2015 Oschersleben Race 2

2015 Oschersleben Race 2
File:Oschersleben 2007.png The Motorsport Arena Oschersleben
Race Information
Date	13 September 2015
No.	193
Event	DTM Oschersleben 2015
Location	Motorsport Arena Oschersleben Oschersleben, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
Format	60 min + 1 Lap
Lap length	3.696 km (2.297 mi)
Distance	40 laps / 147.840 km (91.863 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Augusto Farfus
Team	BMW Team RBM
Time	1:20.632
Fastest Lap
Driver	Tom Blomqvist
Team	BMW Team RBM
Time	1:22.388 on lap 17
Race Result
First	Second	Third
Tom Blomqvist	Augusto Farfus	Marco Wittmann
Winner Team	BMW Team RBM
Time	57:30.221
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2015 Oschersleben Race 1		2015 Nürburgring Race 1

The 2015 Oschersleben Race 2, otherwise known as the DTM Oschersleben 2015 Race 2, was the fourteenth race of the 2015 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben in Oschersleben, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany on 13 September 2015. The race would see Tom Blomqvist sweep to his maiden DTM victory, after the Brit snatched control of the race right at the start.

Augusto Farfus had charged to pole position in qualifying, beating the aforementioned Blomqvist by 0.019s as BMW again dominated proceedings. Yet, Mercedes would provide a more enhanced resistance, led by Pascal Wehrlein in third, while Miguel Molina secured ninth for Audi.

The start would see Farfus make a clean start, although that was not enough to prevent Blomqvist from drawing alongside, before beating the Brazilian on the brakes for turn one. The #31 BMW duly emerged ahead of the #18 BMW to lead the field through turn two, as behind Christian Vietoris smashed Miguel Molina out of the race.

That collision, which left Molina with terminal damage and Nico Müller stuck in the gravel, triggered a Safety Car, which prevented Blomqvist from escaping. Fortunately it would be a brief five minute intervention, with Blomqvist sprinting away from Farfus, while Wehrlein scrambled with the BMWs in the rest of the top five.

Robert Wickens, meanwhile, would streak up the field in the early laps, rising from last to fourteenth, and was harassing Bruno Spengler for thirteenth. That fight would result in the two Canadian racers exchanging physical blows, with Spengler's defence leaving him with damage to his rear aero.

With that DRS would come into play, resulting in a lot of shuffling at the lower-end of the top ten, while the leaders waited for the pits top open at the twenty minute mark. Yet, there would be no en-masse sweep into the pits, with the only incident of note being Martin Tomczyk being released into the path of Paul di Resta.

Edoardo Mortara was the last man to pit, although after a brief run at the head of the hunt the Italian was forced to retire after suspension damage was found during his stop. Blomqvist, meanwhile, would return to the lead of the race ahead of Farfus, as behind Wehrlein, then running in fifth, was told to manually turn on his pit light, which cost him momentum in his fight with da Costa.

There was little action of note in the closing stages, and an accident in the final minute for Lucas Auer ensured that the race was ended prematurely. Indeed, after being lapped by Wehrlein the Austrian would lack the downforce to make it through the final corner at normal speed, and duly smashed into the barriers with enough force to break the tyre wall.

As a result the race was officially declared at the end of lap 40, leaving Blomqvist the victor by seven seconds over Farfus. Wittmann was next up ahead of da Costa and Wehrlein, while di Resta, Timo Glock, Jamie Green, Maxime Martin and Spengler claimed the remaining points.

Background

Pascal Wehrlein had moved back to the head of the Championship after the first race in Oschersleben, having claimed his 130th point of the campaign. Mattias Ekström had therefore slipped to second, four off the lead, while Edoardo Mortara had slipped twenty behind in third. Jamie Green and Bruno Spengler were next up, tied on 103 points, with all twenty-four regular season drivers on the scoresheet.

In the Teams' Championship it was gooix/Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG who continued to head the charge, having eked out their lead to 31 points. Indeed, Audi Team Abt Sportsline had not only lost ground to the leaders, but were only two ahead of BMW Team MTEK after they had shot from sixth to third after their one-two. In the Manufacturers' Championship, meanwhile, Audi had retained the lead, while BMW had moved to within nine of the leaders and overhauled Mercedes-AMG in the process.

