2005 Lausitzring I Race

2005 Lausitzring I Race
The DTM switched to a shorter version of the Lausitzring.
Race Information
Date	1 May 2005
No.	78 (2 of 2005)
Event	DTM Lausitz I 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	Gary Paffett
Team	DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG-Mercedes
Time
Fastest Lap
Driver	Mika Häkkinen
Team	Vodafone/Sport Edition AMG-Mercedes
Time	1:17.583 on lap 40
Race Result
First	Second	Third
Gary Paffett	Tom Kristensen	Mika Häkkinen
Winner Team	DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG-Mercedes
Time	1:03:21.071
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2005 Hockenheim Opening Race		2005 Spa Race

The 2005 Lausitzring I Race, formally known as the DTM Lausitz I 2005, was the second race of the 2005 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged at the Lausitzring in Klettwitz, Brandenburg, Germany, on 1 May 2005. The race, which was the first to be staged on a tailor made circuit for the DTM at the Lausitzring, would see Gary Paffett storm to his first victory of the campaign.

Qualifying for the second race of the campaign had seen Paffett set the pace, the Brit having stormed to pole position in Super Pole by two tenths of a second. Compatriot Jamie Green was his closest challenger in second, the reigning Formula 3 Euro Series Champion a tenth clear of Mika Häkkinen in third, while Mattias Ekström was the only non-Mercedes pilot in the top six in fourth.

The start of the race saw Paffett instantly charged into the lead, while behind Häkkinen followed the #3 car and charged past Green. Behind, Ekström did enough to beat Bernd Schneider off the grid to hold fourth, who had instead had Martin Tomczyk bounce off the side of his car and cause a puncture on the #2 Audi.

The early laps saw Paffett ease clear at the head of the field, with Häkkinen simply unable to match the sister Mercedes' early pace. Behind the Finn, Green was unable to make much ground, although the F3 Champion did have a seemingly safe margin over Ekström, while Jean Alesi moved past Schneider.

Schneider duly became the first of the lead drivers to stop on lap six, followed in by the leading Opel of Marcel Fässler. Yet, none of the other leading drivers would immediately follow the Mercedes and Opel into the pits, as Green fended off Ekström, while Tom Kristensen bruised his way past Spengler.

Shortly before the rest of the lead group made heir stops the Green-Ekström duel came to a clumsy end, with Ekström punting the rookie off at turn seven with a mistimed lunge. That caused damage to Ekström's car and dropped him out of contention, with Kristensen able to pass without issue, as Paffett and Häkkinen continued to dominate out front.

Indeed, once both rounds of stops were completed Paffett remained in total control of the race, while Häkkinen got caught in traffic behind a late-stopping Pierre Kaffer. That allowed Kristensen to take control of second placed at the head of the Audi charge, although the Dane had no answer to Paffett's pace out front.

Paffett duly swept across the line to secure his first win of the campaign, four seconds clear of Kristensen having controlled the race throughout. Häkkinen completed the podium a second behind the Dane, while Ekström managed to drag his hobbled car to fourth, aided by the fact that stablemates Kaffer and Frank Stippler ran in his wake. Those two hence kept Alesi and Stefan Mücke at bay, with the two Mercedes rounding out the points.

Background

Two weeks after the season opener in Hockenheim the 2005 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters arrived at the Lausitzring for the second round of the campaign, with an unchanged entry list for the field. There had, however, been a change to the EuroSpeedway for the DTM's visit, with a new layout formed specifically for the DTM having been implemented. The main change saw the run along the back straight shortened, resulting in a new cut through back onto the infield circuit that reduced the lap by almost a whole kilometre.

Weight Woes

Ahead of the trip to the Lausitzring the DTM's new ballast system came into play, which saw the manufacturer who scored the most points in the previous round gain weight, and the lowest scoring manufacturer lose weight. For the trip to Lausitz, Mercedes-AMG would run with an additional 10 kg, while Opel, whom had failed to score, would be allowed to run 10 kg light than they had done in Hockenheim. Audi, meanwhile, would run at their original allocated weight.

Alesi Ace

Victory on the opening day of the campaign had, unsurprisingly, left Jean Alesi atop the Championship, the Frenchman having outscored Gary Paffett by two points courtesy of his fifth DTM triumph. Paffett himself had a two point margin over Bernd Schneider in third, while the former Champion had a point in hand over Christian Abt. Also on the board after the first race were defending Champion Mattias Ekström, debutante Jamie Green, Stefan Mücke and ex-Formula One ace Mika Häkkinen.

In the Teams' Championship the de jure first HWA Team entry, sponsored by DaimlerChrysler Bank, led the charge, having claimed a maximum score of eighteen points after Alesi and Paffett's one-two. Their secondary entry carrying Vodafone and Sport Edition sponsorship occupied second, eleven behind, while Audi Team Joest Racing led the anti-HWA charge from third. In the Manufacturers' Championship AMG-Mercedes unsurprisingly led the way after locking out the podium, 21 ahead of Audi, while Opel had failed to score.

Entry List

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

2005 Lausitzring I 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 I Race are outlined below:

2005 Lausitzring I Race Qualifying Result
Super Pole Results
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Ave. Speed	Grid
1st	3	Gary Paffett	DC Bank AMG-Mercedes	1:15.808	—	163.455 km/h	1
2nd	21	Jamie Green	JG/Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes	1:16.015	+0.207s	163.009 km/h	2
3rd	8	Mika Häkkinen	Vodafone/SE AMG-Mercedes	1:16.106	+0.298s	162.815 km/h	3
4th	1	Mattias Ekström	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	1:16.244	+0.436s	162.520 km/h	4
5th	7	Bernd Schneider	Vodafone/SE AMG-Mercedes	1:16.358	+0.550s	162.277 km/h	5
6th	20	Bruno Spengler	JG/Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes	1:16.441	+0.633s	162.101 km/h	6
7th	5	Tom Kristensen	Audi Team Abt	1:16.468	+0.660s	162.044 km/h	7
8th	9	Marcel Fässler	GMAC/Sterm AMG-Mercedes	1:16.581	+0.773s	161.805 km/h	8
9th	2	Martin Tomczyk	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	1:16.596	+0.788s	161.773 km/h	9
10th	16	Stefan Mücke	Mücke Motorsport	1:16.638	+0.830s	161.684 km/h	10
Qualifying Results
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Ave. Speed	Grid
1st	1	Mattias Ekström	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	1:16.064	—	162.904 km/h	SP
2nd	8	Mika Häkkinen	Vodafone/SE AMG-Mercedes	1:16.071	+0.007s	162.889 km/h	SP
3rd	3	Gary Paffett	DC Bank AMG-Mercedes	1:16.163	+0.099s	162.693 km/h	SP
4th	7	Bernd Schneider	Vodafone/SE AMG-Mercedes	1:16.318	+0.254s	162.362 km/h	SP
5th	20	Bruno Spengler	JG/Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes	1:16.342	+0.278s	162.311 km/h	SP
6th	21	Jamie Green	JG/Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes	1:16.404	+0.340s	162.179 km/h	SP
7th	16	Stefan Mücke	Mücke Motorsport	1:16.653	+0.589s	161.653 km/h	SP
8th	5	Tom Kristensen	Audi Team Abt	1:16.694	+0.630s	161.566 km/h	SP
9th	9	Marcel Fässler	GMAC/Stern Team OPC	1:16.723	+0.659s	161.505 km/h	SP
10th	2	Martin Tomczyk	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	1:16.764	+0.700s	161.419 km/h	SP
11th	4	Jean Alesi	DC Bank AMG-Mercedes	1:16.776	+0.712s	161.394 km/h	11
12th	15	Pierre Kaffer	Audi Team Joest Racing	1:16.890	+0.826s	161.154 km/h	12
13th	6	Allan McNish	Audi Team Abt	1:16.901	+0.837s	161.131 km/h	13
14th	19	Frank Stippler	Audi Team Joest	1:16.913	+0.849s	161.106 km/h	14
15th	12	Manuel Reuter	Team OPC	1:16.945	+0.881s	161.039 km/h	15
16th	18	Rinaldo Capello	Audi Team Joest	1:17.073	+1.009s	160.772 km/h	16
17th	10	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	GMAC/Stern Team OPC	1:17.103	+1.039s	160.709 km/h	17
18th	14	Christian Abt	Audi Team Joest Racing	1:17.268	+1.204s	160.366 km/h	18
19th	17	Alexandros Margaritis	Mücke Motorsport	1:17.308	+1.244s	160.283 km/h	19
20th	11	Laurent Aïello	Team OPC	1:17.457	+1.393s	159.975 km/h	20
Source:

