2013 Brands Hatch Race

2013 Brands Hatch Race
File:Brands Hatch Indy.png The DTM's final battle around the Indy Circuit.
Race Information
Date	19 May 2013
No.	141
Event	DTM Brands Hatch 2013
Location	Brands Hatch Indy Circuit West Kingsdown, Kent, UK
Format	Championship Race
Lap length	1.929 km (1.198 mi)
Distance	98 laps / 189.042 km (117.465 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Mike Rockenfeller
Team	Audi Sport Team Phoenix
Time	41.193
Fastest Lap
Driver	Gary Paffett
Team	Euronics/Thomas Sabo AMG Mercedes
Time	42.124 on lap 11
Race Result
First	Second	Third
Mike Rockenfeller	Bruno Spengler	Robert Wickens
Winner Team	Audi Sport Team Phoenix
Time	1:11.28.719
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2013 Hockenheim Opening Race		2013 Spielberg Race

The 2013 Brands Hatch Race, formally known as the DTM Brands Hatch 2013 Race was the second round of the 2013 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, held on the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, UK on 19 May 2013. The race, which would be the last DTM round to be staged on the Indy Circuit, would see Mike Rockenfeller secure his first win of the campaign.

Qualifying had seen Martin Tomczyk claim pole position, although the German racer was subsequently disqualified after his car was found to be underweight. As a result, Rockenfeller was promoted onto pole position alongside Augusto Farfus, while the best Mercedes driver appeared in the form of Gary Paffett down in eleventh.

The start of the race saw Rockenfeller ease ahead of Farfus off the grid, with the duo leading the rest of the field into Paddock Hill Bend. Joey Hand, meanwhile, would tumble out of the lead group after a miserable getaway, allowing Bruno Spengler to climb into third ahead of Marco Wittmann.

The early laps saw Rockenfeller secure himself at the head of the race, while Spengler challenged Farfus for second as the order stabilised. Elsewhere, Tomczyk would make a lot of early progress after being thrown to the back of the grid, rising to fifteenth before DRS came on-line on lap three.

As Tomczyk moved up the field thoughts quickly turned to the pitstop window, with the majority of the drivers having started on option tyres. However, it was those on harder prime tyres who made the first stops, with everyone bar Timo Glock and Jamie Green using the harder rubber stopping before lap ten.

Indeed, it was only when Andy Priaulx stopped on lap 25 that those on softs would begin to stop, although it was not long before the rest of the field made their stops. Indeed, only Edoardo Mortara and Miguel Molina would take their tyres beyond the halfway mark, as behind Roberto Merhi earned himself a penalty for pushing Tomczyk onto the grass.

Once the remaining drivers had stopped the race settled down, with Rockenfeller continuing to eek out his lead, while Farfus held a comfortable second. However, Rockenfeller had gambled on a two-stop strategy and hence would stop again with 30 laps to go, handing Farfus a comfortable advantage.

Yet, moments after inheriting the lead the Brazilian was out, with a gearbox failure ending his race prematurely to promote Rockenfeller back into the lead. With that the race was over, with Rockenfeller sweeping across the line ahead of Spengler, while Paffett secured third, only to be hit with a time penalty. Robert Wickens was hence promoted onto the podium for the first time ahead of Wittmann, with Hand, Paffett, Mattias Ekström, Christian Vietoris, Timo Scheider and Pascal Wehrlein completing the scorers.

Background

Two weeks after the season opener there was little change in the DTM paddock, with rave reviews of the new rules. Qualifying was slightly modified for Brands Hatch, however, with the numbers eliminated in Q2 dropped to six, with a further six relegated in Q3. Otherwise, there was little to report ahead of the first non-German race of the season.

Opening Outlines

Augusto Farfus' victory in Hockenheim saw him lead the DTM Championship, ahead of Dirk Werner whom had impressed in his drive to second from twentieth in the opening round. Christian Vietoris led the Mercedes challenge from third, ahead of home comer Gary Paffett, with defending Champion Bruno Spengler fifth. Timo Scheider was the best of the Audi drivers in sixth, while débutante Marco Wittmann found himself in ninth, the best of those taking their first steps in DTM.

Farfus' win, combined with the six points scored for Joey Hand left BMW Team RBM at the head of the Teams' Championship, ahead of BMW Team Schnitzer. The two Mercedes backed HWA Teams trailed in third and fourth, while Audi Team Abt led the Audi charge in fifth. It had been a disappointing opening weekend for the Ingolstadt squad, already 30 points off of BMW, although they were only just behind Mercedes.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2013 Brands Hatch Race is displayed below:

2013 Brands Hatch Race Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Livery
1	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW	M3 DTM 12	File:SPE 13 Livery.png
2	Dirk Werner	BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW	M3 DTM 12	File:WER 13 Livery.png
3	Gary Paffett	Euronics/Thomas Sabo Mercedes AMG	AMG Mercedes	C-Coupé 12	File:PAF 13 Livery.png
4	Roberto Merhi	Euronics/Thomas Sabo Mercedes AMG	AMG Mercedes	C-Coupé 12	File:MEH 13 Livery.png
5	Edoardo Mortara	Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi	RS5 DTM 12	File:MOR 13 Livery.png
6	Filipe Albuquerque	Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi	RS5 DTM 12	File:ALB 13 Livery.png
7	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team RBM	BMW	M3 DTM 12	File:FAR 13 Livery.png
8	Joey Hand	BMW Team RBM	BMW	M3 DTM 12	File:WER 13 Livery.png
9	Christian Vietoris	STIHL/AMG Mercedes	AMG Mercedes	C-Coupé 12	File:VIE 13 Livery.png
10	Robert Wickens	STIHL/AMG Mercedes	AMG Mercedes	C-Coupé 12	File:WIC 13 Livery.png
11	Mattias Ekström	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi	RS5 DTM 12	File:EKS 13 Livery.png
12	Jamie Green	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi	RS5 DTM 12	File:GRE 13 Livery.png
15	Martin Tomczyk	BMW Team RMG	BMW	M3 DTM 12	File:TOM 13 Livery.png
16	Andy Priaulx	BMW Team RMG	BMW	M3 DTM 12	File:PRI 13 Livery.png
17	Daniel Juncadella	Stern/AMG Mercedes	AMG Mercedes	C-Coupé 12	File:JUN 13 Livery.png
18	Vitaly Petrov	Stern/AMG Mercedes	AMG Mercedes	C-Coupé 12	File:PET 13 Livery.png
19	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi	RS5 DTM 12	File:ROC 13 Livery.png
20	Miguel Molina	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi	RS5 DTM 12	File:MOL 13 Livery.png
21	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team MTEK	BMW	M3 DTM 12	File:WIT 13 Livery.png
22	Timo Glock	BMW Team MTEK	BMW	M3 DTM 12	File:GLO 13 Livery.png
23	Timo Scheider	Audi Sport Team Abt	Audi	RS5 DTM 12	File:TSC 13 Livery.png
24	Adrien Tambay	Audi Sport Team Abt	Audi	RS5 DTM 12	File:TAM 13 Livery.png
Source:

Qualifying

A dry and warm late spring afternoon greeted the field for qualifying on Saturday, with the impressive practice pace suggesting that the qualifying lap record was about to be smashed. The modified qualifying format was also on display for the first time, further heightening the intrigue.

Q1

Mike Rockenfeller was the first man to hit the circuit as Q1 started, immediately setting a time under 0:42.000, before finding another three tenths to top the session. The fifteen minute session, and the short layout of the Brands Hatch circuit, saw the order constantly shift, with almost every driver completing five laps before the halfway mark. Only Christian Vietoris and Martin Tomczyk had not reached that mark, neither having hit the circuit at all, although it was not long before they both did so.

Impressive first laps for Tomczyk and Vietoris saw them shoot to first and fourth respectively, as a final burst of times signalled the end of the session. Marco Wittmann went fastest with his last run to end the session fastest, also managing to leap to safety as the barrier to elimination shifted. Out of qualifying were Vietoris, Roberto Merhi, Pascal Wehrlein and Daniel Juncadella (all Mercedes), as well as Filipe Albuquerque and Jamie Green for Audi, as all eight BMWs survived.

Q2

Like Q1, Rockenfeller hit the circuit fast and hard, although Miguel Molina was quick to displace him. They continued to swap the fastest time between them throughout the first part of the 11 minute session, before Tomczyk went fastest by half a tenth. By the halfway point of Q2, Mercedes looked set to lose one of their two remaining cars, with Audi losing two and BMW dropping three.

As was the case earlier, the final moments of Q2 saw the order shuffle relentlessly as drivers completed their last attempts. Gary Paffett dragged himself to seventh, joining Robert Wickens in the safe zone, only to be relegated to twelfth and out during the final flurry. Wickens also dropped out after slipping to fourteenth, meaning all six Mercedes were outside the top ten, joined by Dirk Werner and Timo Glock, the first of the BMW casualties in qualifying. Mattias Ekström and Adrien Tambay completed the elimination order for Audi.

Q3

The eleven minute Q3 session was led out by Rockenfeller once again, although several drivers, notably Bruno Spengler, opted to stay in the pits. Tomczyk went out early too, and was quick to establish himself at the top of the time sheet, Rockenfeller and Molina scrapping for second. Augusto Farfus then split them by taking third, before Spengler's first lap sent him into the top four, only to be displaced by Joey Hand. The top four would remain untroubled for the rest of Q3, as Rockenfeller, Tomczyk, Farfus and Hand survived to go through to the Pole Shootout.

Pole Shootout

First onto the circuit for the Shootout was Hand, but a mistake for the American racer on his only lap meant he went slower than he had in Q3, leaving him fourth. Farfus went next, unable to match his Q3 time either, but was significantly faster than Hand to go fastest, before being edged out by 0.004s by Rockenfeller. Tomczyk was last onto the circuit, and found half a tenth to top the times and take pole, in a session where the final times for all 22 drivers were split by just six tenths of a second.

Post-Qualifying

After qualifying, Tomczyk was excluded from the results for having an underweight car. All of the German's times from qualifying were wiped out, meaning Rockenfeller would start from pole, and Tomczyk from the very back of the grid.

The final qualifying result for the 2013 Brands Hatch Race are outlined below:

2013 Brands Hatch Race Qualifying Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team		Q1			Q2			Q3			Q4		Grid
					Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time
1st	19	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix		10th	41.545		7th	41.234		2nd	41.166		2nd	41.193	1
2nd	7	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team RBM		7th	41.510		8th	41.259		3rd	41.173		3rd	41.197	2
3rd	8	Joey Hand	BMW Team RBM		13th	41.629		9th	41.311		4th	41.267		4th	41.460	3
4th	1	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team Schnitzer		6th	41.486		5th	41.194		5th	41.274				4
5th	23	Timo Scheider	Audi Team Abt		3rd	41.460		6th	41.223		6th	41.282				5
6th	21	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team MTEK		1st	41.369		3rd	41.165		7th	41.293				6
7th	16	Andy Priaulx	BMW Team RMG		14th	41.658		10th	41.327		8th	41.358				7
8th	5	Edoardo Mortara	Audi Team Rosberg		15th	41.671		4th	41.179		9th	41.394				8
9th	20	Miguel Molina	Audi Team Phoenix		2nd	41.381		1st	41.085		10th	41.472				9
10th	22	Timo Glock	BMW Team MTEK		4th	41.465		11th	41.353							10
11th	3	Gary Paffett	Eur/TS Mercedes AMG		16th	41.683		12th	41.363							11
12th	11	Mattias Ekström	Audi Team Abt Sportsline		8th	41.521		13th	41.401							12
13th	10	Robert Wickens	STIHL/AMG Mercedes		12th	41.624		14th	41.440							13
14th	2	Dirk Werner	BMW Team Schnitzer		5th	41.468		15th	41.480							14
15th	24	Adrien Tambay	Audi Team Abt		11th	41.596		16th	41.539							15
16th	9	Christian Vietoris	STIHL/AMG Mercedes		17th	41.709										16
17th	12	Jamie Green	Audi Team Abt Sportsline		18th	41.727										17
18th	6	Filipe Albuquerque	Audi Team Rosberg		19th	41.745										18
19th	4	Roberto Merhi	Eur/TS Mercedes AMG		20th	41.748										19
20th	18	Pascal Wehrlein	Stern/AMG Mercedes		21st	41.783										20
21st	17	Daniel Juncadella	Stern/AMG Mercedes		22nd	41.787										21
107% Time: 44.264
EXC*	15	Martin Tomczyk	BMW Team RMG	9th	41.540	2nd	41.146	1st	41.109	1st	41.158	22
Source:

• Bold indicates the fastest driver's time in each session.
• * Tomczyk excluded from the results for having an underweight car.

Grid

The starting grid for the 2013 Brands Hatch Race in shown below:

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
		______________
Row 1	______________	1
	2	Mike Rockenfeller
	Augusto Farfus	______________
Row 2	______________	3
	4	Joey Hand
	Bruno Spengler	______________
Row 3	______________	5
	6	Timo Scheider
	Marco Wittmann	______________
Row 4	______________	7
	8	Andy Priaulx
	Edoardo Mortara	______________
Row 5	______________	9
	10	Miguel Molina
	Timo Glock	______________
Row 6	______________	11
	12	Gary Paffett
	Mattias Ekström	______________
Row 7	______________	13
	14	Robert Wickens
	Dirk Werner	______________
Row 8	______________	15
	16	Adrien Tambay
	Christian Vietoris	______________
Row 9	______________	17
	18	Jamie Green
	Filipe Albuquerque	______________
Row 10	______________	19
	20	Roberto Merhi
	Pascal Wehrlein	______________
Row 11	______________	21
	22	Daniel Juncadella
	Martin Tomczyk	______________

Race

The first non-overcast day of the weekend saw track temperatures smash through the 30°C barrier as the start time approached, with the tyre choices announced in the morning. Fans were optimistic of an exciting race, despite Brands Hatch's reputation among the DTM drivers for lacking overtaking, largely due to its flowing nature. Yet, with Martin Tomczyk out of place after being excluded from qualifying having set fastest lap, many were hoping to see the German fight through the field and challenge for the win.

Report

It was a stalemate on the front row at the start, as Mike Rockenfeller held onto the lead from Augusto Farfus into Paddock Hill Bend, the pair getting identical starts. The same could not be said for Joey Hand as the American tumbled down the order, although all 22 cars left the grid in short order. Bruno Spengler and Marco Wittmann made ground to sit third and fourth respectively, with Timo Scheider also making his way past Hand before the end of the lap.

The familiar brawl in the midfield saw the order shift constantly during the opening laps, although none could match the progress of Tomczyk's charge. By the time DRS was activated on lap three, the German was in the top fifteen, and setting up a move on Adrien Tambay into Druids. A lap later and Tomczyk was twelfth, benefiting from early stops from Tambay, Gary Paffett and Mattias Ekström, who switched to softer rubber.

That began the slow trickle of cars into the pits, with Dirk Werner and Christian Vietoris the latest to make the switch as the Rockenfeller and Farfus settled into a steady rhythm at the front of the field. Timo Glock and Roberto Merhi, meanwhile, were squabbling for tenth place as their rivals began to stop, allowing Tomczyk to loom ever closer to the points. A clean driver for Merhi out of Druids set the Spaniard up perfectly for a dive down the inside of the German into Graham Hill Bend, forcing Glock to run wide on the exit and across the grass.

Glock and Jamie Green remained the only drivers to start on the hard tyres to stay out as the first ten laps were completed, as Rockenfeller caught those who had. Green proceeded to take Glock with an impressive move down the inside of Paddock Hill Bend, catching the German by surprise, before stopping in the pits a couple of laps later. Rockenfeller, meanwhile, was beginning to pull clear of Farfus, establishing a one and a half second lead at the fifteen lap mark, as several drivers thought about taking off their soft tyres.

Green emerged from his stop a lap down on the leaders, but his attempts to get past Farfus caused both to lose time, the Brit being on fresher rubber. Andy Priaulx, meanwhile, was running in the top ten at his home race, stopping on lap 25 for the hard tyres. He emerged down in sixteenth, just ahead of Tambay, although the Frenchman had the momentum going through Paddock Hill Bend, and so lined up a move into Druids. Priaulx moved to cover the dive, but Tambay was committed and ultimately spun the Brit round, pushing Priaulx to the back and himself into the pitlane with a drive-through.

The leaders steadily made their way into the pits for their first stops after the 30 lap mark, Farfus coming in before Rockenfeller in an attempt to run in clean air and catch up. Tomczyk, meanwhile, was continuing to move up the field, finding himself behind Merhi in a battle for fourteenth after his stop. A better exit out of Druids for the German saw him get alongside Merhi into the braking for Graham Hill Bend, but the Spaniard had the upper hand, and eased Tomczyk onto the grass on the outside of the corner. Tomczyk spun as a result, rejoining after a significant amount of time lost, while Merhi was handed a penalty for causing his dramas.

By the halfway mark only Edoardo Mortara and Miguel Molina were yet to stop, although that was rectified a lap later, as Rockenfeller continued to extend his lead. Farfus and Spengler were trying hard to catch the German but continued to be hampered by traffic, while Scheider fended off Wittmann for fourth.  The best Mercedes driver was Robert Wickens, whose unusually quiet race left him running in seventh, as several of his stablemates opted to make early second stops.

Merhi soon found himself back in the pits, this time for ignoring blue flags, a drive through the punishment for the infringement. Priaulx also incurred the penalty as Rockenfeller made his second stop with 30 laps to go, handing the lead to Farfus. Or so it should have, but the Brazilian was suddenly struck with a gearbox issue, causing him to tumble down the order before coming to a stop down on the main straight. Farfus did manage to drag his car far enough of the circuit to prevent a safety car, but that was of little solace for him, as he was out of the race.

The final third of the race saw a calm emerge across the field, as the battle at the front of the field disappeared. Final stops for most of the drivers did little to shuffle the order, until an incident with just thirteen laps to go. Ekstrom was duelling with Mortara into Graham Hill Bend, only to be elbowed off the circuit by his team mate, a move which earned Mortara a trip through the pitlane. It was a fateful delay for the Italian, however, as he crashed out a couple of laps later, losing control through McLaren.

As Mortara's car was dragged away under yellow flags, the race came to a conclusion, with Rockenfeller winning for the second time, ahead of Spengler. Gary Paffett finished third after having Wickens fight a rear guard action on his behalf for the final fifteen laps or so, the Canadian successfully defending the position from Wittmann and Hand in the final stages. Also of note was the performance of Pascal Wehrlein, who claimed his first point after a late charge to finish tenth.

After the race, Paffett was handed a five second penalty for failing to slow sufficiently for yellow flags, meaning he dropped to sixth, promoting Wickens to the podium for the first time.

Results

The final classification of the 2013 Brands Hatch Race is displayed below:

2013 Brands Hatch Race Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Time	Strat.	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	19	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	98	1:11:28.719	-	42.179	25
2nd	1	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team Schnitzer	98	+7.641s	-	42.220	18
3rd	10	Robert Wickens	STIHL/AMG Mercedes	98	+24.368s	-	42.547	15
4th	21	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team MTEK	98	+24.964s	-	42.311	12
5th	8	Joey Hand	BMW Team RBM	98	+26.076s	-	42.274	10
6th*	3	Gary Paffett	Eur/TS Mercedes AMG	98	+27.071s	-	42.124	8
7th	11	Mattias Ekström	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	98	+36.523s	-	42.160	6
8th	9	Christian Vietoris	STIHL/AMG Mercedes	98	+38.940s	-	42.494	4
9th	23	Timo Scheider	Audi Team Abt	98	+39.519s	-	42.333	2
10th	18	Pascal Wehrlein	Stern/AMG Mercedes	98	+40.290s	-	42.507	1
11th	20	Miguel Molina	Audi Team Phoenix	98	+50.853s	-	42.351
12th	2	Dirk Werner	BMW Team Schnitzer	97	+1 Lap	-	42.273
13th	15	Martin Tomczyk	BMW Team RMG	97	+1 Lap	-	42.626
14th	22	Timo Glock	BMW Team MTEK	97	+1 Lap	-	42.807
15th	12	Jamie Green	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	97	+1 Lap	-	42.893
16th	4	Roberto Merhi	Eur/TS Mercedes AMG	97	+1 Lap	-	42.388
17th	6	Filipe Albuquerque	Audi Team Rosberg	97	+1 Lap	-	42.787
18th	24	Adrien Tambay	Audi Team Abt	97	+1 Lap	-	42.500
19th	16	Andy Priaulx	BMW Team RMG	96	+2 Laps	-	42.508
20th	17	Daniel Juncadella	Stern/AMG Mercedes	96	+2 Laps	-	42.924
21st*	5	Edoardo Mortara	Audi Team Rosberg	87	Collision	-	42.399
Ret	7	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team RBM	65	Gearbox	-	42.193
Source:

• Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
• Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
• * Paffett penalised five seconds for failing to slow sufficiently for yellow flags.

Milestones

• Final DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship race to be staged on the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit.
  • This was also the last race at Brands Hatch until 2018.
• Second career win for Mike Rockenfeller.
• Maiden podium finish for Robert Wickens.
• Maiden points finish for Pascal Wehrlein.

Standings

Victory handed Mike Rockenfeller the lead in the Championship, one point ahead of defending Champion Bruno Spengler, as Augusto Farfus' retirement saw him slip to third. Gary Paffett remained in fourth as both the best Brit and best Mercedes driver as the field began to form. Christian Vietoris completed the top five, with Robert Wickens, Pascal Wehrlein and Mattias Ekström adding their name to the scorers list in 2013.

BMW established an already daunting lead in the Brands' Championship, leading Mercedes by almost twice the point tally already. Audi had made ground in both Brands and Teams' Championships, Audi Team Phoenix moving up to fourth, ahead of Eur/TS Mercedes AMG. BMW Team Schnitzer took over the lead of the Teams' battle from BMW Team RBM, and had pulled a small gap to the first non-BMW team.

2013 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Mike Rockenfeller 29 ▲7 2nd Bruno Spengler 28 ▲3 3rd Augusto Farfus 25 ▼2 4th Gary Paffett 20 ◄0 5th Christian Vietoris 19 ▼2 6th Dirk Werner 18 ▼4 7th Joey Hand 16 ◄0 8th Robert Wickens 15 ▲10 9th Marco Wittmann 14 ◄0 10th Timo Scheider 10 ▼4 11th Mattias Ekström 6 ▲1 12th Pascal Wehrlein 1 ▼1 13th Roberto Merhi 1 ▼3

2013 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st BMW Team Schnitzer 46 ▲1 2nd BMW Team RBM 41 ▼1 3rd STIHL/AMG Mercedes 34 ◄0 4th Audi Team Phoenix 29 ▲1 5th Eur/TS Mercedes AMG 21 ▼1 6th BMW Team MTEK 14 ▲1 7th Audi Team Abt 10 ▼1 8th Audi Team Abt Sportsline 6 ▲1 9th Stern/AMG Mercedes 1 ▲1 2013 Manufacturers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st BMW 101 ◄0 2 Mercedes 56 ◄0 3 Audi 45 ◄0

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.

References

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