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Flag of Germany 2002 Nürburgring Feature Race
Nurburgring Sprint 2003
The Mercedes Arena complex debuted in 2002.
Race Information
Date 4 August 2002
No. 50
Event Flag of Germany Großer Preis der Tourenwagen 2002
Location Flag of Germany Nürburgring Sprint
Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Format 100 km / 40 min (Feature Race)
Lap length 3.625 km (2.249 mi)
Distance 28 laps / 101.500 km (63.069 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter {{{{{natp}}}}} Unknown
Team {{{{{natpt}}}}} Unknown
Time Unknown
Fastest Lap
Driver Flag of Sweden Mattias Ekström
Team Flag of Germany Team Abt
Time 1:25.624 on lap 22
Race Result
First Second Third
Flag of Germany Uwe Alzen Flag of France Laurent Aïello Flag of Germany Bernd Schneider
Winner Team Flag of Germany Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes
Time 41:13.779
Race Guide
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Flag of Germany 2002 Nürburgring Qualifying Race Flag of Austria 2002 Spielberg Qualifying Race

The 2002 Nürburgring Feature Race, formally known as the Großer Preis der Tourenwagen 2002, was the fourteenth race of the 2002 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged on the Nürburgring Sprint Circuit in Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany on 4 August 2002.[1] The race would see Uwe Alzen secure his final DTM victory in front of a record 73,000 strong crowd, as Laurent Aïello inched closer to the Championship crown.[2]

Indeed, it would be a very strong weekend for Alzen, as the German racer just edged out Aïello in the Qualifying Race to secure pole position for the Feature.[2] Aïello would hence start from second ahead of Bernd Schneider, Marcel Fässler would start from fourth, while Manuel Reuter was the best placed Opel pilot on the grid in eighth.[2]

The start of the race saw the field depart largely in grid order at the front, with Alzen sweeping across to block Aïello to secure the lead.[3] Behind, Schneider was elbowed wide by a lunging Christian Abt and slipped to sixth, while Alain Menu and Jean Alesi came together after the Frenchman was spun in the middle of the corner.[3]

Indeed, it proved to be a particularly brutal opening few laps, with Patrick Huisman getting spun at the first corner, before pushing Yves Olivier into a spin at the chicane.[3] A lap later and the two Team Abt Abt-Audi's spun on the dirt sprayed onto the track by Olivier, with Joachim Winkelhock also a victim of his teammate's off.[3]

After that the race would settle down, with Schneider having to wait until the stops to jump Abt, Martin Tomczyk and Fässler, while Alzen fended off the attentions of Aïello to hold the lead.[3] Alzen then led Aïello and Schneider into the pits at the end of lap nine to complete their compulsory stops, with the #3 Abt-Audi losing time compared to the Germans.[3]

Abt inherited the lead ahead of Tomczyk and Fässler, with Reuter and Timo Scheider shadowing them for Opel.[3] The latter trio stopped on lap ten and all rejoined behind Schneider, before Abt stopped a lap later and crossed the white dividing line at pit-out, earning himself a penalty.[3]

Once Tomczyk stopped Alzen was restored to the lead ahead of Aïello, while Schneider had shuffled back up to third amid the stops.[3] With that Aïello would begin to harass Alzen for the lead once again, with the Frenchman throwing the #3 Abt-Audi at the #5 Mercedes at every opportunity.[3]

Yet, as in the Qualifying Race Aïello would find Alzen to be a very stubborn defender, and so it was the German who emerged victorious ahead of the Champion-elect.[3] Schneider, meanwhile, would get onto the tail of Aïello but had to settle for third, with Fässler likewise catching the leaders before the chequered flag.[3] Tomczyk was next up ahead of Reuter to complete the scores, while Abt tumbled to ninth after his penalty.[3]

Background[]

Laurent Aïello had enhanced his lead in the championship after the opening battle of the Nürburgring, having moved 22 ahead of closest challenger Bernd Schneider. Schneider himself had enhanced his hold on second, moving five ahead of Mattias Ekström, while Jean Alesi was a distant fourth. Christian Abt then completed the top five, while race winner Uwe Alzen had made the most ground, having leapt from eleventh to seventh.

In the Teams' Championship there was little change to the order, with Team Abt Sportsline having opened out their advantage to fifteen points. Vodafone AMG-Mercedes were their closest challengers in second, while their sister teams Team Abt and Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes were behind in third and fourth respectively.