Entry List

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

2015 Oschersleben Race 2 Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Weight
1	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	BMW	M4 DTM	P66 4.0l V8	1,107.5 kg
2	Gary Paffett	Euronics/BWT Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG	C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,127.5 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	1,122.5 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	1,122.5 kg
10	Timo Scheider	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi	RS5 DTM 15	Audi 4.0l V8	1,125 kg
12	Daniel Juncadella	Petronas Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG	C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,125 kg
13	António Félix da Costa	BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW	M4 DTM	P66 4.0l V8	1,107.5 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	1,122.5 kg
18	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team RBM	BMW	M4 DTM	P66 4.0l V8	1,107.5 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	1,122.5 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	1,105 kg
48	Edoardo Mortara	Audi Sport Team Abt	Audi	RS5 DTM 15	Audi 4.0l V8	1,137.5 kg
51	Nico Müller	Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi	RS5 DTM 15	Audi 4.0l V8	1,130 kg
53	Jamie Green	Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi	RS5 DTM 15	Audi 4.0l V8	1,132.5 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	1,117.5 kg
94	Pascal Wehrlein	gooix/Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG	C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,130 kg
99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi	RS5 DTM 15	Audi 4.0l V8	1,137.5 kg
Source:

Qualifying

Qualifying would be staged late in the morning ahead of the race, with all twenty-four drivers taking to the circuit for a twenty minute session. Each driver would then be allowed to complete as many laps as they liked, with the final order based on each driver's time.

Report

Although the morning warm-up suggested that the balance of power had swung in Audi's favour, qualifying on Sunday proved that it was anything but, as Augusto Farfus and Tom Blomqvist claimed an all BMW front row for BMW Team RBM. There was just two hundredths of a second separating the rookie Blomqvist from a maiden pole position, with Farfus just getting the better of him. Pascal Wehrlein claimed third for Mercedes, as the Stuttgart squad made some inroads into the Bavarian battalion.

António Félix da Costa, Paul di Resta and Marco Wittmann completed the top six, and were all within a tenth of a second of Farfus' time for pole. Race One winner Timo Glock was just outside the tenth barrier in seventh, accompanied by the third Merc of Christian Vietoris on row four. Completing the top ten were Miguel Molina, the first of the Audis, and Bruno Spengler, as BMW once again looked to take a clean sweep of the podium, if they could deal with Wehrlein at the start.

Just eight tenths of a second covered those in the field who managed to complete a clean lap, with Robert Wickens two seconds off the pace, knowing he would serve a 13 place grid penalty. Mike Rockenfeller qualified thirteenth but would lose three places for his part in the accident on Saturday, as Audi struggled to improve upon their poor result on Saturday. The Drivers' Championship also looked to be escaping them as well, with Mattias Ekström down in eighteenth, Edoardo Mortara sixteenth and Jamie Green in fourteenth, and all needing to get past a host of Mercedes' to get into the points.

Post Qualifying

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

2015 Oschersleben Race 2 Qualifying Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Ave. Speed	Grid
1st	18	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team RBM	1:20.632	—	165.016 km/h	1
2nd	31	Tom Blomqvist	BMW Team RBM	1:20.651	+0.019s	164.977 km/h	2
3rd	94	Pascal Wehrlein	gooix/OT Mercedes-AMG	1:20.659	+0.027s	164.961 km/h	3
4th	13	António Félix da Costa	BMW Team Schnitzer	1:20.670	+0.038s	164.938 km/h	4
5th	3	Paul di Resta	Silberpfeil Mercedes-AMG	1:20.687	+0.055s	164.903 km/h	5
6th	1	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	1:20.710	+0.078s	164.856 km/h	6
7th	16	Timo Glock	BMW Team MTEK	1:20.743	+0.111s	164.789 km/h	7
8th	8	Christian Vietoris	gooix/OT Mercedes-AMG	1:20.782	+0.150s	164.709 km/h	8
9th	17	Miguel Molina	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	1:20.915	+0.283s	164.439 km/h	9
10th	7	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team MTEK	1:20.985	+0.353s	164.297 km/h	10
11th	2	Gary Paffett	ART Grand Prix Mercedes	1:20.999	+0.367s	164.268 km/h	11
12th	77	Martin Tomczyk	BMW Team Schnitzer	1:21.002	+0.370s	164.262 km/h	12
13th*	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	1:21.043	+0.411s	164.179 km/h	16*
14th	53	Jamie Green	Audi Team Rosberg	1:21.074	+0.442s	164.116 km/h	13
15th	36	Maxime Martin	BMW Team RMG	1:21.104	+0.472s	164.056 km/h	14
16th	48	Edoardo Mortara	Audi Team Abt	1:21.109	+0.477s	164.045 km/h	15
17th	22	Lucas Auer	ART Grand Prix Mercedes	1:21.151	+0.519s	163.961 km/h	17
18th	5	Mattias Ekström	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	1:21.153	+0.521s	163.956 km/h	18
19th	84	Maximilian Götz	Petronas Mercedes-AMG	1:21.220	+0.588s	163.821 km/h	19
20th	10	Timo Scheider	Audi Team Phoenix	1:21.251	+0.619s	163.759 km/h	20
21st	51	Nico Müller	Audi Team Rosberg	1:21.261	+0.629s	163.739 km/h	21
22nd	12	Daniel Juncadella	Petronas Mercedes-AMG	1:21.319	+0.687s	163.622 km/h	22
23rd	27	Adrien Tambay	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	1:21.450	+0.818s	163.359 km/h	23
24th†	6	Robert Wickens	Silberpfeil Mercedes-AMG	1:22.893	+2.261s	160.515 km/h	24
Source:

• Bold indicates a driver's best/qualifying time.
• * Rockenfeller awarded a three place grid penalty for causing a collision in the 2015 Oschersleben Race 1.
• ^† Wickens served a 13 place grid penalty for causing a collision and being placed on probation.

Grid

The grid for the 2015 Oschersleben Race 2 is shown below:

		27	Adrien Tambay	1:21.450			51	Nico Müller	1:21.261			84	Maximilian Götz	1:21.220			22	Lucas Auer	1:21.151			48	Edoardo Mortara	1:21.109			53	Jamie Green	1:21.074			2	Gary Paffett	1:20.999			17	Miguel Molina	1:20.915			16	Timo Glock	1:20.743			3	Paul di Resta	1:20.687			94	Pascal Wehrlein	1:20.659			18	Augusto Farfus	1:20.632
	6	Robert Wickens		Penalty		12	Daniel Juncadella		1:21.319		10	Timo Scheider		1:21.251		5	Mattias Ekström		1:21.153		99	Mike Rockenfeller		Penalty		36	Maxime Martin		1:21.104		77	Martin Tomczyk		1:21.002		7	Bruno Spengler		1:20.985		8	Christian Vietoris		1:20.782		1	Marco Wittmann		1:20.710		13	António Félix da Costa		1:20.670		31	Tom Blomqvist		1:20.651

Race

Dry and warm, Sunday afternoon promised an exciting race, although several drivers were critical of the circuit layout, which restricted the use of the DRS system. That said, the start was to be the crucial factor of the race, with an out of form Brazilian, a rookie and the Championship leader in the top three grid slots. Augusto Farfus had already lost out from pole at Zandvoort, while Tom Blomqvist had never started so high in his short DTM career. That left Pascal Wehrlein as the potential race leader from third, although time would ultimately tell who led out of the first turn.

Report

Farfus made a good start from pole, but would miss out on the lead after an outstanding start by Blomqvist, who snatched the lead into the first corner on the brakes. With Farfus securing second,  António Félix da Costa and Marco Wittmann managed to force their way past Wehrlein for third, although the defending Champion unsuccessful in attempting to run the youngster out-wide. The inevitable contact was to occur further down, with Miguel Molina spun around by Christian Vietoris, and was unable to get back into the race.

The safety car was called to remove the Spaniard's car despite the insistence of Audi to get him to try to move it, with Blomqvist in the lead. Also out of the race was Nico Müller who had been unfortunate to choose the wide line through the first turn, and was hence run wide into the gravel trap. But, the pause was only to be brief, with the safety car back in within five minutes.

It was status quo at the restart, as Vietoris escaped punishment for causing Molina's spin. Paul di Resta, meanwhile, ran behind Wehrlein after the restart and began to drop back to give the potential Champion some breathing room as he went after the BMW quartet at the front of the field. Bruno Spengler and Jamie Green were battling in the mid-field, with the Brit squeezing the Canadian wide and costing the former Champion a valuable amount of time and places, as the field pounded round on their fifth lap.

Robert Wickens had been one of the big winners from the two starts, leaping from 24th and last to fourteenth in the space of the first five laps. He immediately attacked Spengler when the Canadian rejoined from being run wide, with the concertina effect causing the two Canadians to come to blows. Spengler lost a section of his rear bodywork while Wickens left with a hole in his front bumper, although both continued on without major issue.

With DRS enabled for the first time during the race on lap six, and with 50 minutes remaining, the action hotted up throughout the field. Wickens was the first to lose out, with Edoardo Mortara streaking past on the main straight, before Vietoris fell to the pressure put on him by Maxime Martin for ninth. The next few laps were not any better for the German, as he saw Green, Mattias Ekström and Spengler all force their way past into the first corner, leaving him a battered twelfth.

With 40 minutes to go, the pit window opened, heralded by the arrival of Spengler into the pits for a fresh set of tyres. For the next twenty minutes the order was constantly shuffled as drivers trickled into the pits, with only one incident of note. Martin Tomczyk was released into the path of di Resta after his stop, with the two running down the pitlane side by side. Tomczyk had gained sixth as a result, but was duly sent back to the pitlane to serve a drive through, as di Resta reclaimed sixth, and Blomqvist made good on his quick stop.

Edoardo Mortara was the last man to pit, although his proved to be a terminal visit after a suspension failure as the race settled down over the final third of its life. Wehrlein was attacking da Costa for fourth when his team radioed him to ask him to manually switch the pit light (which indicates that a driver has completed their mandatory pitstop) on. A few desperate seconds cost Wehrlein time as he tried to find the switch, with the DMSB announcing that he was being investigated, despite his search being successful.

With a few seconds left, and effectively two laps to run, the race came to a premature end when Lucas Auer slammed into the barrier on the outside of the final corner. The Austrian, having been lapped by Wehrlein just moments before, got caught out by the lack of downforce when running in the wake of Wehrlein's car through the final corner, and slid wide. The high-speed nature of the final turn meant that he carried enough momentum to split the tyre barrier that separated the cars from the armco, and the red flag was thrown to end the race with 40 seconds left to race.

With the race counted back one lap, Auer was classified as a finisher in seventeenth, although there were no other changes to the order. That left Blomqvist to take a surprising, but dominant maiden win for BMW, ahead of Farfus and Wittmann, who had slipped by da Costa at the stops. Wehrlein left with fifth and a fourteen point lead over Ekström (who failed to score), with di Resta claiming sixth. Jamie Green completed a late race charge to claim eighth behind Glock to be the only Audi point scorer, with the top ten completed by Martin and Spengler.

Results

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

2015 Oschersleben Race 2 Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	31	Tom Blomqvist	BMW Team RBM	40	57:30.221	1:22.388	25
2nd	18	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team RBM	40	+7.712s	1:22.700	18
3rd	1	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	40	+13.080s	1:22.455	15
4th	13	António Félix da Costa	BMW Team Schnitzer	40	+18.820s	1:22.784	12
5th	94	Pascal Wehrlein	gooix/OT Mercedes-AMG	40	+19.486s	1:22.844	10
6th	3	Paul di Resta	Silberpfeil Mercedes-AMG	40	+22.741s	1:22.934	8
7th	16	Timo Glock	BMW Team MTEK	40	+26.196s	1:22.942	6
8th	53	Jamie Green	Audi Team Rosberg	40	+31.492s	1:23.082	4
9th	36	Maxime Martin	BMW Team RMG	40	+32.162s	1:23.063	2
10th	7	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team MTEK	40	+34.389s	1:23.209	1
11th	5	Mattias Ekström	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	40	+35.173s	1:23.028
12th	10	Timo Scheider	Audi Team Phoenix	40	+39.006s	1:22.917
13th	2	Gary Paffett	ART Grand Prix Mercedes	40	+48.174s	1:23.391
14th	27	Adrien Tambay	Audi Team Abt	40	+48.987s	1:23.301
15th	12	Daniel Juncadella	Petronas Mercedes-AMG	40	+49.355s	1:23.200
16th	6	Robert Wickens	Silberpfeil Mercedes-AMG	40	+59.030s	1:23.340
17th*	22	Lucas Auer	ART Grand Prix Mercedes	40	+59.500s	1:23.101
18th	84	Maximilian Götz	Petronas Mercedes-AMG	40	+1:03.738	1:23.659
19th	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	40	+1:04.302	1:23.452
20th	77	Martin Tomczyk	BMW Team Schnitzer	40	+1:04.762	1:23.025
21st	8	Christian Vietoris	gooix/OT Mercedes-AMG	40	+1:11.880	1:23.693
Ret	48	Edoardo Mortara	Audi Team Abt	21	Damage	1:23.776
Ret	17	Miguel Molina	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	0	Collision	—
Ret	51	Nico Müller	Audi Team Rosberg	0	Collision	—
Source:

• Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
• Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
• * Auer was promoted back to seventeenth despite his accident causing the red flag on the countback rule.

Milestones

• Maiden victory for Tom Blomqvist.
  • This was also his maiden podium finish.
• Blomqvist recorded his first fastest lap.

Standings

Having failed to score a single point all weekend, Mattias Ekström lost the lead of the Championship with just 100 points left on offer over the rest of the season. Pascal Wehrlein pulled fourteen ahead, and could have been even further ahead if BMW had not had such a dominant weekend. That said, Bruno Spengler remained 36 points behind in fifth, with Edoardo Mortara and Jamie Green in between. Marco Wittmann also held remote hopes of defending his crown, but the fight was all but over for the rest of the field.

The brilliant Bavarian performance was better displayed in the Brands' Championship, where BMW had smashed through the 500 point barrier to take the lead from Audi. The strong showing also promoted their entries in the Teams' Championship, with BMW Team MTEK slotting into second behind gooix/OT Mercedes-AMG. Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline sat in third as best of the Audi teams, who were the big losers over the weekend, although Mercedes were at the foot of both tables through the lack of pace shown by Petronas Mercedes-AMG.

2015 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Pascal Wehrlein 140 ◄0 2nd Mattias Ekström 126 ◄0 3rd Edoardo Mortara 110 ◄0 4th Jamie Green 107 ◄0 5th Bruno Spengler 104 ◄0 6th Marco Wittmann 98 ◄0 7th Gary Paffett 75 ◄0 8th Augusto Farfus 73 ▲4 9th António Félix da Costa 71 ◄0 10th Mike Rockenfeller 67 ▼2 11th Robert Wickens 57 ▼1 12th Timo Glock 56 ▲1 13th Christian Vietoris 56 ▼2 14th Paul di Resta 48 ▲1 15th Maxime Martin 46 ▼1 16th Tom Blomqvist 41 ▲5 17th Miguel Molina 29 ▼1 18th Nico Müller 26 ▼1 19th Daniel Juncadella 25 ▼1 20th Martin Tomczyk 24 ▼1 21st Timo Scheider 16 ▼1 22nd Lucas Auer 10 ◄0 23rd Maximilian Götz 6 ◄0 24th Adrien Tambay 3 ◄0 25th Antonio Giovinazzi 0 ◄0

2015 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st gooix/OT Mercedes-AMG 196 ◄0 2nd BMW Team MTEK 160 ▲1 3rd Audi Team Abt Sportsline 155 ▼1 4th BMW Team RMG 144 ▲1 5th Audi Team Rosberg 133 ▼1 6th BMW Team RBM 114 ▲5 7th Audi Team Abt 113 ▼1 8th Silberpfeil Mercedes-AMG 97 ▼1 9th BMW Team Schnitzer 95 ▲1 10th ART Grand Prix Mercedes 85 ▼2 11th Audi Team Phoenix 83 ▼2 12th Petronas Mercedes-AMG 31 ◄0 2015 Manufacturers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st BMW 502 ▲1 2nd Audi 421 ▼1 3rd Mercedes-AMG 415 ◄0

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.

References

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