unknown
Time	Unknown
Fastest Lap
Driver	Bernd Schneider
Team	D2 AMG-Mercedes
Time	1:28.639 on lap 17
Race Result
First	Second	Third
Bernd Schneider	Laurent Aïello	Uwe Alzen
Winner Team	D2 AMG-Mercedes
Time	41:31.417
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2001 Spielberg Qualifying Race		2001 Zandvoort Qualifying Race

The 2001 Spielberg Feature Race, formally known as the Rundstreckenrennen A1-Ring 2001 Feature Race, was the sixteenth race of the 2001 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged at the A1-Ring in Spielberg, Styria, Austria on 9 September 2001. The race would see Bernd Schneider sweep to victory and the Championship title with two rounds to spare, becoming the first driver in German touring car history to retain the crown.

Indeed, Schneider was having a perfect weekend in Austria, having already swept to a dominant victory in the Qualifying Race, and would hence start the Feature Race from pole. He duly converted pole position into an early lead, as teammate and title pretender Peter Dumbreck was spun around at the first corner while trying to challenge the German.

Dumbreck's accident was caused by a lunging Alain Menu, who tried to take both Dumbreck and Uwe Alzen at the first corner. The #2 Mercedes was spent spinning in front of the pack causing the rest of the field to scatter around him, with Alzen hitting him again, nose-first. Martin Tomczyk then smashed into the back of Alzen and half-spun, smashing into Bernd Mayländer on his way around, while Michael Bartels, Christijan Albers and Thomas Jäger also got involved.

With so much damage and debris on the circuit the Safety Car was scrambled, further depleting a field that had been reduced to eighteen starters after the chaos of the Qualifying battle. As a result just eleven cars would take the restart, with several carrying minor damage after the collisions ahead.

The restart saw Schneider sprint into the lead ahead of Laurent Aïello, while Marcel Fässler was in third. Behind, Joachim Winkelhock was slow to react and hence slipped back off the leaders, leaving him under fire for fourth from Manuel Reuter, while Alzen was under attack from Patrick Huisman.

Winkelhock made a mistake during the restart lap and slid off track at the penultimate corner, dumping him back behind Reuter, Alzen and Huisman as the latter passed Alzen. The #3 Opel would spend the rest of the race sliding back down the field, as out front Schneider made good his escape from Aïello to secure the lead.

Indeed, with such a thin field there was little change to the order through the stops, with Fässler the first man to stop on lap thirteen, while Aïello came in a lap later. Schneider made his stop on lap sixteen to hand the lead to Reuter, who would continue on until lap 22 before handing the lead back to Schneider.

With that the race was run, with Schneider cruising through the final laps to claim victory, fastest lap and the Championship title, and with a comfortable margin in all three. Aïello trailed him across the line, while Alzen recovered well after gambling on an early stop to claim third, with Reuter jumping to fourth after his long first stint. Huisman was next ahead of Fässler, Hubert Haupt, Yves Olivier, Winkelhock and Darren Turner, while Mattias Ekström retired in the closing stages to leave just ten finishers.

Background

Victory in the Qualifying race at the A1-Ring had enhanced Bernd Schneider's lead at the head of the hunt, moving him 50 clear of teammate Peter Dumbreck. That meant that victory for Schneider in the 2001 Spielberg Feature Race would guarantee him the title with four races to spare, regardless of where Dumbreck finished. The Brit, as well as fellow title pretenders Uwe Alzen and Laurent Aïello, would therefore have to outscore Schneider in the Spielberg Feature just to keep their title bids alive.

In the Teams' Championship D2 AMG-Mercedes had enhanced their lead in the title chase, having moved onto 184 points after their Qualifikationslauf one-two. That left them with a 65 point margin over sister squad Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes in second, while Eschmann AMG-Mercedes had slipped 110 points back in third. The latter were hence still mathematically in the title hunt, for their were still 115 points on offer, although both they and fourth placed Abt Sportsline would fall out of the hunt if they failed to score a one-two in the Spielberg Feature.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2001 Spielberg Feature Race is displayed below:

2001 Spielberg Feature Race Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Livery
1	Bernd Schneider	D2 AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	CLK-DTM 2001	File:BSC 01 Livery.png
2	Peter Dumbreck	D2 AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	CLK-DTM 2001	File:DUM 01 Livery.png
3	Joachim Winkelhock	Opel Team Holzer I	Opel	Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2001	File:WIN 01 Livery.png
4	Timo Scheider	Opel Team Holzer I	Opel	Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2001	File:TSC 01 Livery.png
5	Uwe Alzen	Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	CLK-DTM 2001	File:ALZ 01 Livery.png
6	Marcel Fässler	Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	CLK-DTM 2001	File:FAE 01 Livery.png
7	Manuel Reuter	Opel Team Phoenix	Opel	Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2001	File:REU 01 Livery.png
8	Yves Olivier	Opel Team Phoenix	Opel	Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2000	File:OLI 01 Livery.png
9	Bernd Mayländer	Eschmann AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	CLK-DTM 2001	File:MAY 01 Livery.png
10	Patrick Huisman	Eschmann AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	CLK-DTM 2001	File:HUI 01 Livery.png
11	Michael Bartels	Opel Team Holzer II	Opel	Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2001	File:BAR 01 Livery.png
14	Thomas Jäger	Original Teile AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	CLK-DTM 2000	File:JAE 01 Livery.png
15	Christijan Albers	Original Teile AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	CLK-DTM 2000	File:ALB 01 Livery.png
16	Alain Menu	OPC Euroteam	Opel	Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2000	File:MEN 01 Livery.png
17	Hubert Haupt	OPC Euroteam	Opel	Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2000	File:HAU 01 Livery.png
18	Christian Abt	Team Abt Sportsline	Abt-Audi	TT-R 2001	File:ABT 01 Livery.png
19	Laurent Aïello	Team Abt Sportsline	Abt-Audi	TT-R 2001	File:AIE 01 Livery.png
20	Peter Mamerow	Mamerow Racing Team	Opel	Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2000	File:MAM 01 Livery.png
22	Mattias Ekström	Team Abt Sportsline Junior	Abt-Audi	TT-R 2001	File:EKS 01 Livery.png
23	Martin Tomczyk	Team Abt Sportsline Junior	Abt-Audi	TT-R 2001	File:TOM 01 Livery.png
24	David Saelens	Service 24h AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	CLK-DTM 2000	File:SAE 01 Livery.png
42	Darren Turner	Service 24h AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	CLK-DTM 2000	File:TUR 01 Livery.png
Source:

Grid

The grid for the 2001 Spielberg Feature Race was based on the results from the 2001 Spielberg Qualifying Race:

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
	______________
Row 1	1	______________
	Bernd Schneider	2
	______________	Peter Dumbreck
Row 2	3	______________
	Uwe Alzen	4
	______________	Laurent Aïello
Row 3	5	______________
	Alain Menu	6
	______________	Martin Tomczyk
Row 4	7	______________
	Marcel Fässler	8
	______________	Michael Bartels
Row 5	9	______________
	Bernd Mayländer	10
	______________	David Saelens
Row 6	11	______________
	Christijan Albers	12
	______________	Patrick Huisman
Row 7	13	______________
	Manuel Reuter	14
	______________	Darren Turner
Row 8	15	______________
	Yves Olivier	16
	______________	Joachim Winkelhock
Row 9	17	______________
	Hubert Haupt	18
	______________	Mattias Ekström
Row 10	19	______________
	Christian Abt*	20
	______________	Peter Mamerow*
Row 11	21	______________
	Timo Scheider*	22
	______________	Thomas Jäger*

• * Abt, Mamerow, Scheider and Jäger were unable to start the race due to damage sustained during the Qualifying Race.

Race

Results

The final classification of the 2001 Spielberg Feature Race is displayed below:

2001 Spielberg Feature Race Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	1	Bernd Schneider	D2 AMG-Mercedes	24	41:31.417	1:28.639	20
2nd	19	Laurent Aïello	Abt Sportsline	24	+8.371s		15
3rd	5	Uwe Alzen	Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes	24	+20.362s		12
4th	7	Manuel Reuter	OPC Team Phoenix	24	+23.241s		10
5th	10	Patrick Huisman	Eschmann AMG-Mercedes	24	+26.896s		8
6th	6	Marcel Fässler	Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes	24	+32.234s		6
7th	17	Hubert Haupt	OPC Euroteam	24	+38.175s		4
8th	8	Yves Olivier	OPC Team Phoenix	24	+40.174s		3
9th	3	Joachim Winkelhock	OPC Team Holzer I	23	+48.086s		2
10th	42	Darren Turner	Service 24h AMG-Mercedes	24	+1:10.301		1
11th*	22	Mattias Ekström	Abt Sportsline Junior	18	Retired
Ret	2	Peter Dumbreck	D2 AMG-Mercedes	2	Damage
Ret	16	Alain Menu	OPC Euroteam	1	Damage
Ret	11	Michael Bartels	OPC Team Holzer II	1	Damage
Ret	23	Martin Tomczyk	Abt Sportsline Junior	0	Collision
Ret	9	Bernd Mayländer	Eschmann AMG-Mercedes	0	Collision
Ret	24	David Saelens	Service 24h AMG-Mercedes	0	Collision
Ret	15	Christijan Albers	Original Teile AMG-Mercedes	0	Collision
DNS	18	Christian Abt	Abt Sportsline
DNS	20	Peter Mamerow	Opel Team Mamerow
DNS	4	Timo Scheider	OPC Team Holzer I
DNS	14	Thomas Jäger	Original Teile AMG-Mercedes
Source:

• Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
• Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
• * Ekström was still classified despite retiring as he had completed 75% of the race distance.

Milestones

• Bernd Schneider declared as the 2001 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship for Drivers Champion.
  • This was Schneider's second DTM title since the series reformed and third in total.
• Bernd Schneider secured his twelfth victory.
• Twentieth victory for HWA Team as an entrant.
  • Mercedes registered their twentieth win as a manufacturer.
• Hubert Haupt and Yves Olivier secured their maiden points finishes.

Standings

Victory for the sixth time in 2001 had ensured that Bernd Schneider had claimed the title with two rounds and four races to spare, having reached an unassailable tally of 137 in Austria. That had therefore left him 60 clear of second placed Uwe Alzen, while Laurent Aïello was a further two behind. Indeed, the fight for second was set to rumble through to the end of the season, with Peter Dumbreck also in contention having stayed within ten of Alzen.

In the Teams' Championship the title had yet to be decided, although it was going to go to one of the two HWA Team entries. Of those, it was near impossible for D2 AMG-Mercedes to not end the season as Champions, for they held a huge advantage of 67 points over Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes, with just 80 points left on offer. They would therefore get their first chance to claim the title in Zandvoort, while Warsteiner would likely need a set of one-two finishes and see D2 AMG fail to score just to keep the fight alive.

2001 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Bernd Schneider 137 ◄0 2nd Uwe Alzen 77 ▲1 3rd Laurent Aïello 75 ▲1 4th Peter Dumbreck 67 ▼2 5th Marcel Fässler 60 ◄0 6th Patrick Huisman 50 ◄0 7th Thomas Jäger 42 ◄0 8th Mattias Ekström 30 ◄0 9th Marcel Tiemann 26 ◄0 10th Manuel Reuter 25 ▲2 11th Martin Tomczyk 23 ▼1 12th Christijan Albers 17 ▼1 13th Joachim Winkelhock 12 ▲2 14th Pedro Lamy 12 ▼1 15th Christian Abt 11 ▼1 16th Darren Turner 9 ◄0 17th Michael Bartels 7 ◄0 18th Bernd Mayländer 6 ◄0 19th Hubert Haupt 4 ▲4 20th Yves Olivier 3 ▲2 21st David Saelens 2 ▼2 22nd Timo Scheider 1 ▼2 23rd Alain Menu 0 ▼2 24th Peter Mamerow 0 ◄0 25th Kris Nissen 0 ◄0

2001 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st D2 AMG-Mercedes 204 ◄0 2nd Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes 137 ◄0 3rd Abt Sportsline 86 ▲1 4th Eschmann AMG-Mercedes 82 ▼1 5th Original Teile AMG-Mercedes 59 ◄0 6th Abt Sportsline Junior 53 ◄0 7th OPC Team Phoenix 28 ▲1 8th Service 24h AMG-Mercedes 23 ▼1 9th OPC Team Holzer I 13 ◄0 10th OPC Team Holzer II 7 ◄0 9th OPC Euroteam 4 ◄0 12th Opel Team Mamerow 0 ◄0

References

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