Entry List[]

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

2002 Nürburgring Feature Race Entry List
No. Name Entrant Constructor Chassis Livery
1 Flag of Germany Bernd Schneider Flag of Germany Vodafone AMG-Mercedes AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM 2002 BSC 02 Livery
2 Flag of France Jean Alesi Flag of Germany Vodafone AMG-Mercedes AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM 2002 ALE 02 Livery
3 Flag of France Laurent Aïello Flag of Germany Team Abt Sportsline Abt-Audi TT-R 2002 AIE 02 Livery
4 Flag of Austria Karl Wendlinger Flag of Germany Team Abt Abt-Audi TT-R 2002 WEN 02 Livery
5 Flag of Germany Uwe Alzen Flag of Germany Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM 2002 ALZ 02 Livery
6 Flag of Switzerland Marcel Fässler Flag of Germany Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM 2002 FAE 02 Livery
7 Flag of Germany Manuel Reuter Flag of Germany OPC Team Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2002 REU 02 Livery
8 Flag of Germany Joachim Winkelhock Flag of Germany OPC Team Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2002 WIN 02 Livery
9 Flag of Sweden Mattias Ekström Flag of Germany Team Abt Abt-Audi TT-R 2002 EKS 02 Livery
10 Flag of Germany Christian Abt Flag of Germany Team Abt Sportsline Abt-Audi TT-R 2002 ABT 02 Livery
11 Flag of Germany Thomas Jäger Flag of Germany Original-Teile AMG-Mercedes AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM 2001 JAE 02 Livery
12 Flag of the United Kingdom Peter Dumbreck Flag of Germany Original-Teile AMG-Mercedes AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM 2001 DUM 02 Livery
14 Flag of Germany Timo Scheider Flag of Germany OPC Team Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2002 TSC 02 Livery
15 Flag of Germany Michael Bartels Flag of Germany OPC Team Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2002 BAR 02 Livery
16 Flag of Germany Bernd Mayländer Flag of Germany OASE/CEB AMG-Mercedes AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM 2001 MAY 02 Livery
17 Dutch Flag Patrick Huisman Flag of Germany OASE/CEB AMG-Mercedes AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM 2001 HUI 02 Livery
18 Flag of Switzerland Alain Menu Flag of Germany OPC Euroteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2001 MEN 02 Livery
19 Flag of Belgium Yves Olivier Flag of Germany OPC Euroteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2001 OLI 02 Livery
23 Flag of Germany Martin Tomczyk Flag of Germany Team Abt Sportsline Junior Abt-Audi TT-R 2002 TOM 02 Livery
24 Flag of Germany Stefan Mücke Flag of Germany Service 24h AMG-Mercedes AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM 2001 MUC 02 Livery
42 Dutch Flag Christijan Albers Flag of Germany Service 24h AMG-Mercedes AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM 2001 ALB 02 Livery
Source:[4]

Grid[]

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

MAY 02 Livery BAR 02 Livery DUM 02 Livery OLI 02 Livery WIN 02 Livery ALE 02 Livery TSC 02 Livery JAE 02 Livery ABT 02 Livery BSC 02 Livery ALZ 02 Livery
Row11 16 Flag of Germany Bernd Mayländer Row10 15 Flag of Germany Michael Bartels 13:34.292 Row09 12 Flag of the United Kingdom Peter Dumbreck 13:30.982 Row08 19 Flag of Belgium Yves Olivier 13:28.221 Row07 8 Flag of Germany Joachim Winkelhock 13:25.283 Row06 2 Flag of France Jean Alesi 13:22.188 Row05 14 Flag of Germany Timo Scheider 13:19.773 Row04 11 Flag of Germany Thomas Jäger 13:18.379 Row03 10 Flag of Germany Christian Abt 13:17.166 Row02 1 Flag of Germany Bernd Schneider 13:12.195 Row01 5 Flag of Germany Uwe Alzen 13:11.682
18 Flag of Switzerland Alain Menu 13:37.980 42 Dutch Flag Christijan Albers 13:33.872 9 Flag of Sweden Mattias Ekström 13:29.636 17 Dutch Flag Patrick Huisman 13:26.674 24 Flag of Germany Stefan Mücke 13:24.657 23 Flag of Germany Martin Tomczyk 13:21.481 7 Flag of Germany Manuel Reuter 13:18.915 4 Flag of Austria Karl Wendlinger 13:17.797 6 Flag of Switzerland Marcel Fässler 13:12.769 3 Flag of France Laurent Aïello 13:11.888
                MEN 02 Livery                ALB 02 Livery                EKS 02 Livery                HUI 02 Livery                MUC 02 Livery                TOM 02 Livery                REU 02 Livery                WEN 02 Livery                FAE 02 Livery                AIE 02 Livery               

Race[]

Report[]

Results[]

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

2002 Nürburgring Feature Race Result
Pos. No. Name Team Laps Race Time Fastest lap Pts.
1st 5 Flag of Germany Uwe Alzen Flag of Germany Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes 28 41:13.779 10
2nd 3 Flag of France Laurent Aïello Flag of Germany Team Abt Sportsline 28 +0.348s 6
3rd 1 Flag of Germany Bernd Schneider Flag of Germany Vodafone AMG-Mercedes 28 +0.617s 4
4th 6 Flag of Switzerland Marcel Fässler Flag of Germany Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes 28 +1.479s 3
5th 23 Flag of Germany Martin Tomczyk Flag of Germany Team Abt Sportsline Junior 28 +6.892s 2
6th 7 Flag of Germany Manuel Reuter Flag of Germany OPC Team Phoenix 28 +9.211s 1
7th 14 Flag of Germany Timo Scheider Flag of Germany OPC Team Holzer 28 +11.014s
8th 12 Flag of the United Kingdom Peter Dumbreck Flag of Germany Original-Teile AMG-Mercedes 28 +27.546s
9th 10 Flag of Germany Christian Abt Flag of Germany Team Abt Sportsline 28 +32.186s
10th 9 Flag of Sweden Mattias Ekström Flag of Germany Team Abt 28 +32.922s 1:25.624
11th 15 Flag of Germany Michael Bartels Flag of Germany OPC Team Holzer 28 +33.828s
12th 4 Flag of Austria Karl Wendlinger Flag of Germany Team Abt 28 +34.264s
13th 11 Flag of Germany Thomas Jäger Flag of Germany Original-Teile AMG-Mercedes 28 +24.982s
14th 16 Flag of Germany Bernd Mayländer Flag of Germany OASE/CEB AMG-Mercedes 28 +35.187s
15th 8 Flag of Germany Joachim Winkelhock Flag of Germany OPC Team Phoenix 28 +41.032s
16th 24 Flag of Germany Stefan Mücke Flag of Germany Service 24h AMG-Mercedes 28 +50.226s
17th 42 Dutch Flag Christijan Albers Flag of Germany Service 24h AMG-Mercedes 28 +51.874s
18th 17 Dutch Flag Patrick Huisman Flag of Germany OASE/CEB AMG-Mercedes 28 +1:04.582
19th* 19 Flag of Belgium Yves Olivier Flag of Germany OPC Euroteam 22 Retired
Ret 2 Flag of France Jean Alesi Flag of Germany Vodafone AMG-Mercedes 0 Collision
Ret 18 Flag of Switzerland Alain Menu Flag of Germany OPC Euroteam 0 Collision
Source:[4]
  • Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
  • Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
  • * Olivier was still classified despite retiring as he had completed 75% of the race distance.[4]

Milestones[]

  • 50th Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship race to be staged since 2000.
  • Uwe Alzen claimed his eighth and final career victory.
  • HWA Team secured their 26th win as an entrant.
    • Mercedes claimed their 28th victory as a manufacturer.

Standings[]

There was little change to the Championship after the seventh race weekend concluded, with Laurent Aïello having again moved closer to the title after a strong weekend. Indeed, the Frenchman could win the Championship in Austria if he maintained his 24 point lead, with Bernd Schneider and Mattias Ekström now the only drivers who could deny him. Schneider would therefore have to outscore the Frenchman by five in Austria to keep his title hopes alive, while the young Swede would likely have to win all six remaining races if he was to overhaul his stablemate.

In the Teams' Championship it was Team Abt Sportsline who left the Nürburgring with an ever healthy lead, having moved seventeen clear of their closest challengers. Vodafone AMG-Mercedes had remained their closest competitor in second on 58 points, while Team Abt were in third on 32. Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes were next up in fourth, while Team Abt Sportsline Junior had climbed to fifth ahead of OPC Team Phoenix.

2002 Drivers' Championship
Pos. Name Pts. +/-
1st Flag of France Laurent Aïello 62 ◄0
2nd Flag of Germany Bernd Schneider 38 ◄0
3rd Flag of Sweden Mattias Ekström 29 ◄0
4th Flag of France Jean Alesi 20 ◄0
5th Flag of Germany Uwe Alzen 17 ▲2
6th Flag of Germany Christian Abt 13 ▼1
7th Flag of Switzerland Marcel Fässler 11 ▼1
8th Flag of Germany Martin Tomczyk 7 ▲1
9th Flag of Switzerland Alain Menu 6 ▼1
10th Dutch Flag Christijan Albers 5 ◄0
11th Flag of Germany Timo Scheider 5 ◄0
12th Flag of Germany Manuel Reuter 4 ▲2
13th Flag of Germany Joachim Winkelhock 3 ▼1
14th Flag of Austria Karl Wendlinger 3 ▼1
15th Flag of Germany Michael Bartels 1 ◄0
2002 Teams' Championship
Pos. Name Pts. +/-
1st Flag of Germany Team Abt Sportsline 75 ◄0
2nd Flag of Germany Vodafone AMG-Mercedes 58 ◄0
3rd Flag of Germany Team Abt 32 ◄0
4th Flag of Germany Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes 28 ◄0
5th Flag of Germany Team Abt Sportsline Junior 7 ▲3
6th Flag of Germany OPC Team Phoenix 7 ▲1
7th Flag of Germany OPC Euroteam 6 ▼2
8th Flag of Germany OPC Team Holzer 6 ▼2
9th Flag of Germany Service 24h AMG-Mercedes 5 ◄0
10th Flag of Germany Original-Teile AMG-Mercedes 0 ◄0
11th Flag of Germany OASE/CEB AMG-Mercedes 0 ◄0

Only point scoring drivers are shown.

References[]

Images and Videos:

References:

  1. Robert Wilkins, 'DTM calendar 2002 approved.', crash.net, (Crash Media Group, 07/02/2002), https://www.crash.net/dtm/news/26539/1/dtm-calendar-2002-approved, (Accessed 01/06/2020)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Robert Wilkins, 'Alzen wins in front of a record crowd.', crash.net, (Crash Media Group, 04/08/2002), https://www.crash.net/dtm/news/26629/1/alzen-wins-in-front-of-a-record-crowd, (Accessed 02/07/2020)
  3. 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 DTM, 'DTM Nürburgring 2002 - Highlights', youtube.com, (YouTube: DTM, 25/11/2016), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh-md8hUqlc, (Accessed 02/07/2020)
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 '2002 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Nurburgring', motorsportstats.com, (Motorsport Network, 2019), https://results.motorsportstats.com/results/2002-nurburgring-2, (Accessed 02/07/2020)
2002 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship
Manufacturers
Abt-AudiAMG-MercedesOpel
Car/engine
Abt-Audi TT-R 2002Audi 4.0l V8AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM 2002AMG 4.0l V8Opel Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2002Opel 4.0l V8
Teams
CEB/OASE AMG-MercedesOPC EuroteamOPC Team HolzerOPC Team PhoenixOriginal Teile AMG-MercedesService 24h AMG-MercedesTeam AbtTeam Abt SportslineTeam Abt Sportsline JuniorVodafone AMG-MercedesWarsteiner AMG-Mercedes
Drivers
1 Bernd Schneider2 Jean Alesi3 Laurent Aïello4 Karl Wendlinger5 Uwe Alzen6 Marcel Fässler7 Manuel Reuter8 Joachim Winkelhock9 Mattias Ekström10 Christian Abt11 Thomas Jäger12 Peter Dumbreck14 Timo Scheider15 Michael Bartels16 Marcel Tiemann/Bernd Mayländer17 Patrick Huisman18 Alain Menu19 Yves Olivier23 Martin Tomczyk24 Stefan Mücke31 Johnny Cecotto42 Christijan Albers43 JJ Lehto44 Éric Hélary
Races
ADAC-Preis Hockenheim QRADAC-Preis Hockenheim FRZolder QRZolder FRDonington Park QRDonington Park FRSachsenring QRSachsenring FRNorisring QRNorisring FRLausitzring QRLausitzring FRGroßer Preis der Tourenwagen QRGroßer Preis der Tourenwagen FRSpielberg QRSpielberg FRZandvoort QRZandvoort FRDMV-Preis Hockenheim QRDMV-Preis Hockenheim FR
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