2001 Zandvoort Feature Race

2001 Zandvoort Feature Race
The Circuit Park Zandvoort debuted in the DTM in 2001.
Race Information
Date	23 September 2001
No.	34
Event	Rundstreckenrennen Zandvoort 2001
Location	Circuit Park Zandvoort Zandvoort, North Holland, Netherlands
Format	100 km / 40 min (Feature Race)
Lap length	4.307 km (2.676 mi)
Distance	24 laps / 103.368 km (64.230 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	{{{{{natp}}}}} Unknown
Team	{{{{{natpt}}}}} Unknown
Time	Unknown
Fastest Lap
Driver	Christian Abt
Team	Team Abt Sportsline
Time	1:38.820 on lap 18
Race Result
First	Second	Third
Uwe Alzen	Christian Abt	Bernd Schneider
Winner Team	Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes
Time	43:57.311
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2001 Zandvoort Qualifying Race		2001 Hockenheim Finale Qualifying Race

The 2001 Zandvoort Feature Race, otherwise formally known as the Rundstreckenrennen Zandvoort 2001 Feature Race, was the eighteenth race of the 2001 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged at the Circuit Park Zandvoort in Zandvoort, North Holland, Netherlands on 23 September 2001. The race would see Uwe Alzen sweep to victory ahead of Christian Abt, after a late duel that saw the pair run to the chequered flag side-by-side.

After winning the Qualifying Race it was Abt who started from pole position, and duly sprinted clear at the start to claim the lead. Behind, Mattias Ekström was forced to defend heavily from Peter Dumbreck before the field entered Tarzanbocht, with the Brit having to back off to conform to the overtaking ban the first corner.

Further around the opening tour Abt would throw away the majority of his lead, running wide and almost tipping himself into a spin. Yet, with Ekström opting not to attack the German retained the lead, with Ekström instead coming under attack from Dumbreck once again.

After that the race settled down, with Dumbreck slipping off the back of Ekström after a lunge around the outside of Tarzan was resisted by the Swede. Bernd Schneider, meanwhile, had been busy, leaping onto the back of Alzen for eighth, before the Safety Car was called at the end of lap three.

The cause was a collision between Peter Mamerow and Martin Tomczyk, with the latter having spun off, before being struck by the former when attempting to rejoin. Terminal damage to both cars left them stuck in the middle of the track, with the marshals needing five laps to clear the circuit.

The race resumed with Abt again sprinting clear of Ekström on lap nine, with the pitstop window coming into effect at the end of that lap. Dumbreck duly led a bunch of cars including Laurent Aïello into the pits, before the #2 Mercedes and the #19 Abt-Audi collided in the pitlane as they rejoined.

As that was going on Ekström slid off track, before Dumbreck and Aïello came to more physical blows which damaged the Frenchman's car. The #19 Audi duly shot off the circuit due to the damage was beached in the gravel, as more incidents saw Alain Menu spin and Christijan Albers hit the tyre barriers at turn three.

Amid that chaos the rest of the field made their stops, with Abt retaining a healthy lead ahead of Dumbreck, who was now harassed by Alzen and Schneider. Alzen eventually forced his way through to secure second, before sprinting off to hunt down Abt as the race entered its final phase.

Alzen steadily reeled in the #18 Abt-Audi, and had moved to within striking distance with a couple of laps to go. The #5 Mercedes subsequently went on the offensive and launched a series of moves, all of which were resisted, until finally elbowing his way past at the final chicane on the final tour.

Yet, Abt would try and hold on, even nudging the back of the #5 Mercedes as Alzen moved through, although Alzen had the momentum through the final corner to claim victory. Abt was a frustrated second, and punted the back of Alzen after they crossed the finish line as Alzen hit the brakes, while Schneider secured third. Patrick Huisman was next up ahead of Marcel Fässler, Timo Scheider, Dumbreck, Darren Turner, David Saelens and Michael Bartels.

Background

Bernd Schneider had already secured the Championship title ahead of the trip to Zandvoort, and had failed to add to his tally in the Qualifying Race. The fight for second hence took priority, with Peter Dumbreck having been the only driver in that battle to have scored. He therefore moved to within nine points of second placed Uwe Alzen, with third placed Laurent Aïello and fifth placed Marcel Fässler having failed to score.

In the Teams' Championship D2 AMG-Mercedes had inched closer to the crown, with Dumbreck's point putting them on 205 for the campaign. That left them 68 points clear of Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes ahead of the Zandvoort Feature, meaning they needed just one of their drivers to finish in the top five to claim the title. Behind, Abt Sportsline had inched away from Eschmann AMG-Mercedes in the fight for third, with no changes to the rest of the field.

Entry List

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

2001 Zandvoort 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 Zandvoort Feature Race was based on the results from the 2001 Zandvoort Qualifying Race:

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

• * Mayländer and Winkelhock were unable to start due to damage sustained in the Qualifying Race.

Race

Results

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

2001 Zandvoort Feature Race Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	5	Uwe Alzen	Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes	24	43:57.311		20
2nd	18	Christian Abt	Abt Sportsline	24	+0.322s	1:38.820	15
3rd	1	Bernd Schneider	D2 AMG-Mercedes	24	+0.681s		12
4th	10	Patrick Huisman	Eschmann AMG-Mercedes	24	+2.290s		10
5th	6	Marcel Fässler	Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes	24	+12.177s		8
6th	4	Timo Scheider	OPC Team Holzer I	24	+17.513s		6
7th	2	Peter Dumbreck	D2 AMG-Mercedes	24	+20.543s		4
8th	42	Darren Turner	Service 24h AMG-Mercedes	24	+20.933s		3
9th	24	David Saelens	Service 24h AMG-Mercedes	24	+21.559s		2
10th	11	Michael Bartels	OPC Team Holzer II	24	+25.159s		1
11th	16	Alain Menu	OPC Euroteam	24	+33.627s
12th	14	Thomas Jäger	Original Telie AMG-Mercedes	24	+44.500s
13th	7	Manuel Reuter	OPC Team Phoenix	24	+46.422s
14th	8	Yves Olivier	OPC Team Phoenix	24	+50.181s
15th	17	Hubert Haupt	OPC Euroteam	24	+1:06.788
Ret	15	Christijan Albers	Original Telie AMG-Mercedes	10	Damage
Ret	22	Mattias Ekström	Abt Sportsline Junior	9	Damage
Ret	19	Laurent Aïello	Abt Sportsline	8	Spin
Ret	23	Martin Tomczyk	Abt Sportsline Junior	2	Collision
Ret	20	Peter Mamerow	Opel Team Mamerow	2	Collision
DNS	9	Bernd Mayländer	Eschmann AMG-Mercedes
DNS	3	Joachim Winkelhock	OPC Team Holzer I
Source:

• Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
• Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.

Milestones

• HWA Team declared as the 2001 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship for Teams Champions.
  • This was their second Championship title as an entrant.
• Uwe Alzen secured his sixth victory.
• 21st victory for HWA Team as an entrant.
  • Mercedes registered their 21st win as a manufacturer.

Standings

Bernd Schneider had enhanced his title winning advantage as the penultimate race weekend came to a conclusion, moving onto 149 points for the season. Uwe Alzen, meanwhile, almost secured second place, needing just two points in Hockenheim to secure the runner-up spot. Furthermore, Laurent Aïello was the only man who could deny him at the finale, although the Frenchman was only three ahead of Peter Dumbreck in fourth.

The Teams' Championship was also over with a round to spare, with D2 AMG-Mercedes having claimed an unbeatable tally of 221 points over the nine completed rounds. Sister squad Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes would hence have to settle for second, arriving at the finale with 165 points to their credit, meaning it was the fight for third that would take precedence in Hockenheim. Abt Sportsline headed that fight on 104, meaning they had a twelve point advantage over Eschmann AMG-Mercedes in fourth.

2001 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Bernd Schneider 149 ◄0 2nd Uwe Alzen 97 ◄0 3rd Laurent Aïello 75 ◄0 4th Peter Dumbreck 72 ◄0 5th Marcel Fässler 68 ◄0 6th Patrick Huisman 60 ◄0 7th Thomas Jäger 42 ◄0 8th Mattias Ekström 32 ◄0 9th Christian Abt 29 ▲4 10th Marcel Tiemann 26 ▼1 11th Manuel Reuter 25 ▼1 12th Martin Tomczyk 23 ▼1 13th Christijan Albers 17 ▼1 14th Joachim Winkelhock 12 ◄0 15th Pedro Lamy 12 ◄0 16th Darren Turner 12 ◄0 17th Michael Bartels 8 ◄0 18th Timo Scheider 7 ▲4 19th Bernd Mayländer 6 ▼1 20th Hubert Haupt 4 ▼1 21st David Saelens 4 ▼1 22nd Yves Olivier 3 ▼2 23rd Alain Menu 0 ◄0 24th Peter Mamerow 0 ◄0 25th Kris Nissen 0 ◄0

2001 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st D2 AMG-Mercedes 221 ◄0 2nd Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes 165 ◄0 3rd Abt Sportsline 104 ◄0 4th Eschmann AMG-Mercedes 92 ◄0 5th Original Teile AMG-Mercedes 59 ◄0 6th Abt Sportsline Junior 55 ◄0 7th OPC Team Phoenix 28 ◄0 8th Service 24h AMG-Mercedes 28 ◄0 9th OPC Team Holzer I 19 ◄0 10th OPC Team Holzer II 8 ◄0 9th OPC Euroteam 4 ◄0 12th Opel Team Mamerow 0 ◄0

References

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