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

Grid

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

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

Race

Results

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

2005 Lausitzring I Race Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	3	Gary Paffett	DC Bank AMG-Mercedes	48	1:03:21.071	1:17.707	10
2nd	5	Tom Kristensen	Audi Team Abt	48	+4.472s	1:17.836	8
3rd	8	Mika Häkkinen	Vodafone/SE AMG-Mercedes	48	+6.075s	1:17.583	6
4th	1	Mattias Ekström	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	48	+34.856s	1:17.886	5
5th	15	Pierre Kaffer	Audi Team Joest Racing	48	+35.284s	1:17.701	4
6th	19	Frank Stippler	Audi Team Joest	48	+42.299s	1:18.511	3
7th	4	Jean Alesi	DC Bank AMG-Mercedes	48	+45.719s	1:18.009	2
8th	16	Stefan Mücke	Mücke Motorsport	48	+51.612s	1:18.277	1
9th	14	Christian Abt	Audi Team Joest Racing	48	+51.639s	1:18.001
10th	11	Laurent Aïello	Team OPC	48	+54.376s	1:18.464
11th	18	Rinaldo Capello	Audi Team Joest	48	+58.430s	1:18.772
12th	2	Martin Tomczyk	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	48	+1:00.167	1:18.007
13th	9	Marcel Fässler	GMAC/Stern Team OPC	48	+1:10.800	1:18.132
14th	10	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	GMAC/Stern Team OPC	48	+1:19.231	1:18.674
15th	20	Bruno Spengler	JG/Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes	47	+1 Lap	1:18.029
16th	12	Manuel Reuter	Team OPC	45	+3 Laps	1:18.558
17th	7	Bernd Schneider	Vodafone/SE AMG-Mercedes	39	Engine	1:18.531
Ret	6	Allan McNish	Audi Team Abt	23	Collision	1:18.651
Ret	17	Alexandros Margaritis	Mücke Motorsport	20	Damage	1:19.001
Ret	21	Jamie Green	JG/Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes	11	Collision	1:18.230
Source:

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

Milestones

• Fourth win for Gary Paffett.
• HWA Team claimed their 44th win as an entrant.
  • AMG-Mercedes secured their 46th win as a manufacturer.
• Maiden podium finish for Mika Häkkinen.
  • Häkkinen recorded his first fastest lap.
• Maiden points finishes for Pierre Kaffer and Frank Stippler.

Standings

Victory moved Gary Paffett to the top of the Championship after his first win of the campaign, with the Brit having moved six clear of teammate Jean Alesi, the former leader. Mattias Ekström was up to third as he mounted his title defence, while Tom Kristensen had moved up to fourth ahead of Mika Häkkinen to make it three Scandinavian drivers in the top five. Bernd Schneider was next up ahead of Christian Abt, with eleven drivers having scored in the first two rounds.

DC Bank AMG-Mercedes headed the charge in the Teams' Championship, having claimed 30 points in the first two races. Sister squad Vodafone/SE AMG-Mercedes occupied second, while Audi Team Joest Racing completed the early top three. In the Manufacturers' Championship AMG-Mercedes continued to head the charge after two wins in two races, twenty ahead of Audi in second.

 

2005 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Gary Paffett 18 ▲1 2nd Jean Alesi 12 ▼1 3rd Mattias Ekström 9 ▲2 4th Tom Kristensen 8 ▲10 5th Mika Häkkinen 7 ▲3 6th Bernd Schneider 6 ▼3 7th Christian Abt 5 ▼3 8th Pierre Kaffer 4 ▲5 9th Frank Stippler 3 ▲1 10th Jamie Green 3 ▼4 11th Stefan Mücke 3 ▼4

2005 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st DC Bank AMG-Mercedes 30 ◄0 2nd Vodafone/SE AMG-Mercedes 13 ◄0 3rd Audi Team Joest Racing 9 ◄0 4th Audi Team Abt Sportsline 9 ◄0 5th Audi Team Abt 8 ▲2 6th Audi Team Joest 3 ▲4 7th JG/Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes 3 ▼2 8th Mücke Motorsport 3 ▼2 9th GMAC/Stern Team OPC 0 ▼1 10th Team OPC 0 ▼1 2005 Manufacturers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st AMG-Mercedes 49 ◄0 2nd Audi 29 ◄0 3rd Opel 0 ◄0

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.

References

Images and Videos:

References: