2002 Donington Park Feature Race

2002 Donington Park Feature Race
Donington Park made its DTM debut in 2002.
Race Information
Date	19 May 2002
No.	42
Event	DTM Donington Park 2002
Location	Donington Park Castle Donington, Leicestershire, UK
Format	100 km / 40 min (Feature Race)
Lap length	4.020 km (2.498 mi)
Distance	25 laps / 100.500 km (62.448 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	{{{{{natp}}}}} Unknown
Team	{{{{{natpt}}}}} Unknown
Time	Unknown
Fastest Lap
Driver	Marcel Fässler
Team	Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes
Time	1:30.568 on lap 19
Race Result
First	Second	Third
Jean Alesi	Christian Abt	Mattias Ekström
Winner Team	Vodafone AMG-Mercedes
Time	38:58.198
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2002 Donington Park Qualifying Race		2002 Sachsenring Qualifying Race

The 2002 Donington Park Feature Race, formally known as the DTM Donington Park 2002 Feature Race, was the sixth race of the 2002 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged at Donington Park in Castle Donington, Leicestershire, UK on 19 May 2002. The race would see Jean Alesi secure his second victory of the weekend, as Championship leader Laurent Aïello was disqualified from the results.

Alesi had won the Qualifying Race to secure pole position for the Feature, with Martin Tomczyk sharing the front row. Elsewhere, Manuel Reuter would lead the Opel challenge from third on the grid, while there would only be nineteen starters after the heavy start-line collision had removed Uwe Alzen and Joachim Winkelhock from the weekend's action.

The start of the race would see Alesi ace his getaway to claim the lead, while Tomczyk came under fire from Reuter and a fast starting Marcel Fässler. Indeed, Reuter would get two wheels on the grass in a bid to pass the #23 Abt-Audi on the inside into Redgate, allowing Fässler to sweep past both.

It proved to be a fairly clean start to the race, although Stefan Mücke would be spun out of the pack as the field poured through the Craner Curve. Bernd Schneider, meanwhile, would dart past Reuter towards the end of the lap, having streaked up from eighth on the grid to fourth.

The early stages would see Alesi come under attack from Fässler, although the Swiss racer's lunge would only succeed in allowing Tomczyk to move back past. Fässler therefore began attacking the German youth to try and get back ahead, with aggressive defending from the #23 Abt-Audi resulting in contact that spun Tomczyk around, right in the path of Timo Scheider who sustained heavy front-end damage.

After that the race settled down, with Alesi easing away from Fässler and Schneider, which would remain the picture of the race until the pitstop phase. Alesi duly became the first driver to stop from the lead at the earliest moment, handing the lead briefly to Fässler.

Immediately after the stops Schneider would emerge as Alesi's biggest threat, harassing his teammate for two laps before serving a drive-through penalty for speeding under yellow-flags. He rejoined right in front of Christian Abt who proceeded to attack the #1 Mercedes with all that he could, who would eventually claim third from the German ace. That eventually became second when Menu, who had leapt into second during the stops, suffered a puncture and had to stop late on.

The closing stages would see Schneider again get penalised for speeding, this time in the pitlane, while Karl Wendlinger put himself into a spin after attempting to close the door on Christijan Albers. Retuer, meanwhile, would pull out of the race after an unspecified failure, the result of earlier contact, while Championship leader Laurent Aïello was disqualified.

Out front, meanwhile, there was no stopping Alesi, who swept across the line to secure an impressive victory, twelve seconds clear of Abt. Mattias Ekström, meanwhile, would rise from the pitlane to claim third ahead of Albers, while Wendlinger recovered to fifth ahead of Fässler. Schneider, meanwhile, would slip down to twelfth after serving his second penalty.

Background

There were no changes to the head of the field after the fifth race of the campaign, with Laurent Aïello having held onto his thirteen point lead. Mattias Ekström had likewise retained second, while Jean Alesi had ascended to third, moving onto seven points after his victory. Bernd Schneider had made way for his teammate and slipped to fourth, while Manuel Reuter had added his name to the board in ninth.

In the Teams' Championship there had likewise been little change to Team Abt Sportsline's lead, as they failed to add to their 31 point tally. Behind, Vodafone AMG-Mercedes had moved into second, a point ahead of Team Abt, while Team Abt Sportsline Junior had moved back ahead of OPC Team Holzer.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2002 Donington Park Feature Race is displayed below:

2002 Donington Park Feature Race Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Livery
1	Bernd Schneider	Vodafone AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	CLK-DTM 2002
2	Jean Alesi	Vodafone AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	CLK-DTM 2002
3	Laurent Aïello	Team Abt Sportsline	Abt-Audi	TT-R 2002
4	Karl Wendlinger	Team Abt	Abt-Audi	TT-R 2002
5	Uwe Alzen	Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	CLK-DTM 2002
6	Marcel Fässler	Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	CLK-DTM 2002
7	Manuel Reuter	OPC Team Phoenix	Opel	Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2002
8	Joachim Winkelhock	OPC Team Phoenix	Opel	Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2002
9	Mattias Ekström	Team Abt	Abt-Audi	TT-R 2002
10	Christian Abt	Team Abt Sportsline	Abt-Audi	TT-R 2002
11	Thomas Jäger	Original-Teile AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	CLK-DTM 2001
12	Peter Dumbreck	Original-Teile AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	CLK-DTM 2001
14	Timo Scheider	OPC Team Holzer	Opel	Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2002
15	Michael Bartels	OPC Team Holzer	Opel	Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2002
16	Bernd Mayländer	OASE/CEB AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	CLK-DTM 2001
17	Patrick Huisman	OASE/CEB AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	CLK-DTM 2001
18	Alain Menu	OPC Euroteam	Opel	Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2001
19	Yves Olivier	OPC Euroteam	Opel	Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2001
23	Martin Tomczyk	Team Abt Sportsline Junior	Abt-Audi	TT-R 2002
24	Stefan Mücke	Service 24h AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	CLK-DTM 2001
42	Christijan Albers	Service 24h AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	CLK-DTM 2001
Source:

Grid

The starting grid for the 2002 Donington Park Feature Race in shown below:

		5	Uwe Alzen*				19	Yves Olivier				12	Peter Dumbreck				24	Stefan Mücke				15	Michael Bartels				42	Christijan Albers				9	Mattias EkströmPL				4	Karl Wendlinger				14	Timo Scheider				7	Manuel Reuter				2	Jean Alesi
						8	Joachim Winkelhock*				3	Laurent Aïello				17	Patrick Huisman				16	Bernd Mayländer				10	Christian Abt				11	Thomas Jäger				1	Bernd Schneider				18	Alain Menu				6	Marcel Fässler				23	Martin Tomczyk

• * Alzen and Winkelhock were unable to start due to damage sustained in the 2002 Donington Park Qualifying Race.
• ^PL Ekström started the race from the pitlane.

Race

Results

The final classification of the 2002 Donington Park Feature Race is displayed below:

2002 Donington Park Feature Race Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	2	Jean Alesi	Vodafone AMG-Mercedes	25	38:58.198		10
2nd	10	Christian Abt	Team Abt Sportsline	25	+12.500s		6
3rd	9	Mattias Ekström	Team Abt	25	+14.745s		4
4th	42	Christijan Albers	Service 24h AMG-Mercedes	25	+16.626s		3
5th	4	Karl Wendlinger	Team Abt	25	+18.992s		2
6th	6	Marcel Fässler	Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes	25	+21.966s	1:30.568	1
7th	17	Patrick Huisman	OASE/CEB AMG-Mercedes	25	+23.513s
8th	18	Alain Menu	OPC Euroteam	25	+31.068s
9th	16	Bernd Mayländer	OASE/CEB AMG-Mercedes	25	+33.165s
10th	12	Peter Dumbreck	Original-Teile AMG-Mercedes	25	+33.404s
11th	11	Thomas Jäger	Original-Teile AMG-Mercedes	25	+33.892s
12th	1	Bernd Schneider	Vodafone AMG-Mercedes	25	+36.902s
13th	24	Stefan Mücke	Service 24h AMG-Mercedes	25	+52.007s
14th*	7	Manuel Reuter	OPC Team Phoenix	25	Suspension
DSQ†	3	Laurent Aïello	Team Abt Sportsline	25	Disqualified
Ret	23	Martin Tomczyk	Team Abt Sportsline Junior	12	Damage
Ret	19	Yves Olivier	OPC Euroteam	10	Bodywork
Ret	15	Michael Bartels	OPC Team Holzer	7	Damage
Ret	14	Timo Scheider	OPC Team Holzer	4	Damage
DNS	8	Joachim Winkelhock	OPC Team Phoenix
DNS	5	Uwe Alzen	Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes
Source:

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

Milestones

• Jean Alesi claimed his second DTM victory.
• 23rd win for HWA Team as an entrant.
  • 25th victory for Mercedes as a manufacturer.

Standings

Laurent Aïello had retained the lead in the Championship in-spite of his double Donington non-score, and maintained a healthy eighteen point lead. Jean Alesi was his closest challenger leaving the UK, having moved up to second on seventeen points, while Mattias Ekström had slipped to third on sixteen. Christian Abt and Bernd Schneider then completed the top five, while Marcel Fässler had become the season's twelfth individual scorer.

In the Teams' Championship Team Abt Sportsline had maintained the initiative, having moved onto 37 points for the campaign. Vodafone AMG-Mercedes were next up in second, on 24 points for the season, while the top three was completed by Team Abt on nineteen. A fourteen point gap then heralded the arrival of Team Abt Sportsline Junior and OPC Team Holzer, while Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes and OPC Team Phoenix completed the scorers.

2002 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Laurent Aïello 25 ◄0 2nd Jean Alesi 17 ▲1 3rd Mattias Ekström 16 ▼1 4th Christian Abt 12 ▲1 5th Bernd Schneider 7 ▼1 6th Martin Tomczyk 5 ◄0 7th Christijan Albers 4 ▲4 8th Timo Scheider 4 ▼1 9th Karl Wendlinger 3 ▲1 10th Michael Bartels 1 ▼2 11th Manuel Reuter 1 ▼2 12th Marcel Fässler 1 ◄0

2002 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Team Abt Sportsline 37 ◄0 2nd Vodafone AMG-Mercedes 24 ◄0 3rd Team Abt 19 ◄0 4th Team Abt Sportsline Junior 5 ◄0 5th OPC Team Holzer 5 ◄0 6th Service 24h AMG-Mercedes 4 ▲1 7th OPC Team Phoenix 1 ▼1 8th Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes 1 ◄0

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.

References

Images and Videos:

• Liveries: byggxx, 'Rennwagen (2002)', dtm.fandom.com/de, (DTM Wiki/de, 2015), https://dtm.fandom.com/de/wiki/Kategorie:Rennwagen_(2002), (Accessed 29/05/2020)

References: