2002 Lausitzring Feature Race

2002 Lausitzring Feature Race
The Lausitzring in 2002 was unchanged.
Race Information
Date	14 July 2002
No.	48
Event	2002 Lausitz 200
Location	Lausitzring Klettwitz, Brandenburg, Germany
Format	100 km / 40 min (Feature Race)
Lap length	4.534 km (2.817 mi)
Distance	23 laps / 104.282 km (64.798 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	{{{{{natp}}}}} Unknown
Team	{{{{{natpt}}}}} Unknown
Time	Unknown
Fastest Lap
Driver	Bernd Schneider
Team	Vodafone AMG-Mercedes
Time	1:40.483 on lap 16
Race Result
First	Second	Third
Bernd Schneider	Mattias Ekström	Marcel Fässler
Winner Team	Vodafone AMG-Mercedes
Time	39:19.277
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2002 Lausitzring Qualifying Race		2002 Nürburgring Qualifying Race

The 2002 Lausitzring Feature Race, otherwise known as the 2002 Lausitz 200 Feature Race, was the twelfth and penultimate round of the 2002 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged at the Lausitzring in Klettwitz, Brandenburg, Germany on 14 July 2002. The race would see reigning champion Bernd Schneider sweep to his first victory of the season, after overcoming Laurent Aïello at the start.

Aïello had emerged as the victor in the Qualifying Race, and hence would start the Feature from pole position ahead of Schneider. Christian Abt would start from third ahead of Mattias Ekström and Martin Tomczyk as Abt-Audi had again underlined their status as the quickest car in the DTM in 2002.

The start of the race would see Schneider ease ahead of Aïello, and with the inside line into the first corner would secure the lead. Behind, a stunning start for Joachim Winkelhock carried the #8 Opel from seventh to third, with the rest of the field filtering through the first corner without issue.

The early laps would see Marcel Fässler battle his way up into the lead pack, with a move on Tomczyk leaving him in fifth behind Ekström. Jean Alesi, meanwhile, would get himself in trouble by tapping Mercedes stablemate Uwe Alzen into a spin after an ambitious lunge, while Winkelhock began to slide back down the field after his strong start.

Out front, meanwhile, Schneider would initially manage to break away from Aïello, before the Frenchman reeled him back in to challenge for the lead. They were on their own due to Winkelhock's ultimately unsuccessful defence from Ekström and Fässler, although the latter duo would begin to close up as the pit stops loomed.

Fässler was the first of the lead group to stop when the pit window opened, before Aïello dived in from second a lap later with Ekström in tow. However, a miserable stop for the Frenchman would dump him behind Ekström, with Aïello subsequently rejoining alongside a charging Fässler.

A clean stop for Schneider a lap later ultimately sealed the race in the German's favour, for he emerged with a comfortable lead over the now second placed Ekström. He duly built a ten second lead with a succession of fastest laps after his stop, as behind Fässler managed to elbow his way past Aïello.

Once the rest of the stops were completed the race was over, with Schneider sweeping across the line to secure his first victory of the season. Ekström was a distant second ahead of Fässler, while Aïello scored a handful of points for fourth to maintain his Championship lead. Manuel Reuter and Winkelhock would then complete the scorers after a duel in the closing stages, with Christian Abt shadowing them to the line.

Background

There had been little change to the Championship at the end of the eleventh race of the 2002 campaign, as Laurent Aïello inched closer to the Championship title after claiming his 51st point of the season. Mattias Ekström was his closest challenger in second, with less than half of the points of his stablemate on 23, while Bernd Schneider had moved level with the young Swede in third. Jean Alesi and Christian Abt then completed the top five, with no new names on the scoresheet.

Likewise, there had been little change to the order of the Teams' Championship, as Team Abt Sportsline once again added to their lead. They had moved 21 clear of closest rivals Vodafone AMG-Mercedes in second, the only other scorers in the Qualifikationslauf, while Team Abt had held third on 26 points.

Entry List

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

2002 Lausitzring 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 Lausitzring Feature Race in shown below:

		19	Yves Olivier	—			15	Michael Bartels	12:27.371			16	Bernd Mayländer	12:25.828			17	Patrick Huisman	12:25.267			14	Timo Scheider	12:23.627			7	Manuel Reuter	12:22.370			5	Uwe Alzen	12:14.532			8	Joachim Winkelhock	12:11.270			23	Martin Tomczyk	12:10.129			10	Christian Abt	12:05.528			3	Laurent Aïello	12:00.349
						42	Christijan Albers		13:27.092		24	Stefan Mücke		12:26.905		12	Peter Dumbreck		12:25.567		2	Jean Alesi		12:24.032		11	Thomas Jäger		12:23.240		4	Karl Wendlinger		12:22.103		18	Alain Menu		12:13.419		6	Marcel Fässler		12:10.499		9	Mattias Ekström		12:06.193		1	Bernd Schneider		12:02.110

Race

Results

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

2002 Lausitzring Feature Race Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	1	Bernd Schneider	Vodafone AMG-Mercedes	23	39:19.277	1:40.483	10
2nd	9	Mattias Ekström	Team Abt	23	+10.935s		6
3rd	6	Marcel Fässler	Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes	23	+11.253s		4
4th	3	Laurent Aïello	Team Abt Sportsline	23	+12.186s		3
5th	7	Manuel Reuter	OPC Team Phoenix	23	+20.894s		2
6th	8	Joachim Winkelhock	OPC Team Phoenix	23	+23.396s		1
7th	10	Christian Abt	Team Abt Sportsline	23	+23.987s
8th	2	Jean Alesi	Vodafone AMG-Mercedes	23	+27.333s
9th	23	Martin Tomczyk	Team Abt Sportsline Junior	23	+30.551s
10th	14	Timo Scheider	OPC Team Holzer	23	+31.317s
11th	18	Alain Menu	OPC Euroteam	23	+32.717s
12th	17	Patrick Huisman	OASE/CEB AMG-Mercedes	23	+35.005s
13th	11	Thomas Jäger	Original-Teile AMG-Mercedes	23	+37.733s
14th	42	Christijan Albers	Service 24h AMG-Mercedes	23	+38.125s
15th	12	Peter Dumbreck	Original-Teile AMG-Mercedes	23	+38.563s
16th	24	Stefan Mücke	Service 24h AMG-Mercedes	23	+44.911s
17th	15	Michael Bartels	OPC Team Holzer	23	+52.322s
Ret	16	Bernd Mayländer	OASE/CEB AMG-Mercedes	15	Retired
Ret	4	Karl Wendlinger	Team Abt Sportsline	7	Retired
Ret	5	Uwe Alzen	Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes	3	Collision
Ret	19	Yves Olivier	OPC Euroteam	1	Gearbox
Source:

• Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.

Milestones

• Thirteenth victory for Bernd Schneider.
• HWA Team secured their 24th win as an entrant.
  • Mercedes claimed their 26th victory as a manufacturer.

Standings

Laurent Aïello had retained the lead in the Championship as the sixth weekend came to a close, although his advantage had been reduced to nineteen points. Indeed, defending champion Bernd Schneider had inched closer to the Frenchman after his first win of the campaign, which had also put him four ahead of Mattias Ekström in third. Jean Alesi was next up in fourth ahead of Christian Abt, while Manuel Reuter had trebled his points for the season and moved off the foot of the scorers list.

Likewise, Team Abt Sportsline still held the initiative in the Teams' Championship, although their advantage had been cut to fourteen points as the field left the Lausitzring. Vodafone AMG-Mercedes had been the team to do the damage after Schneider's victory, which had also moved them 21 clear of Team Abt in third. Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes were next up in fourth ahead of OPC Euroteam, while OPC Team Phoenix had risen to seventh after their increasingly rare double score.

2002 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Laurent Aïello 54 ◄0 2nd Bernd Schneider 33 ▲1 3rd Mattias Ekström 29 ▼1 4th Jean Alesi 20 ◄0 5th Christian Abt 13 ◄0 6th Marcel Fässler 8 ▲4 7th Alain Menu 6 ▼1 8th Martin Tomczyk 5 ▼1 9th Christijan Albers 5 ▼1 10th Timo Scheider 5 ▼1 11th Uwe Alzen 4 ◄0 12th Joachim Winkelhock 3 ▲1 13th Karl Wendlinger 3 ▼1 14th Manuel Reuter 3 ▲1 15th Michael Bartels 1 ▼1

2002 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Team Abt Sportsline 67 ◄0 2nd Vodafone AMG-Mercedes 53 ◄0 3rd Team Abt 32 ◄0 4th Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes 12 ◄0 5th OPC Euroteam 6 ◄0 6th OPC Team Holzer 6 ◄0 7th OPC Team Phoenix 6 ▲2 8th Team Abt Sportsline Junior 5 ▼1 9th Service 24h AMG-Mercedes 5 ▼1 10th Original-Teile AMG-Mercedes 0 ◄0 11th OASE/CEB AMG-Mercedes 0 ◄0

Only point scoring drivers 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: