2015 Zandvoort Race 1

2015 Zandvoort Race 1
The Circuit Park Zandvoort in 2015.
Race Information
Date	11 July 2015
No.	186
Event	DTM Zandvoort 2015
Location	Circuit Park Zandvoort Zandvoort, North Holland, Netherlands
Format	40 min + 1 Lap
Lap length	4.307 km (2.676 mi)
Distance	25 laps / 107.675 km (66.906 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Augusto Farfus
Team	BMW Team RBM
Time	1:31.266
Fastest Lap
Driver	António Félix da Costa
Team	BMW Team Schnitzer
Time	1:33.462 on lap 9
Race Result
First	Second	Third
Marco Wittmann	António Félix da Costa	Maxime Martin
Winner Team	BMW Team RMG
Time	42:30.240
Race Guide
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2015 Norisring Race 2		2015 Zandvoort Race 2

The 2015 Zandvoort Race 1 was the fourth round of the 2015 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged at the Circuit Park Zandvoort in Zandvoort, North Holland, Netherlands on 11 July 2015. The race, which was the first of the season to be staged outside of Germany in 2015, would see Marco Wittmann secure his first win of the campaign, as BMW dominated the proceedings.

Qualifying had seen BMW use their weight advantage to gain the upper-hand of the rest of the field, with Augusto Farfus edging out stablemates Wittmann and António Félix da Costa by 0.008s. Maxime Martin then completed a second row lockout for the Munich manufacturer, while Gary Paffett and Jamie Green would share the second row to lead the Mercedes and Audi charges respectively.

The start of the race would see Farfus make an okay start, although that was not enough to deny either Wittmann nor da Costa from charging past to claim the lead. Wittmann duly assumed the lead ahead of the Portuguese racer, while Farfus was left to elbow Paffett out wide through Tarzan as the Brit tried an ambitious lunge around the outside.

The rest of the opening tour proved fairly clean, until Paul di Resta misjudged an attack on Robert Wickens and sent himself sliding into the barriers at Gerlachbocht. The Scot was forced to abandon the car which subsequently triggered a Safety Car, preventing Wittmann and co. from escaping.

di Resta's accident was more damaging than it appeared, however, as the Scot had also caused heavy damage to the barriers. The Safety Car would therefore stay out beyond the ten minute mark, before finally releasing Wittmann to take the restart.

The #1 BMW quickly sprinted clear when the race resumed, with da Costa only just able to match his pace ahead of Martin and Farfus. Elsewhere, Edoardo Mortara and Martin Tomczyk sustained damage and had to retire, while Mattias Ekström and Miguel Molina squabbled for fifteenth as the only battle on-track.

Indeed, the race quickly settled down, with the only action of note beyond that fight coming as Ekström tried to force his way up the field. Indeed, the Swede's progress prompted Pascal Wehrlein to elbow his way past Christian Vietoris, while Jamie Green ran into the gravel to trigger a late Slow Zone.

Out front, meanwhile, da Costa would make a late bid for victory, aided by the fact that Green's Slow Zone had appeared in the part of the circuit that Wittmann was strongest. Yet, the defending Champion was stubborn in his defence and held the lead, as behind Farfus elbowed Paffett out of the race on the final tour.

With that the race was run, with Wittmann sweeping across the line ahead of da Costa to secure his first victory of the campaign, while Martin completed the podium. Farfus, meanwhile, would hold fourth ahead of Bruno Spengler, Timo Glock and Tom Blomqvist, meaning BMW scored a 1-2-3-4-5-6-7. Mike Rockenfeller was next up ahead of Nico Müller to claim points for Audi, while Wehrlein was the only Mercedes scorer in tenth.

Background

Weight was expected to play an important role in Zandvoort, having been re-balanced after the Norisring weekend. BMW enjoyed significantly lighter cars across the field, with Audi and Mercedes both, on average, 20 kilos heavier. Although performance weight had been applied at the Norisring, the flowing nature of Zandvoort meant that BMW's lighter fleet were expected to have an advantage in preserving their tyres.

With no major news stories between the Norisring and Zandvoort meetings, allowing attention to be focus on the title battle. Jamie Green led the charge with 81 points, with Mattias Ekström and Pascal Wehrlein leading the fight against the Brit. With Edoardo Mortara and Robert Wickens completing the top five, people would have to look down in ninth for the first BMW driver, as Bruno Spengler claimed their first podium in Nuremberg.

Audi Team Rosberg tumbled to third in the Teams' Championship at the Norisring, with the dominant display of Mercedes in the German city launching gooix/OT Mercedes-AMG to the top of the standings. The first Audi team (with the Ingolstadt based manufacturer leading the Manufacturers' Championship) were the first of the Audi Team Abt Sportsline outfits in second. BMW Team MTEK were the first of the BMW squads in the Championship challenge, with only Petronas Mercedes-AMG of the Audi and Mercedes teams among the BMW quartet.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2015 Zandvoort Race 1 is displayed below:

2015 Zandvoort Race 1 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	1,130 kg
3	Paul di Resta	Silberpfeil Energy Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG	C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,127.5 kg
5	Mattias Ekström	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi	RS5 DTM 15	Audi 4.0l V8	1,130 kg
6	Robert Wickens	Silberpfeil Energy Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG	C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,130 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	1,130 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	1,130 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	1,125 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	1,127.5 kg
27	Adrien Tambay	Audi Sport Team Abt	Audi	RS5 DTM 15	Audi 4.0l V8	1,120 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	1,130 kg
51	Nico Müller	Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi	RS5 DTM 15	Audi 4.0l V8	1,125 kg
53	Jamie Green	Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi	RS5 DTM 15	Audi 4.0l V8	1,130 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	1,125 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	1,130 kg
Source:

Qualifying

BMW had been struggling throughout the first third of the 2015 Championship, but they rediscovered their 2014 form in the first quali session at the Circuit Park Zandvoort with the top four all powered by the Bavarian beasts.

Report

Augusto Farfus claimed the fourth pole in his DTM career, although he had just 0.008s in hand over both second and third. Indeed, Marco Wittmann and Portuguese youngster António Félix da Costa set identical times, with the Champion judged to be ahead having set his time a few seconds before his Red Bull sponsored colleague.

With Maxime Martin completing the BMW leading quartet in fourth, row three was an all British affair, with Gary Paffett beating the first Audi driver in Jamie Green. Timo Glock, Tom Blomqvist and Bruno Spengler were next, meaning there were seven BMWs in the top ten, with Miguel Molina in tenth as the second best Audi. There was just four tenths covering the top ten, with just over a second covering 23 of the 24 cars.

Audi fared better than Mercedes in their battle to be second to BMW in the Netherlands, with Pascal Wehrlein the second Mercedes driver down in fifteenth. Christian Vietoris and Robert Wickens were another pair who managed to set the exact same time, the German ahead through setting the time earlier. Meanwhile, at the back, the two Petronas Mercedes-AMG entries of Maximilian Götz and Daniel Juncadella sharing the final row.

Post Qualifying

The final qualifying result for the 2015 Zandvoort Race 1 are outlined below:

2015 Zandvoort Race 1 Qualifying Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Ave. Speed	Grid
1st	18	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team RBM	1:31.266	—	169.890 km/h	1
2nd	1	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	1:31.274	+0.008s	169.875 km/h	2
3rd	13	António Félix da Costa	BMW Team Schnitzer	1:31.274	+0.008s	169.875 km/h	3
4th	36	Maxime Martin	BMW Team RMG	1:31.363	+0.097s	169.709 km/h	4
5th	2	Gary Paffett	ART Grand Prix Mercedes	1:31.570	+0.304s	169.326 km/h	5
6th	53	Jamie Green	Audi Team Rosberg	1:31.627	+0.361s	169.220 km/h	6
7th	16	Timo Glock	BMW Team MTEK	1:31.647	+0.381s	169.183 km/h	7
8th	31	Tom Blomqvist	BMW Team RBM	1:31.650	+0.384s	169.178 km/h	8
9th	7	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team MTEK	1:31.656	+0.390s	169.167 km/h	9
10th	17	Miguel Molina	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	1:31.668	+0.402s	169.145 km/h	10
11th	27	Adrien Tambay	Audi Team Abt	1:31.686	+0.420s	169.111 km/h	11
12th	48	Edoardo Mortara	Audi Team Abt	1:31.701	+0.435s	169.084 km/h	12
13th	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	1:31.735	+0.469s	169.021 km/h	13
14th	77	Martin Tomczyk	BMW Team Schnitzer	1:31.758	+0.492s	168.979 km/h	14
15th	94	Pascal Wehrlein	gooix/OT Mercedes-AMG	1:31.775	+0.509s	168.947 km/h	15
16th	51	Nico Müller	Audi Team Rosberg	1:31.783	+0.517s	168.933 km/h	16
17th	8	Christian Vietoris	gooix/OT Mercedes-AMG	1:31.855	+0.589s	168.800 km/h	17
18th	6	Robert Wickens	Silberpfeil Mercedes-AMG	1:31.855	+0.589s	168.800 km/h	18
19th	5	Mattias Ekström	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	1:32.055	+0.739s	168.525 km/h	19
20th	22	Lucas Auer	ART Grand Prix Mercedes	1:32.141	+0.875s	168.276 km/h	20
21st	10	Timo Scheider	Audi Team Phoenix	1:32.215	+0.949s	168.141 km/h	21
22nd	3	Paul di Resta	Silberpfeil Mercedes-AMG	1:32.251	+0.985s	168.076 km/h	22
23rd	12	Daniel Juncadella	Petronas Mercedes-AMG	1:32.264	+0.998s	168.052 km/h	23
24th	84	Maximilian Götz	Petronas Mercedes-AMG	1:32.564	+1.298s	167.507 km/h	24
Source:

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

Grid

The starting grid for the 2015 Zandvoort Race 1 is outlined below:

		12	Daniel Juncadella	1:32.264			10	Timo Scheider	1:32.215			5	Mattias Ekström	1:32.055			8	Christian Vietoris	1:31.855			94	Pascal Wehrlein	1:31.775			99	Mike Rockenfeller	1:31.735			27	Adrien Tambay	1:31.686			7	Bruno Spengler	1:31.656			16	Timo Glock	1:31.647			2	Gary Paffett	1:31.570			13	António Félix da Costa	1:31.274			18	Augusto Farfus	1:31.266
	84	Maximilian Götz		1:32.564		3	Paul di Resta		1:32.251		22	Lucas Auer		1:32.141		6	Robert Wickens		1:31.855		51	Nico Müller		1:31.783		77	Martin Tomczyk		1:31.758		48	Edoardo Mortara		1:31.701		17	Miguel Molina		1:31.668		31	Tom Blomqvist		1:31.650		53	Jamie Green		1:31.627		36	Maxime Martin		1:31.363		1	Marco Wittmann		1:31.274

Race

A warm dry Saturday afternoon launched track temperatures past the 30°C mark at the Circuit Park Zandvoort, as Augusto Farfus pulled up on pole position for the first time since the 2013 Nürburgring Race race two years earlier. Could the Brazilian claim his fifth career win, and secure the first victory for the Bavarian marque in 2015, or would one of the six other BMWs in the top ten be able to beat the Audis and Mercs? The 40 minute race began at 14:00 local time.

Report

Farfus made a good start off the line but was ultimately left in third after the first run through Tarzan, after a barnstorming start by Marco Wittmann put the defending Champion in the lead before the braking zone. He was joined by António Félix da Costa when the Portuguese driver managed to dive past the Brazilian on the brakes into the first corner, as the BMWs translated their top for quali result to a top four race start. Gary Paffett tried a move down the outside of Tarzan to get by Miguel Molina and Farfus, but was instead run out wide.

The first lap was largely clean, until Paul di Resta ran into the back of Robert Wickens through the Gerlachbocht turn, with the Scot smashing into the barrier and out of the race. With di Resta's car abandoned in a difficult place, the Safety Car emerged so that it could be removed at the end of the first lap. Wickens continued without incident for the time being, with no action taken by the DMSB over the incident.

After ten minutes, and minor barrier repair, the safety car was back in the pits, releasing Wittmann to build a lead over da Costa. Edoardo Mortara and Martin Tomczyk meanwhile were left to limp into the pits to retire, while Mattias Ekström attacked Miguel Molina for a lowly fifteenth place. Otherwise, the action was sparsely spread through the field through the first half of the race, as Wittmann and da Costa began to break away.

Pascal Wehrlein and Christian Vietoris were battling over twelfth at the half way mark, while Paffett was trying to break the BMW quartet by taking Farfus for fourth. Suddenly, Ekstrom appeared in the rear sights of Wehrlein, prompting the youngster to force the issue with Vietoris, ultimately getting by. His move also opened the door for Ekstrom, although the German did force the Swede onto the high inside curb which had caused countless suspension issues in seasons past.

Jamie Green, meanwhile, made a fateful mistake through the second sector, running wide into the gravel and out of the race at turn nine. A slow zone was deployed for his car to be recovered, as da Costa made several attempts to pass Wittmann for a maiden win, although all ended in vain. With just a few minutes to go, the slow zone was rescinded although not in time for Adrien Tambay, who was slapped with a drive through penalty.

On the final lap, Paffett began pushing ever harder for fourth, but fell at the final hurdle when he was forced into the gravel, fairly, by the Brazilian and out. That promoted Bruno Spengler, Timo Glock and Tom Blomqvist into the top seven, which meant that BMW scored maximum points in the race. Mike Rockenfeller and Nico Müller finished as highest of the Audis in eighth and ninth, with Wehrlein benefiting from Tambay's penalty to secure a single point for Mercedes.

Result

The final classification of the 2015 Zandvoort Race 1 is displayed below:

2015 Zandvoort Race 1 Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	1	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	25	42:30.240	1:33.756	25
2nd	13	António Félix da Costa	BMW Team Schnitzer	25	+0.464s	1:33.462	18
3rd	36	Maxime Martin	BMW Team RMG	25	+2.229s	1:33.491	15
4th	18	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team RBM	25	+3.768s	1:33.799	12
5th	7	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team MTEK	25	+4.514s	1:33.875	10
6th	16	Timo Glock	BMW Team MTEK	25	+6.054s	1:33.881	8
7th	31	Tom Blomqvist	BMW Team RBM	25	+7.273s	1:33.851	6
8th	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	25	+7.837s	1:33.910	4
9th	51	Nico Müller	Audi Team Rosberg	25	+8.677s	1:34.045	2
10th	94	Pascal Wehrlein	gooix/OT Mercedes-AMG	25	+9.041s	1:33.541	1
11th	2	Gary Paffett	ART Grand Prix Mercedes	25	+12.217s	1:33.704
12th	8	Christian Vietoris	gooix/OT Mercedes-AMG	25	+12.906s	1:33.839
13th	5	Mattias Ekström	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	26	+15.738s	1:33.866
14th	10	Timo Scheider	Audi Team Phoenix	25	+17.847s	1:34.116
15th	84	Maximilian Götz	Petronas Mercedes-AMG	25	+20.492s	1:34.200
16th	12	Daniel Juncadella	Petronas Mercedes-AMG	25	+24.636s	1:33.858
17th	22	Lucas Auer	ART Grand Prix Mercedes	25	+25.656s	1:34.788
18th	27	Adrien Tambay	Audi Team Abt	25	+30.023s	1:34.027
Ret	53	Jamie Green	Audi Team Rosberg	17	Accident	1:33.877
Ret	6	Robert Wickens	Silberpfeil Mercedes-AMG	15	Retired	1:34.326
Ret	17	Miguel Molina	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	13	Retired	1:34.338
Ret	48	Edoardo Mortara	Audi Team Abt	6	Damage	1:56.589
Ret	77	Martin Tomczyk	BMW Team Schnitzer	5	Retired	1:55.070
Ret	3	Paul di Resta	Silberpfeil Mercedes-AMG	0	Accident	—
Source:

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

Milestones

• Fifth career victory for Marco Wittmann.
• Tom Blomqvist claimed his maiden points finish.
• First time in DTM history that seven cars from the same manufacturer finished in the top seven.

Standings

It was status quo at the head of the Championship hunt after the first race in Zandvoort, with Jamie Green having retained his eleven point lead. Mattias Ekström was next up in second, while Pascal Wehrlein had inched a point closer in third, moving to within two of the Swede. Edoardo Mortara and Robert Wickens likewise held station to complete the top five, while Adrien Tambay and Maximilian Götz were the only non-scorers left after the seventh round.

In the Teams' Championship it was gooix/OT Mercedes-AMG who had held onto the lead, and had managed to enhance their initiative by a single point to seven. Audi Team Abt Sportsline had held second ahead of sister squad Audi Team Rosberg, while BMW Team RMG had ascended to fifth. Audi, meanwhile, had inched away from Mercedes-AMG to increase their lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, while BMW had almost doubled their tally in a single race in third.

2015 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Jamie Green 81 ◄0 2nd Mattias Ekström 70 ◄0 3rd Pascal Wehrlein 68 ◄0 4th Edoardo Mortara 58 ◄0 5th Robert Wickens 57 ◄0 6th Marco Wittmann 40 ▲9 7th Bruno Spengler 37 ▲2 8th Christian Vietoris 36 ▼2 9th Gary Paffett 36 ▼2 10th Maxime Martin 32 ▲3 11th Miguel Molina 27 ▼3 12th Mike Rockenfeller 25 ▼1 13th Paul di Resta 23 ▼3 14th Martin Tomczyk 20 ▼2 15th António Félix da Costa 18 ▲6 16th Augusto Farfus 17 ▲3 17th Timo Scheider 16 ▼3 18th Daniel Juncadella 15 ▼1 19th Timo Glock 13 ▼1 20th Nico Müller 12 ▼3 21st Tom Blomqvist 6 ▲3 22nd Lucas Auer 2 ▼2 23rd Adrien Tambay 0 ▼1 24th Maximilian Götz 0 ▼1

2015 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st gooix/OT Mercedes-AMG 104 ◄0 2nd Audi Team Abt Sportsline 97 ◄0 3rd Audi Team Rosberg 93 ◄0 4th Silberpfeil Mercedes-AMG 90 ◄0 5th BMW Team RMG 72 ▲4 6th Audi Team Abt 58 ▼1 7th BMW Team MTEK 50 ▲1 8th Audi Team Phoenix 41 ▼1 9th ART Grand Prix Mercedes 38 ▼3 10th BMW Team Schnitzer 38 ◄0 11th BMW Team RBM 23 ▲1 12th Petronas Mercedes-AMG 15 ▼1 2015 Manufacturers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Audi 288 ◄0 2nd Mercedes-AMG 236 ◄0 3rd BMW 157 ◄0

References

Images and Videos:

References: