2015 Norisring Race 2

2015 Norisring Race 2
The Norisring was unchanged for 2015.
Race Information
Date	28 June 2015
No.	185
Event	DTM Nuremberg 2015
Location	Norisring Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany
Format	60 min + 1 Lap
Lap length	2.300 km (1.429 mi)
Distance	74 laps / 172.200 km (105.757 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Bruno Spengler
Team	BMW Team MTEK
Time	48.280
Fastest Lap
Driver	Robert Wickens
Team	Silberpfeil Mercedes-AMG
Time	48.178 on lap 70
Race Result
First	Second	Third
Robert Wickens	Christian Vietoris	Bruno Spengler
Winner Team	Silberfeil Mercedes-AMG
Time	1:01:35.767
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2015 Norisring Race 1		2015 Zandvoort Race 1

The 2015 Norisring Race 2, otherwise known as the DTM Nuremberg 2015 Race 2, was the sixth race of the 2015 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged at the Norisring in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany on 28 June 2015. The race would see Robert Wickens storm to his first victory of the campaign, after battling past compatriot Bruno Spengler.

Spengler had been the man to beat in another incredibly tight qualifying session, with the #7 BMW just beating Mercedes' Christian Vietoris by 0.004s. Wickens was next up ahead of Mattias Ekström, the first of the Audi drivers, with a little over six tenths covering the entire field.

Spengler managed to convert pole position to the race lead at the start, as Wickens swept past Vietoris for second into the Grundig Kehre. Behind, the concertina effect resulted in Maximilian Götz smacking the back of Timo Glock, a collision that pushed Glock into his stablemate Martin Tomczyk.

That collision caused enough damage to Glock's car that he had to retire, with bits of the #16 BMW being scattered across the circuit. That triggered a Safety Car to clear the debris, before Spengler and Wickens sprinted clear at the restart.

Wickens pressed Spengler for the lead throughout the early stages, with the rest of the field beginning to stabilise in their wake. After several failed attempts Wickens finally squeezed the #6 Mercedes inside of the #7 BMW on lap fourteen at Grundig Kehre, with Spengler's retaliation faltering as Vietoris challenged him for second into the Schöller S. The #8 Mercedes duly slipped past, with Lucas Auer and Mattias Ekström likewise sneaking past on the run to the final hairpin as Spengler lacked momentum.

The race settled down after that, with a stalemate developing as the field waited to complete their mandatory stops. Indeed, after half an hour of the racing most of the field would begin to dive in for their stops in a twenty minute window, with Auer having to serve a five-second penalty for a grid position infringement.

Paul di Resta was the big winner of the stops, jumping to fifth from eighth, although he was passed by Pascal Wehrlein a few laps later. Out front, meanwhile, Wickens would sweep away from Vietoris, while Spengler managed to wrestle his way back ahead of Ekström.

With that the race was run, with Wickens cruising through the final laps to claim victory, seven seconds clear of a lonely Vietoris. Spengler was next up ahead of Ekström, while Wehrlein headed di Resta and Gary Paffett across the line. Daniel Juncadella was next up ahead of Auer, who claimed his first points, while Maxime Martin completed the scorers.

Background

Jamie Green would head into the second battle of the Norisring having maintained the lead in the Championship after the Saturday Race, moving onto 81 points for the campaign. Mattias Ekström had retained second on 58, while Edoardo Mortara had likewise held station in third. Pascal Wehrlein, meanwhile, had retained fourth but had closed onto the lead group, while Robert Wickens had leapt into fifth after his first podium of the campaign.

In the Teams' Championship it was still Audi Team Rosberg who led the charge, having eased into a six point lead ahead of sister squad Audi Team Abt Sportsline. gooix/Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG were next up in third, having moved ahead of Audi Team Abt, while Silberpfeil Mercedes-AMG had moved into fifth. In the Manufacturers' Championship, meanwhile, it was still Audi who held the initiative, 109 ahead of Mercedes-AMG in second.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2015 Norisring Race 2 is displayed below:

2015 Norisring Race 2 Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Weight
1	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	BMW	M4 DTM	P66 4.0l V8	1,105 kg
2	Gary Paffett	Euronics/BWT Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG	C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
3	Paul di Resta	Silberpfeil Energy Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG	C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
5	Mattias Ekström	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi	RS5 DTM 15	Audi 4.0l V8	1,137.5 kg
6	Robert Wickens	Silberpfeil Energy Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG	C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
7	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team MTEK	BMW	M4 DTM	P66 4.0l V8	1,105 kg
8	Christian Vietoris	gooix/Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG	C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
10	Timo Scheider	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi	RS5 DTM 15	Audi 4.0l V8	1,135 kg
12	Daniel Juncadella	Petronas Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG	C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
13	António Félix da Costa	BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW	M4 DTM	P66 4.0l V8	1,105 kg
16	Timo Glock	BMW Team MTEK	BMW	M4 DTM	P66 4.0l V8	1,105 kg
17	Miguel Molina	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi	RS5 DTM 15	Audi 4.0l V8	1,135 kg
18	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team RBM	BMW	M4 DTM	P66 4.0l V8	1,105 kg
22	Lucas Auer	Euronics/BWT Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG	C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
27	Adrien Tambay	Audi Sport Team Abt	Audi	RS5 DTM 15	Audi 4.0l V8	1,130 kg
31	Tom Blomqvist	BMW Team RBM	BMW	M4 DTM	P66 4.0l V8	1,105 kg
36	Maxime Martin	BMW Team RMG	BMW	M4 DTM	P66 4.0l V8	1,107.5 kg
48	Edoardo Mortara	Audi Sport Team Abt	Audi	RS5 DTM 15	Audi 4.0l V8	1,140 kg
51	Nico Müller	Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi	RS5 DTM 15	Audi 4.0l V8	1,135 kg
53	Jamie Green	Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi	RS5 DTM 15	Audi 4.0l V8	1,137.5 kg
77	Martin Tomczyk	BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW	M4 DTM	P66 4.0l V8	1,105 kg
84	Maximilian Götz	Petronas Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG	C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
94	Pascal Wehrlein	gooix/Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG	C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi	RS5 DTM 15	Audi 4.0l V8	1,140 kg
Source:

Qualifying

In contrast to Saturday, the Sunday qualifying session was bathed in sunshine throughout as one of the closest qualifying sessions in DTM history emerged.

Report

By a margin of just 0.004s, Canadian Bruno Spengler claimed pole for BMW, their first of 2015, defeating Saturday pole sitter Christian Vietoris. Robert Wickens was also in close attendance, a further 0.009s back, with the top three a tenth ahead of the rest of the top ten.

Indeed, there was just a tenth between Mattias Ekström (one of only two Audis in the top half) in fourth and Daniel Juncadella in tenth, with Lucas Auer taking a career best fifth. Pascal Wehrlein claimed sixth ahead of Jamie Green and Paul di Resta, with Maxime Martin sneaking into ninth to be the second best placed BMW. Gary Paffett and Augusto Farfus completed the top half of the field, as all but one of the Mercedes found themselves in the higher reaches of the grid.

The big stragglers, once again, were Audi, with Timo Scheider at the back once again, joined by Miguel Molina on the back row. Champion Marco Wittmann was another to struggle, only managing 22nd, beaten by BMW rookie Tom Blomqvist in 20th. That said, the total time difference between Spengler on pole, and Molina in 24th was just 0.625s, with many drivers removing wing mirrors around the tight city streets during the session.

Results

The final qualifying result for the 2015 Norisring Race 2 are outlined below:

2015 Norisring Race 2 Qualifying Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Ave. Speed	Grid
1st	7	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team MTEK	48.280	—	171.499 km/h	1
2nd	8	Christian Vietoris	gooix/OT Mercedes-AMG	48.284	+0.004s	171.485 km/h	2
3rd	6	Robert Wickens	Silberpfeil Mercedes-AMG	48.293	+0.013s	171.453 km/h	3
4th	5	Mattias Ekström	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	48.401	+0.121s	171.070 km/h	4
5th	22	Lucas Auer	ART Grand Prix Mercedes	48.422	+0.142s	170.996 km/h	5
6th	94	Pascal Wehrlein	gooix/OT Mercedes-AMG	48.425	+0.145s	170.986 km/h	6
7th	53	Jamie Green	Audi Team Rosberg	48.445	+0.165s	170.915 km/h	7
8th	3	Paul di Resta	Silberpfeil Mercedes-AMG	48.472	+0.192s	170.820 km/h	8
9th	36	Maxime Martin	BMW Team RMG	48.484	+0.204s	170.777 km/h	9
10th	12	Daniel Juncadella	Petronas Mercedes-AMG	48.490	+0.210s	170.756 km/h	10
11th	2	Gary Paffett	ART Grand Prix Mercedes	48.516	+0.236s	170.665 km/h	11
12th	18	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team RBM	48.547	+0.267s	170.556 km/h	12
13th	27	Adrien Tambay	Audi Team Abt	48.548	+0.268s	170.552 km/h	13
14th	16	Timo Glock	BMW Team MTEK	48.559	+0.279s	170.514 km/h	14
15th	51	Nico Müller	Audi Team Rosberg	48.563	+0.283s	170.500 km/h	15
16th	84	Maximilian Götz	Petronas Mercedes-AMG	48.585	+0.305s	170.422 km/h	16
17th	13	António Félix da Costa	BMW Team Schnitzer	48.610	+0.330s	170.335 km/h	17
18th	48	Edoardo Mortara	Audi Team Abt	48.620	+0.340s	170.300 km/h	18
19th	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	48.671	+0.391s	170.121 km/h	19
20th	31	Tom Blomqvist	BMW Team RBM	48.719	+0.439s	169.954 km/h	20
21st	77	Martin Tomczyk	BMW Team Schnitzer	48.767	+0.487s	169.786 km/h	21
22nd	1	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	48.815	+0.535s	169.619 km/h	22
23rd	10	Timo Scheider	Audi Team Phoenix	48.878	+0.598s	169.401 km/h	23
24th	17	Miguel Molina	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	48.905	+0.625s	169.307 km/h	24
Source:

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

Grid

The starting grid for the 2015 Norisring Race 2 is outlined below:

		10	Timo Scheider	48.878			77	Martin Tomczyk	48.767			99	Mike Rockenfeller	48.671			13	António Félix da Costa	48.610			51	Nico Müller	48.563			27	Adrien Tambay	48.548			2	Gary Paffett	48.516			36	Maxime Martin	48.484			53	Jamie Green	48.445			94	Lucas Auer	48.422			6	Robert Wickens	48.293			7	Bruno Spengler	48.280
	17	Miguel Molina		48.905		1	Marco Wittmann		48.815		31	Tom Blomqvist		48.719		48	Edoardo Mortara		48.620		84	Maximilian Götz		48.585		16	Timo Glock		48.559		18	Augusto Farfus		48.547		12	Daniel Juncadella		48.490		3	Paul di Resta		48.472		94	Pascal Wehrlein		48.425		5	Mattias Ekström		48.401		8	Christian Vietoris		48.284

Race

Sunday afternoon was awash with sunlight, and the Norisring circuit was bone dry, with another fast and furious race expected to emerge. The main question ahead of the 60 minute race, which would feature a mandatory pitstop, was whether Bruno Spengler could help end BMW's woes and win their first race of the season, or at the very least hang on to a podium spot.

Report

Like Saturday, the top three made it through the first corner cleanly, with Spengler holding off Robert Wickens and Christian Vietoris successfully through the hairpin. The only contact came at the back of the field, as the concertina effect from the entire field trying to get through the tight corner caused Maximilian Götz to run out of room on the brakes, meaning he slammed into the back of Timo Glock, with Glock then forced into the side of Martin Tomczyk.

Gary Paffett made a blistering start to launch up from eleventh to seventh, as Mike Rockenfeller pitted to retire with damage. Wickens now began attacking the back of Spengler, and had the use of DRS after the start of lap four, at least until the result of the hairpin collision hit Glock. As the German exited the first hairpin at the back of the field on lap four, the air caught the underside of his lose bonnet with enough force to lift it off the car entirely. Glock had to limp back to the pits to retire, while the safety car emerged to allow the removal of the bonnet which had landed in the middle of the circuit.

Four laps, and three minutes later, however, and Spengler was once again having to defend from Wickens, who managed to second guess his countryman's restart and maintain the gap. Lucas Auer, meanwhile, received a five second stop-go penalty to be served at his stop after being inaccurately placed in his grid slot, although the Austrian was running in fourth in only his sixth race. Mattias Ekström was the best Audi, running in fifth, and under pressure from Pascal Wehrlein, the charging Paffett and Paul di Resta, with the top eight beginning to pull away.

Then, on lap 14, Wickens finally pulled a successful move on Spengler, having dived down the inside of Spengler into the Grundig Kehre, although Spengler was almost able to cut back on the exit. But, the BMW had lost momentum, and that fact allowed Vietoris to pull a good move into the Schöller Esses, with the German getting on the inside of the Canadian into the second part. Again, Spengler lost momentum, which allowed Auer to drag past him into the final hairpin, while a late dive by Ekstrom on the brakes pushed him down to fifth. In the space of a single lap, Spengler had gone from first to fifth.

Wickens began a charge to break away from Vietoris, although the German was able to keep with him, as Ekstrom launched several attacks at Auer for third. The Swede was finally successful after getting a strong run out of the final hairpin, pulling ahead of the Austrian into the Grundig Kehre, on lap nineteen, with the pit window opening a few minutes later. Daniel Juncadella was the first man into the pits for his stop, joined by Adrien Tambay.

The next 20 minutes saw a flurry of stops, with the big winner being di Resta, who leapt to fifth from eighth. That was not to last, however, as Pascal Wehrlein eased his way past as the race entered the final third of its time, as Miguel Molina became the last man to complete his mandatory stop. Wickens was another winner, as his new tyres and quick stop allowed him to pull clear of Vietoris, who was now a lonely second, ahead of Ekstrom after Auer served his penalty.

The final laps saw Spengler begin a counter charge against Ekstrom for the final podium spot, as two other battles took the attention of the cameras. Di Resta and Wehrlein were battling once again, with the Scot forcing his way back past in the closing stages, while Jamie Green, Maxime Martin and Auer swapped milliseconds of time in their battle for the final points. Martin eventually vanquished the Brit into the Grundig Kehre, which also opened the door for Auer.

With three laps to go, Wehrlein and di Resta once again traded places, while Spengler forced a surprise move on Ekstrom for third, grabbing third into the Grundig Kehre. The final lap saw a late move by Auer, who stole ninth away from Martin at the start of the lap, as Wickens crossed the line to take his third career victory, ahead of Vietoris and Spengler. 

Results

The final classification of the 2015 Norisring Race 2 is displayed below:

2015 Norisring Race 2 Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	6	Robert Wickens	Silberpfeil Mercedes-AMG	74	1:01:35.767	48.178	25
2nd	8	Christian Vietoris	gooix/OT Mercedes-AMG	74	+7.239s	48.404	18
3rd	7	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team MTEK	74	+10.975s	48.459	15
4th	5	Mattias Ekström	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	74	+11.595s	48.585	12
5th	94	Pascal Wehrlein	gooix/OT Mercedes-AMG	74	+14.956s	48.534	10
6th	3	Paul di Resta	Silberpfeil Mercedes-AMG	74	+15.378s	48.526	8
7th	2	Gary Paffett	ART Grand Prix Mercedes	74	+16.098s	48.561	6
8th	12	Daniel Juncadella	Petronas Mercedes-AMG	74	+17.489s	48.436	4
9th	22	Lucas Auer	ART Grand Prix Mercedes	74	+32.871s	48.536	2
10th	36	Maxime Martin	BMW Team RMG	74	+34.605s	48.739	1
11th	77	Martin Tomczyk	BMW Team Schnitzer	74	+38.455s	48.898
12th	13	António Félix da Costa	BMW Team Schnitzer	74	+38.937s	48.719
13th	1	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	74	+47.827s	48.843
14th	27	Adrien Tambay	Audi Team Abt	73	+1 Lap	48.923
15th	48	Edoardo Mortara	Audi Team Abt	73	+1 Lap	48.888
16th	10	Timo Scheider	Audi Team Phoenix	73	+1 Lap	48.883
17th	17	Miguel Molina	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	73	+1 Lap	48.994
18th	53	Jamie Green	Audi Team Rosberg	73	+1 Lap	48.692
19th	51	Nico Müller	Audi Team Rosberg	65	+9 Laps	48.923
DSQ*	31	Tom Blomqvist	BMW Team RBM	73	Disqualified	48.906
Ret	16	Timo Glock	BMW Team MTEK	3	Damage	51.108
Ret	84	Maximilian Götz	Petronas Mercedes-AMG	2	Retired	1:02.590
Ret	18	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team RBM	1	Accident	—
Ret	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	1	Accident	—
Source:

• Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
• Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
• * Blomqvist excluded from the result by the stewards after the scrutineers judged it to contain elements that were deemed illegal.

Milestones

• Third career victory for Robert Wickens.
• Maiden points finish for Lucas Auer.

Standings

Jamie Green remained in the lead of the Championship despite only managing to score six points across the weekend, with Mattias Ekström cutting the gap to eleven points. Pascal Wehrlein's second career win earned him third overall, overtaking Edoardo Mortara, while Robert Wickens broke into the top five after his win on Sunday. Bruno Spengler was now the best placed BMW driver, but was well down in ninth.

The Teams Championship had changed significantly at the Norisring, as HWA left in the lead of the Championship, Audi Team Rosberg having slipped to third. Audi Team Abt Sportsline retained second, although their second team had also fallen behind the other HWA outfit. Audi still retained their lead in the Brands Championship, but had lost their 150 point advantage, as Mercedes-AMG closed to within 50. BMW continued to be cut adrift in all three Championships, with only 88 points between their eight cars.

2015 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Jamie Green 81 ◄0 2nd Mattias Ekström 70 ◄0 3rd Pascal Wehrlein 67 ▲1 4th Edoardo Mortara 58 ▼1 5th Robert Wickens 57 ◄0 6th Christian Vietoris 36 ▲4 7th Gary Paffett 36 ▼1 8th Miguel Molina 27 ▼1 9th Bruno Spengler 27 ▲6 10th Paul di Resta 23 ▲3 11th Mike Rockenfeller 21 ▼3 12th Martin Tomczyk 20 ▼3 13th Maxime Martin 17 ▼2 14th Timo Scheider 16 ▼2 15th Marco Wittmann 15 ▼1 16th Daniel Juncadella 15 ▲1 17th Nico Müller 10 ▼1 18th Timo Glock 5 ◄0 19th Augusto Farfus 5 ◄0 20th Lucas Auer 2 ▲1

2015 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st gooix/OT Mercedes-AMG 103 ▲2 2nd Audi Team Abt Sportsline 97 ◄0 3rd Audi Team Rosberg 91 ▼2 4th Silberpfeil Mercedes-AMG 90 ▲1 5th Audi Team Abt 58 ▼1 6th ART Grand Prix Mercedes 38 ▲1 7th Audi Team Phoenix 37 ▼1 8th BMW Team MTEK 32 ▲2 9th BMW Team RMG 32 ▼1 10th BMW Team Schnitzer 20 ▼1 11th Petronas Mercedes-AMG 15 ◄0 12th BMW Team RBM 5 ◄0 2015 Manufacturers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Audi 283 ◄0 2nd Mercedes-AMG 235 ◄0 3rd BMW 88 ◄0

Only point scoring drivers are shown.

References

Videos and Images:

References: