2005 Lausitzring II Race

2005 Lausitzring II Race
The DTM's second trip to the Lausitzring in 2005.
Race Information
Date	18 September 2005
No.	85 (9 of 2005)
Event	DTM Lausitz II 2005
Location	Lausitzring Klettwitz, Brandenburg, Germany
Format	165 km / 70 min (Championship Race)
Lap length	3.478 km (2.161 mi)
Distance	48 laps / 166.944 km (103.734 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Jamie Green
Team	Junge Gebrauchte/Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes
Time	1:17.489
Fastest Lap
Driver	Gary Paffett
Team	DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG-Mercedes
Time	1:17.938 on lap 9
Race Result
First	Second	Third
Mattias Ekström	Gary Paffett	Tom Kristensen
Winner Team	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline
Time	1:03:44.903
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2005 Zandvoort Race		2005 Istanbul Park Race

The 2005 Lausitzring II Race, formally known as DTM Lausitz II 2005, was the ninth race of the 2005 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged at the Lausitzring in Klettwitz, Brandenburg, Germany, on 18 September 2005. The race would see Mattias Ekström defeat Gary Paffett in a duel for victory, a result which put the Swede back on top of the Championship.

Qualifying for the Series' second trip of the season to the Lausitzring saw Jamie Green secure his maiden pole position, two tenths clear of Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Manuel Reuter and Mika Häkkinen would share the second row, while Ekström claimed fifth with Championship leader Paffett in seventh.

The start of the race saw Reuter make a storming start from third, darting around Green to challenge Frentzen for the lead into the first corner. Frentzen would, however, manage to keep the sister Opel at bay to secure the lead as, further back in the pack, Rinaldo Capello was spun around.

There were further shuffles as a result of the Capello spin with Christian Abt spinning too, before Marcel Fässler took himself out of the race trying to avoid the spinning Audi, smashing into the side of Stefan Mücke when rejoining. Ekström, meanwhile, would elbow his way ahead of Green, while Paffett managed to force his way up to fifth with moves on Häkkinen and Kristensen.

The early laps saw Frentzen and Reuter try to escape, although Ekström, Green and Paffett were able to keep pace and maintain pressure on the lighter leaders. Paffett and Green would eventually swap places, the former getting ahead in order to directly challenge his main title rival before the first round of stops.

Ekström and Paffett duly darted to the pits as soon as the pit window opened, although it was status quo as Audi Team Abt won the battle of the pit crews. They duly moved into the lead of the race when the leading duo of Opels made their stops thirteen laps later, with Frentzen and Reuter dropping well down the field.

The Ekström/Paffett duel continued through to the second round of stops, although that exchange saw Ekström come in a lap earlier than the Brit. The gamble of running a lap longer didn't work for Paffett, with the #3 AMG-Mercedes rejoining behind the #1 Audi, although the Brit would have fresher tyres for the second half of the race.

Yet try as he might Paffett would be unable to force his way ahead of Ekström, with the Swede resisting the Brit's attentions through to the chequered flag to claim victory. Kristensen, meanwhile, would enjoy a quiet run to third ahead of Laurent Aïello, while Reuter claimed fifth ahead of Bruno Spengler. Frentzen, meanwhile, would finish in seventh ahead of Jean Alesi, having survived a punt from the Frenchman towards the end of the race.

Background

For the ninth round of the 2005 season the DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters returned to the Lausitzring for its second visit of the campaign. The series would again use the specially modified version of the Grand Prix layout at the EuroSpeedway, which had been used for the DTM for the Series' visit back in May. The second trip to Lausitz was a late change to the calendar on the eve of the season, after a planned street race in France fell apart.

Ballast Bounds

There would be no changes made to the success ballast allocation ahead of the Series' second trip to the Lausitzring, with AMG-Mercedes and Audi remaining at the maximum weight, while Opel would still race at the minimum weight.

Outlined below are the success ballast allocations for the 2005 Lausitzring II Race:

2005 Lausitzring II Race Success Ballast
Manufacturer	Year	Weight
AMG-Mercedes	2004	1,055 kg (—)
	2005	1,070 kg (—)
Audi	2004	1,055 kg (—)
	2005	1,070 kg (—)
Opel	2004	1,015 kg (—)
	2005	1,030 kg (—)

Zandvoort Zoom

A fourth win of the campaign saw Gary Paffett move back into the lead of the Championship, although again his lead was far from insurmountable with three races to go. Indeed, Mattias Ekström, the former leader, had only slipped a point behind the Brit, while Tom Kristensen was still mathematically in the hunt in third, nineteen off the lead. Fourth placed Mika Häkkinen, meanwhile, was out of the fight, having slipped 38 points off the lead, with Jean Alesi his closest challenger in fifth.

In the Teams' Championship DC Bank AMG-Mercedes had seen their lead once again been chipped away at, with another point taken away. Audi Team Abt Sportsline were still making their late challenge for the title, with their sister squad Audi Team Abt holding a sixteen point advantage over Vodafone/SE AMG-Mercedes for third. In the Manufacturers' Championship Audi had extended their lead at the head of the table, moving twelve ahead of AMG-Mercedes.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2005 Lausitzring II Race is displayed below:

2005 Lausitzring II Race Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Livery
1	Mattias Ekström	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi	A4 DTM	File:EKS 05 Livery.png
2	Martin Tomczyk	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi	A4 DTM	File:TOM 05 Livery.png
3	Gary Paffett	DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	C-Klasse DTM	File:PAF 05 Livery.png
4	Jean Alesi	DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	C-Klasse DTM	File:ALE 05 Livery.png
5	Tom Kristensen	Audi Sport Team Abt	Audi	A4 DTM	File:KRI 05 Livery.png
6	Allan McNish	Audi Sport Team Abt	Audi	A4 DTM	File:MCN 05 Livery.png
7	Bernd Schneider	Vodafone/Sport Edition AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	C-Klasse DTM	File:BSC 05 Livery.png
8	Mika Häkkinen	AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	C-Klasse DTM	File:HAK 05 Livery.png
9	Marcel Fässler	GMAC/Stern Team OPC	Opel	Vectra GTS V8	File:FAE 05 Livery.png
10	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	GMAC/Stern Team OPC	Opel	Vectra GTS V8	File:FRE 05 Livery.png
11	Laurent Aïello	Team OPC	Opel	Vectra GTS V8	File:AIE 05 Livery.png
12	Manuel Reuter	Team OPC	Opel	Vectra GTS V8	File:AIE 05 Livery.png
14	Christian Abt	Audi Sport Team Joest Racing	Audi	A4 DTM	File:ABT 05 Livery.png
15	Pierre Kaffer	Audi Sport Team Joest Racing	Audi	A4 DTM	File:KAF 05 Livery.png
16	Stefan Mücke	Mücke Motorsport	AMG-Mercedes	C-Klasse DTM	File:MUC 05 Livery.png
17	Alexandros Margaritis	Mücke Motorsport	AMG-Mercedes	C-Klasse DTM	File:MAR 05 Livery.png
18	Rinaldo Capello	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi	A4 DTM	File:CAP 05 Livery.png
19	Frank Stippler	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi	A4 DTM	File:STI 05 Livery.png
20	Bruno Spengler	Junge Gebrauchte/Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	C-Klasse DTM	File:SPE 05 Livery.png
21	Jamie Green	Junge Gebrauchte/Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes	AMG-Mercedes	C-Klasse DTM	File:GRE 05 Livery.png
Source:

Qualifying

Results

The final qualifying result for the 2005 Lausitzring II Race are outlined below:

2005 Lausitzring II Race Qualifying Result
Super Pole Results
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Ave. Speed	Grid
1st	21	Jamie Green	JG/Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes	1:17.489	—	159.909 km/h	1
2nd	10	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	GMAC/Stern Team OPC	1:17.679	+0.190s	159.518 km/h	2
3rd	12	Manuel Reuter	Team OPC	1:18.106	+0.617s	158.645 km/h	3
4th	8	Mika Häkkinen	Vodafone/SE AMG-Mercedes	1:18.136	+0.647s	158.585 km/h	4
5th	1	Mattias Ekström	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	1:18.142	+0.653s	158.572 km/h	5
6th	5	Tom Kristensen	Audi Team Abt	1:18.289	+0.800s	158.275 km/h	6
7th	3	Gary Paffett	DC Bank AMG-Mercedes	1:18.386	+0.897s	158.079 km/h	7
8th	2	Martin Tomczyk	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	1:18.481	+0.992s	157.887 km/h	8
9th	11	Laurent Aïello	Team OPC	1:18.867	+1.378s	157.115 km/h	9
10th	18	Rinaldo Capello	Audi Team Joest	1:19.234	+1.745s	156.387 km/h	10
Qualifying Results
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Ave. Speed	Grid
1st	11	Laurent Aïello	Team OPC	1:17.759	—	159.353 km/h	SP
2nd	1	Mattias Ekström	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	1:17.855	+0.096s	159.157 km/h	SP
3rd	8	Mika Häkkinen	Vodafone/SE AMG-Mercedes	1:17.973	+0.214s	158.916 km/h	SP
4th	3	Gary Paffett	DC Bank AMG-Mercedes	1:17.997	+0.238s	158.867 km/h	SP
5th	10	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	GMAC/Stern Team OPC	1:17.998	+0.239s	158.865 km/h	SP
6th	2	Martin Tomczyk	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	1:18.006	+0.247s	158.849 km/h	SP
7th	18	Rinaldo Capello	Audi Team Joest	1:18.110	+0.351s	158.637 km/h	SP
8th	21	Jamie Green	JG/Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes	1:18.130	+0.371s	158.597 km/h	SP
9th	5	Tom Kristensen	Audi Team Abt	1:18.152	+0.393s	158.552 km/h	SP
10th	12	Manuel Reuter	Team OPC	1:18.177	+0.418s	158.501 km/h	SP
11th	4	Jean Alesi	DC Bank AMG-Mercedes	1:18.221	+0.462s	158.412 km/h	11
12th	20	Bruno Spengler	JG/Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes	1:18.244	+0.485s	158.366 km/h	12
13th	19	Frank Stippler	Audi Team Joest	1:18.288	+0.529s	158.277 km/h	13
14th	9	Marcel Fässler	GMAC/Stern Team OPC	1:18.307	+0.548s	158.238 km/h	14
15th	6	Allan McNish	Audi Team Abt	1:18.366	+0.607s	158.119 km/h	15
16th	7	Bernd Schneider	Vodafone/SE AMG-Mercedes	1:18.415	+0.656s	158.020 km/h	16
17th	16	Stefan Mücke	Mücke Motorsport	1:18.614	+0.855s	157.620 km/h	17
18th	15	Pierre Kaffer	Audi Team Joest Racing	1:18.918	+1.159s	157.013 km/h	18
19th	14	Christian Abt	Audi Team Joest Racing	1:19.007	+1.248s	156.836 km/h	19
20th	17	Alexandros Margaritis	Mücke Motorsport	1:19.330	+1.571s	156.198 km/h	20
Source:

• Bold indicates a driver's best/qualifying time.

Grid

The starting grid for the 2005 Lausitzring II Race in shown below:

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
		______________
Row 1	______________	1
	2	Jamie Green
	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	______________
Row 2	______________	3
	4	Manuel Reuter
	Mika Häkkinen	______________
Row 3	______________	5
	6	Mattias Ekström
	Tom Kristensen	______________
Row 4	______________	7
	8	Gary Paffett
	Martin Tomczyk	______________
Row 5	______________	9
	10	Laurent Aïello
	Rinaldo Capello	______________
Row 6	______________	11
	12	Jean Alesi
	Bruno Spengler	______________
Row 7	______________	13
	14	Frank Stippler
	Marcel Fässler	______________
Row 8	______________	15
	16	Allan McNish
	Bernd Schneider	______________
Row 9	______________	17
	18	Stefan Mücke
	Pierre Kaffer	______________
Row 10	______________	19
	20	Christian Abt
	Alexandros Margaritis	______________

Race

Results

The final classification of the 2005 Lausitzring II Race is displayed below:

2005 Lausitzring II Race Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	1	Mattias Ekström	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	48	1:03:44.903	1:18.085	10
2nd	3	Gary Paffett	DC Bank AMG-Mercedes	48	+0.401s	1:17.938	8
3rd	5	Tom Kristensen	Audi Team Abt	48	+3.062s	1:17.945	6
4th	11	Laurent Aïello	Team OPC	48	+4.756s	1:17.957	5
5th	12	Manuel Reuter	Team OPC	48	+6.082s	1:18.300	4
6th	20	Bruno Spengler	JG/Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes	48	+18.762s	1:18.087	3
7th	10	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	GMAC/Stern Team OPC	48	+21.368s	1:18.171	2
8th	4	Jean Alesi	DC Bank AMG-Mercedes	48	+23.299s	1:18.117	1
9th	6	Allan McNish	Audi Team Abt	48	+29.766s	1:18.728
10th	2	Martin Tomczyk	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	48	+30.198s	1:18.359
11th	18	Rinaldo Capello	Audi Team Joest	48	+30.553s	1:17.994
12th	8	Mika Häkkinen	Vodafone/SE AMG-Mercedes	48	+34.762s	1:18.228
13th	19	Frank Stippler	Audi Team Joest	48	+36.747s	1:18.567
14th	17	Alexandros Margaritis	Mücke Motorsport	48	+39.608s	1:18.240
Ret	21	Jamie Green	JG/Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes	29	Brakes	1:18.371
Ret	7	Bernd Schneider	Vodafone/SE AMG-Mercedes	19	Puncture	1:18.268
Ret	16	Stefan Mücke	Mücke Motorsport	15	Collision	1:18.923
Ret	14	Christian Abt	Audi Team Joest Racing	14	Collision	1:18.509
Ret	15	Pierre Kaffer	Audi Team Joest Racing	10	Damage	1:18.884
Ret	9	Marcel Fässler	GMAC/Stern Team OPC	0	Collision	—
Source:

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

Milestones

• Tenth win for Mattias Ekström.
• 26th victory for ABT Sportsline as an entrant.
  • Audi secured their 26th win as a manufacturer.

Standings

A third win of the campaign raised defending Champion Mattias Ekström back to the top of the Championship table with two rounds to go, with the Swede having again swapped places with Gary Paffett. Second for Paffett, meanwhile, had left the Brit just a point behind Ekström, while third placed Tom Kristensen was now out of the fight in third. Mika Häkkinen, meanwhile, was too far behind to challenge the Dane for third, but held a two point margin over Jean Alesi in fifth.

In the Teams' Championship DC Bank AMG-Mercedes had retained their lead atop the table, although their advantage had, once again, been chipped away at by their nearest challengers. Indeed, Audi Team Abt Sportsline had moved to within nine of the leaders, while their sister squad Team Abt had slipped 28 behind in third. In the Manufacturers' Championship, meanwhile, Audi had inched further away from AMG-Mercedes at the head of the field, opening out a sixteen point lead.

 

2005 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Mattias Ekström 69 ▲1 2nd Gary Paffett 68 ▼1 3rd Tom Kristensen 47 ◄0 4th Mika Häkkinen 22 ◄0 5th Jean Alesi 20 ◄0 6th Heinz-Harald Frentzen 17 ▲3 7th Christian Abt 16 ▼1 8th Bernd Schneider 16 ▼1 9th Jamie Green 16 ▼1 10th Allan McNish 13 ◄0 11th Martin Tomczyk 10 ◄0 12th Laurent Aïello 9 ▲3 13th Marcel Fässler 9 ▼1 14th Pierre Kaffer 5 ▼1 15th Manuel Reuter 4 ▲4 16th Frank Stippler 4 ▼2 17th Bruno Spengler 3 ◄0 18th Stefan Mücke 3 ▼2 19th Alexandros Margaritis 0 ▼1 20th Rinaldo Capello 0 ▼1

2005 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st DC Bank AMG-Mercedes 88 ◄0 2nd Audi Team Abt Sportsline 79 ◄0 3rd Audi Team Abt 60 ◄0 4th Vodafone/SE AMG-Mercedes 38 ◄0 5th GMAC/Stern Team OPC 26 ◄0 6th Audi Team Joest Racing 21 ◄0 7th JG/Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes 19 ◄0 8th Team OPC 13 ▲1 9th Audi Team Joest 4 ▼1 10th Mücke Motorsport 3 ◄0 2005 Manufacturers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Audi 164 ◄0 2nd AMG-Mercedes 148 ◄0 3rd Opel 39 ◄0

References

Images and Videos:

References: