2013 Nürburgring Race

2013 Nürburgring Race
The short layout of the Nürburgring
Race Information
Date	18 August 2013
No.	146
Event	DTM Nürburg 2013
Location	Nürburgring GP-Strecke Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Format	Championship Race
Lap length	3.629 km (2.255 mi)
Distance	45 laps / 163.305 km (101.473 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Augusto Farfus
Team	BMW Team RBM
Time	1:23.296
Fastest Lap
Driver	Pascal Wehrlein
Team	Stern/AMG Mercedes
Time	1:23.835 on lap 42
Race Result
First	Second	Third
Robert Wickens	Augusto Farfus	Christian Vietoris
Winner Team	HWA Team
Time	1:15:33.710
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2013 Moscow Raceway Race		2013 Oschersleben Race

The 2013 Nürburgring Race, otherwise known as the DTM Nürburg 2013 Race, served as the seventh round of the 2013 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged on a short version of the Nürburgring GP-Strecke in Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany on 18 August 2013. The race would see Robert Wickens sweep to victory for the first time, despite starting the race from seventh on the grid.

Qualifying had seen Augusto Farfus charge to pole position, beating rookie Marco Wittmann in a sister BMW by a tenth and a half. Miguel Molina and Edoardo Mortara would share the second row for Audi, while Gary Paffett and Daniel Juncadella shared the third for Mercedes.

The start of the race would coincide with a heavy, unexpected, downpour just as the lights went out, causing chaos throughout the field. Indeed, with the entire field on slicks it would be carnage in the first few corners, with multiple collisions sending cars spinning off track.

Unsurprisingly the Safety Car was called out before the end of the opening tour, with Joey Hand out of the race and in the gravel at turn one. However, there would be no en-masse dive into the pits from the field for wet tyres, although Mike Rockenfeller, one of those to get spun at the first corner would pit.

The restart came at the start of lap three, and it was instantly clear that Rockenfeller was the only man able to find grip. The German racer duly began to carve his way up the field from the back, climbing from 21st to fourteenth during the course of the restart lap.

The rest of the field would come in once the pits were officially opened for drivers to make their compulsory stops, with Farfus the first to do so at the head of the field. Wittmann assumed the lead before making his stop, leaving Rockenfeller with a comfortable margin at the head of the field.

The ploy had worked for Rockenfeller, although the German would still have to make two more stops before the end of the race, for his first stop had been made before the pits officially opened. Behind, the field would steadily sort itself out, with Farfus pacing Rockenfeller out front, albeit nearly a full pit stop behind, while Adrien Tambay was a comfortable third.

The second round of stops would provide little change to the order, although the swap of tyres would work beautifully for Wickens, whose pace instantly increased. Indeed, the Canadian racer would steadily climb up the field to challenge Farfus and Tambay during the final third of the race, before dancing his Mercedes past the pair of them through turn two.

With ten laps to go Rockenfeller dived in to complete his third stop of the afternoon, handing Wickens the lead. The German racer rejoined in fifth behind a charging Christian Vietoris, who would go on to drag the Phoenix Audi past Tambay in the closing stages.

With that the race was run, with Wickens sweeping across the line to secure an impressive maiden victory, two seconds clear of Farfus. Vietoris was next up ahead of Rockenfeller, while Martin Tomczyk completed a late move on Tambay to secure sixth. Wittmann was next up ahead of Miguel Molina, while Jamie Green and Pascal Wehrlein survived the conditions to secure the remaining points.

Background

Mike Rockenfeller headed to his home race with a 27 point lead over Bruno Spengler at the head of the DTM Championship of 2013. Gary Paffett and Christian Vietoris were separated by a point in their battle for third, with Augusto Farfus returning to the top five in the Championship in Moscow. Mattias Ekström managed to break into the top ten for the first time all season with a podium in the previous round, while Adrien Tambay had scored for the first time, leaving three drivers yet to score.

HWA Team II led the Teams' Championship having been the only team to so far break the 100 point barrier in 2013. Audi Team Phoenix, meanwhile, had moved up to second in the Championship, overtaking BMW Team Schnitzer as both began to catch the leaders. All eleven teams had scored in 2013, while BMW broke through the 200 point mark, with Audi drawing in Mercedes for second.

Entry List

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

2013 Nürburgring 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 warm mid-August afternoon played host the DTM qualifying session at the Nürburgring, with very little likelihood of a Russian President making a fly pass. That meant that the qualifying session would follow the now familiar four part knock out system, with six cars being eliminated in the first three segments, before the final four drivers fought for pole.

Q1

Roberto Merhi left the pitlane first to signal the start of the session, although it was Championship leader Mike Rockenfeller who set the pace. Gary Paffett also seemed to be on the pace, before Miguel Molina went top and broke the 1:24.000 barrier. Robert Wickens and Rockenfeller were the next men to spend time at the top, although it was Marco Wittmann who topped the times at the halfway point in the session.

As usual, the second half of the session proved the most frantic as all 22 drivers attempted to improve their earlier times. One of those men was Filipe Albuquerque, who just managed to get into the safe zone with his final lap, before being pushed out as others completed their laps. Joining him on the sidelines were stable mate Timo Scheider, as well as Merhi for Mercedes, and three BMWs in Martin Tomczyk, Andy Priaulx and Dirk Werner.

Q2

First man to set a time in Q2 was Jamie Green, although his first lap was edged out by Christian Vietoris soon after. Next man to go top was Edoardo Mortara, who held that position through the halfway point in the session, only to be toppled by Vietoris with three minutes to go. They remained 1-2 until the end, as Rockenfeller, Green, Timo Glock, Adrien Tambay, Pascal Wehrlein and Joey Hand fell by the wayside.

Q3

The final elimination round of the session saw Mortara streak onto the circuit first, the Italian going on to set the early pace. Wittmann bested his time shortly before the halfway point, and remained fastest to get through into the pole shootout. Joining him were Augusto Farfus, Molina and Mortara, after Vietoris, who had set the fastest time of the weekend to set the pace in Q2, failed to match his earlier pace.

Pole Shootout

Mortara was the first man to go for a pole run, although an error affected lap saw him drop out of contention before the others had even started their attempts. Molina was next, knocking Mortara to second only to be beaten by Farfus, who completed a lap just a fraction of a second slower than Vietoris' Q2 time. Wittmann was the last man onto the circuit, searching for his first pole in the DTM, but would have to settle for second, only narrowly beating Molina's time.

Post-Qualifying

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

2013 Nürburgring Race Qualifying Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team		Q1			Q2			Q3			Q4		Grid
					Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time
1st	7	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team RBM		14th	1:23.901		8th	1:23.525		2nd	1:23.392		1st	1:23.296	1
2nd	21	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team MTEK		7th	1:23.737		7th	1:23.499		1st	1:23.332		2nd	1:23.445	2
3rd	20	Miguel Molina	Audi Team Phoenix		8th	1:23.747		4th	1:23.396		3rd	1:23.481		3rd	1:23.451	3
4th	5	Edoardo Mortara	Audi Team Rosberg		2nd	1:23.526		2nd	1:23.332		4th	1:23.506		4th	1:23.648	4
5th	3	Gary Paffett	Eur/TS Mercedes AMG		5th	1:23.695		10th	1:23.546		5th	1:23.514				5
6th	17	Daniel Juncadella	Stern/AMG Mercedes		6th	1:23.724		3rd	1:23.363		6th	1:23.617				6
7th	10	Robert Wickens	STIHL/AMG Mercedes		11th	1:23.786		5th	1:23.464		7th	1:23.688				7
8th	9	Christian Vietoris	STIHL/AMG Mercedes		3rd	1:23.625		1st	1:23.241		8th	1:23.688				8
9th	11	Mattias Ekström	Audi Team Abt Sportsline		15th	1:23.902		9th	1:23.530		9th	1:23.803				9
10th	1	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team Schnitzer		16th	1:23.904		6th	1:23.466		10th	1:23.822				10
11th	19	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix		1st	1:23.522		11th	1:23.555							11
12th	12	Jamie Green	Audi Team Abt Sportsline		13th	1:23.893		12th	1:23.574							12
13th	22	Timo Glock	BMW Team MTEK		4th	1:23.636		13th	1:23.665							13
14th	24	Adrien Tambay	Audi Team Abt		12th	1:23.805		14th	1:23.684							14
15th	18	Pascal Wehrlein	Stern/AMG Mercedes		9th	1:23.772		15th	1:23.687							15
16th	8	Joey Hand	BMW Team RBM		10th	1:23.778		16th	1:23.737							16
17th	6	Filipe Albuquerque	Audi Team Rosberg		17th	1:23.914										17
18th	23	Timo Scheider	Audi Team Abt		18th	1:24.091										18
19th	2	Dirk Werner	BMW Team Schnitzer		19th	1:24.198										19
20th	15	Martin Tomczyk	BMW Team RMG		20th	1:24.225										20
21st	4	Roberto Merhi	Eur/TS Mercedes AMG		21st	1:24.359										21
22nd	16	Andy Priaulx	BMW Team RMG		22nd	1:24.505										22
107% Time: 1:29.774
Source:

• Bold indicates the fastest driver's time in each session.

Grid

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

Race

Results

The final classification of the 2013 Nürburgring Race is displayed below:

2013 Nürburgring Race Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps*	Time	Strat.	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	10	Robert Wickens	STIHL/AMG Mercedes	45	1:15:33.710	--	1:24.251	25
2nd	7	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team RBM	45	+2.158s	--	1:24.419	18
3rd	9	Christian Vietoris	STIHL/AMG Mercedes	45	+9.749s	--	1:24.085	15
4th	19	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	45	+20.524s	---	1:24.502	12
5th	15	Martin Tomczyk	BMW Team RMG	45	+27.104s	--	1:24.222	10
6th	24	Adrien Tambay	Audi Team Abt	45	+27.523s	--	1:23.955	8
7th	21	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team MTEK	45	+29.450s	--	1:24.074	6
8th	20	Miguel Molina	Audi Team Phoenix	45	+33.037s	--	1:23.895	4
9th	12	Jamie Green	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	45	+39.972s	--	1:24.425	2
10th	18	Pascal Wehrlein	Stern/AMG Mercedes	45	+40.486s	--	1:23.835	1
11th	6	Filipe Albuquerque	Audi Team Rosberg	45	+40.908s	--	1:24.052
12th	5	Edoardo Mortara	Audi Team Rosberg	45	+42.629s	--	1:24.384
13th	11	Mattias Ekström	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	45	+46.303s	--	1:24.497
14th	1	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team Schnitzer	45	+51.991s	--	1:24.585
15th	2	Dirk Werner	BMW Team Schnitzer	45	+57.649s	--	1:24.326
16th	16	Andy Priaulx	BMW Team RMG	45	+1:21.517	--	1:24.861
17th	3	Gary Paffett	Eur/TS Mercedes AMG	44	+1 Lap	--	1:23.852
18th	22	Timo Glock	BMW Team MTEK	44	+1 Lap	--	1:24.375
19th	4	Roberto Merhi	Eur/TS Mercedes AMG	44	+1 Lap	--	1:24.000
Ret	17	Daniel Juncadella	Stern/AMG Mercedes	29	Retired	-	1:35.948
Ret	23	Timo Scheider	Audi Team Abt	8	Damage	-	1:39.355
Ret	8	Joey Hand	BMW Team RBM	0	Collision		—
Source:

• Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
• Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
• * The original race distance was set at 49 laps but the race was time limited to 1:15:00.000 due to the conditions.

Milestones

• Maiden victory for Robert Wickens.

Standings

Mike Rockenfeller continued to extend his lead in the DTM Championship, as Bruno Spengler fell to fourth from second. Christian Vietoris and Robert Wickens leapt ahead of the Canadian as the two Mercedes Junior Drivers led the Mercedes challenge. Augusto Farfus moved to within a point of his stable mate Spengler, as Gary Paffett fell to sixth from third. Martin Tomczyk and Miguel Molina had become the latest men to add their name to the scorers list, leaving Filipe Albuquerque as the only non-scorer in the field.

HWA Team II extended their lead in the Teams' Championship, pulling over 30 points clear of Audi Team Phoenix in second. The first BMW backed team remained BMW Team Schnitzer, but BMW Team RBM had closed to within a point of them, as the top four broke away from the pack. BMW themselves remained at the top of the Brands' Championship, just staying ahead of Mercedes, as Audi lost ground again.

2013 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Mike Rockenfeller 106 ◄0 2nd Christian Vietoris 71 ▲2 3rd Robert Wickens 70 ▲3 4th Bruno Spengler 67 ▼2 5th Augusto Farfus 66 ◄0 6th Gary Paffett 57 ▼3 7th Marco Wittmann 39 ▲1 8th Mattias Ekström 38 ▼1 9th Joey Hand 26 ◄0 10th Dirk Werner 26 ◄0 11th Daniel Juncadella 20 ◄0 12th Adrien Tambay 20 ▲2 13th Jamie Green 20 ▼1 14th Timo Glock 15 ▼1 15th Timo Scheider 12 ◄0 16th Martin Tomczyk 10 ▲4 17th Roberto Merhi 8 ▼1 18th Miguel Molina 4 ▲2 19th Pascal Wehrlein 3 ▼2 20th Edoardo Mortara 2 ▼2 21st Andy Priaulx 2 ▼2 22nd Filipe Albuquerque 0 ◄0

2013 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st STIHL/AMG Mercedes 141 ◄0 2nd Audi Team Phoenix 110 ◄0 3rd BMW Team Schnitzer 93 ◄0 4th BMW Team RBM 92 ◄0 5th Eur/TS Mercedes AMG 65 ◄0 6th Audi Team Abt Sportsline 58 ◄0 7th BMW Team MTEK 54 ◄0 8th Audi Team Abt 32 ◄0 9th Stern/AMG Mercedes 23 ◄0 10th BMW Team RMG 12 ▲1 11th Audi Team Rosberg 2 ▼1 2013 Manufacturers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st BMW 251 ◄0 2nd Mercedes 229 ◄0 3rd Audi 202 ◄0

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.

References

Videos and Images:

References: