2016 Hockenheim Opening Race 2

2016 Hockenheim Opening Race 2
Back home: The Hockenheimring
Race Information
Date	8 May 2016
No.	179
Event	DTM Hockenheim Opening 2016
Location	Hockenheimring Hockenheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Format	60 min + 1 Lap
Lap length	4.574 km (2.842 mi)
Distance	37 laps / 169.238 km (105.160 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Paul di Resta
Team	Mercedes DTM Team HWA II
Time	1:34.060
Fastest Lap
Driver	Paul di Resta
Team	Mercedes DTM Team HWA II
Time	1:35.335 on lap 16
Race Result
First	Second	Third
Paul di Resta	Augusto Farfus	Maxime Martin
Winner Team	Mercedes DTM Team HWA II
Time	1:01:42.654
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2016 Hockenheim Opening Race 1		2016 Spielberg Race 1

The 2016 Hockenheim Opening Race 2, otherwise known as the DTM Hockenheim Opening 2016 Race 2, was the second round of the 2016 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged at the Hockenheimring in Hockenheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, on 8 May 2016. The race would see Paul di Resta claim a dominant victory for Mercedes, his first in the series since the 2010 Shanghai Race.

Qualifying would see di Resta secure his first pole position since his return in 2014, with Augusto Farfus his closest challenger in second. Gary Paffett was next up ahead of Maxime Martin and Robert Wickens, who set identical times, while Esteban Ocon claimed an impressive seventh in only his second qualifying session.

The start of the race saw di Resta ace his getaway, leaping clear to claim an unopposed lead through the first corner. Indeed, with Farfus getting involved in a fight with Paffett and Martin for second di Resta was able to claim a huge advantage, only for the race to be halted by a Safety Car a few moments later.

The cause was an accident at turn two, as a lunge from António Félix da Costa on newboy Ocon sent the Frenchman into the side of Bruno Spengler. Spengler was pitched into a spin while Ocon collected Jamie Green, with the Canadian furiously clambering out of his car to blame Ocon for the accident.

Race One winner Edoardo Mortara was also involved, getting spun in the pack as the field tried to avoid the accident ahead. Several other drivers picked up damage, although there would be no pitstops from any of the drivers.

di Resta subsequently broke clear again at the restart, leaving Paffett to attack Martin for second, which he secured with a lunge at the Mercedes arena. Martin would later fall to Farfus, with the Brazilian proving to be the main foil to the two Mercedes before the stops began.

The stops themselves looked to have initially favoured Paffett, for a slow stop for di Resta gifted the Englishman three seconds. However, Paffett would get caught in traffic and so was unable to exploit the Scot's sufferings, before an investigation into his pitstop resulted in Paffett getting slapped with a drive-through penalty.

Once Paffett served his penalty di Resta was on his own, holding a ten second margin over Farfus, who had Martin and Glock glued to his tail. Paffett, meanwhile, would rejoin in tenth, although a series of quick moves saw him quickly climb back onto the tail of the fight for second.

Into the closing stages and Glock was the man to watch, as he managed to elbow his way past both Martin and Farfus with two swift moves. Yet, by that stage di Resta had secured a fifteen second advantage and was cruising, while Farfus remained glued to the #16 BMW's tail.

With that the race was run, with di Resta sweeping across the line to claim victory, while Glock managed to beat away a late retaliation from Farfus to secure second. Behind the Brazilian, Martin would just fend off the attentions of Paffett, while Robert Wickens and Tom Blomqvist fought to the line for sixth. Nico Müller was next up as the lone scorer for Audi, with Marco Wittmann and Martin Tomczyk the other scorers.

Background

Edoardo Mortara ended the opening day of the season at the head of the Championship, holding 25 points to his name and a seven point lead over Robert Wickens in second. Nico Müller was next up after his maiden podium finish, while Paul di Resta and Christian Vietoris completed the opening day top five. Bruno Spengler, António Félix da Costa, Maxime Martin, Mattias Ekström and Miguel Molina completed the first day scorers.

In the Teams' Championship it was Audi Team Abt Sportsline who led the charge, courtesy of a double score from Mortara and Ekström. Mercedes Team HWA I were next up in second ahead of Audi Team Abt, while BMW Team MTEK were the best placed of the Bavarian manufacturer's teams in sixth. In the Manufacturers Championship itself it was Audi who led the way, with a three point lead over Mercedes.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2016 Hockenheim Opening Race 2 is displayed below:

2016 Hockenheim Opening Race 2 Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Weight
2	Gary Paffett	Mercedes DTM Team ART	Mercedes	Mercedes C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
3	Paul di Resta	Mercedes DTM Team HWA II	Mercedes	Mercedes C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
5	Mattias Ekström	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi	Audi RS5 DTM	Audi 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
6	Robert Wickens	Mercedes DTM Team HWA I	Mercedes	Mercedes C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
7	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team MTEK	BMW	BMW M4 DTM	P66/1 4.0l V8	1,112.5 kg
8	Christian Vietoris	Mercedes DTM Team Mücke BWT	Mercedes	Mercedes C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
10	Timo Scheider	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi	Audi RS5 DTM	Audi 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
11	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	BMW	BMW M4 DTM	P66/1 4.0l V8	1,112.5 kg
12	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes DTM Team HWA I	Mercedes	Mercedes C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
13	António Félix da Costa	BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW	BMW M4 DTM	P66/1 4.0l V8	1,112.5 kg
16	Timo Glock	BMW Team RMG	BMW	BMW M4 DTM	BMW 4.0l V8	1,112.5 kg
17	Miguel Molina	Audi Sport Team Abt	Audi	Audi RS5 DTM	Audi 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
18	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team MTEK	BMW	BMW M4 DTM	P66/1 4.0l V8	1,112.5 kg
22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes DTM Team Mücke BWT	Mercedes	Mercedes C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
27	Adrien Tambay	Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi	Audi RS5 DTM	Audi 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
31	Tom Blomqvist	BMW Team RBM	BMW	BMW M4 DTM	P66/1 4.0l V8	1,112.5 kg
34	Esteban Ocon	Mercedes DTM Team ART	Mercedes	Mercedes C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
36	Maxime Martin	BMW Team RBM	BMW	BMW M4 DTM	P66/1 4.0l V8	1,112.5 kg
48	Edoardo Mortara	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi	Audi RS5 DTM	Audi 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
51	Nico Müller	Audi Sport Team Abt	Audi	Audi RS5 DTM	Audi 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
53	Jamie Green	Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi	Audi RS5 DTM	Audi 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
84	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes DTM Team HWA II	Mercedes	Mercedes C63 DTM	AMG 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi	Audi RS5 DTM	Audi 4.0l V8	1,120 kg
100	Martin Tomczyk	BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW	BMW M4 DTM	P66/1 4.0l V8	1,112.5 kg
Source:

Qualifying

The air temperature in Hockenheim broke thirty degrees ahead of qualifying for race two, although the track temperature remained below what it had been on Saturday.

Report

Maxime Martin led the field out onto the circuit for the penultimate session of the weekend, and the first qualifying of the year to be affected by success ballast. He, however, would not be the first to set a time, as Christian Vietoris swept across the line two minutes later to open the session with a 1:36.320, before being quickly toppled by Esteban Ocon. Timo Glock, meanwhile, would abandon his first attempt after a mistake, opting to pit rather than cause damage to his tyres.

As half time approached, Paul di Resta hit the top of the pack, his time of 1:34.514 only standing for a few seconds as Ocon flashed across the line to return to the summit. Martin was next through, besting Ocon's time before di Resta responded with a 1:34.060 to set the fastest time by over two tenths of a second. Race one winner Edoardo Mortara, meanwhile, pushed his Audi into tenth, the best placed car for the Ingolstadt manufacturer who were being hampered by their success ballast from Saturday. The field swept into the pits just after half-time, with only Vietoris on circuit for a couple of minutes.

There was a sudden flurry of activity with four minutes to go, as the drivers returned to the circuit for one final blast. Miguel Molina was one of the first to hit the circuit again, and as a result got caught behind Molina through the final sector of his attempt, ruining his lap and leaving the Spaniard to complain to his pitcrew over the radio. Elsewhere, António Félix da Costa went for a bounce through the grass on the exit of the final corner, effectively ruining two laps in one move, while Timo Scheider ran wide through the Sud Kurve to end his final attempt. The session, however, would effectively be ended with five seconds to go, as Lucas Auer tried to carry too much speed through the first corner, slid, and in his attempts to get his car back under control got caught by the gravel trap at the end of the run off area. With Auer's car beached the session was effectively over, leaving di Resta on pole for the first time since his return, ahead of Augusto Farfus and Gary Paffett, while Jamie Green would start from eleventh, the best of the Audis.

Results

The final qualifying result for the 2016 Hockenheim Opening Race 2 are outlined below:

2016 Hockenheim Opening Race 2 Qualifying Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Ave. Speed	Grid
1st	3	Paul di Resta	Mercedes Team HWA II	1:34.060	—	175.062 km/h	1
2nd	18	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team MTEK	1:34.186	+0.126s	174.828 km/h	2
3rd	2	Gary Paffett	Mercedes ART Grand Prix	1:34.198	+0.138s	174.806 km/h	3
4th	36	Maxime Martin	BMW Team RBM	1:34.285	+0.225s	174.644 km/h	4
5th	6	Robert Wickens	Mercedes Team HWA I	1:34.285	+0.225s	174.644 km/h	5
6th	16	Timo Glock	BMW Team RMG	1:34.344	+0.284s	174.535 km/h	6
7th	34	Esteban Ocon	Mercedes ART Grand Prix	1:34.361	+0.301s	174.504 km/h	7
8th	31	Tom Blomqvist	BMW Team RBM	1:34.423	+0.363s	174.389 km/h	8
9th	11	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	1:34.426	+0.366s	174.384 km/h	9
10th	13	António Félix da Costa	BMW Team Schnitzer	1:34.449	+0.389s	174.341 km/h	10
11th	53	Jamie Green	Audi Team Rosberg	1:34.451	+0.391s	174.338 km/h	11
12th	48	Edoardo Mortara	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	1:34.478	+0.418s	174.288 km/h	12
13th	7	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team MTEK	1:34.550	+0.490s	174.155 km/h	13
14th	100	Martin Tomczyk	BMW Team Schnitzer	1:34.592	+0.532s	174.078 km/h	14
15th	51	Nico Müller	Audi Team Abt	1:34.599	+0.539s	174.065 km/h	15
16th	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes BWT Mücke	1:34.630	+0.570s	174.008 km/h	16
17th	84	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes Team HWA II	1:34.709	+0.649s	173.863 km/h	17
18th	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	1:34.772	+0.712s	173.747 km/h	18
19th	27	Adrien Tambay	Audi Team Rosberg	1:34.779	+0.719s	173.734 km/h	19
20th	5	Mattias Ekström	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	1:34.824	+0.764s	173.652 km/h	20
21st	8	Christian Vietoris	Mercedes BWT Mücke	1:34.826	+0.766s	173.648 km/h	21
22nd	10	Timo Scheider	Audi Team Phoenix	1:34.882	+0.822s	173.546 km/h	22
23rd	12	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes Team HWA I	1:35.147	+1.087s	173.062 km/h	23
24th	17	Miguel Molina	Audi Team Abt	1:35.155	+1.095s	173.048 km/h	24
Source:

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

Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
	______________
Row 1	1	______________
	Paul di Resta	2
	______________	Augusto Farfus
Row 2	3	______________
	Gary Paffett	4
	______________	Maxime Martin
Row 3	5	______________
	Robert Wickens	6
	______________	Timo Glock
Row 4	7	______________
	Esteban Ocon	8
	______________	Tom Blomqvist
Row 5	9	______________
	Marco Wittmann	10
	______________	António Félix da Costa
Row 6	11	______________
	Jamie Green	12
	______________	Edoardo Mortara
Row 7	13	______________
	Bruno Spengler	14
	______________	Martin Tomczyk
Row 8	15	______________
	Nico Müller	16
	______________	Lucas Auer
Row 9	17	______________
	Maximilian Götz	18
	______________	Mike Rockenfeller
Row 10	19	______________
	Adrien Tambay	20
	______________	Mattias Ekström
Row 11	21	______________
	Christian Vietoris	22
	______________	Timo Scheider
Row 12	23	______________
	Daniel Juncadella	24
	______________	Miguel Molina

Race

Another warm afternoon in Hockenheim greeted the field for the second race of 2016, with Paul di Resta on pole for the first time since his Championship year of 2010. The Scot would race with the heaviest car in the field, a fate shared by all of the Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM drivers for race two, leaving the odds stacked against the former Champion as the whether he could take his first win since 2010. Elsewhere, attention would be on the Audi hoard at the back of the field, with the Ingolstadt backed machinery now the lightest cars in the field, and having tremendous pace as Edoardo Mortara demonstrated in race one.

Report

A stunning start for di Resta saw the Scot sweep into the first corner well ahead of his rivals, as Augusto Farfus got a poor run into the first corner, leaving him to go three abreast with Maxime Martin and Gary Paffett. Elsewhere, the familiar fanning out of the field across the run off at turn one meant everyone made it through the first corner, before the concertina effect into turn two caused the field to bunch up once again. Three drivers would fall victim of this effect, after an opportunist move by António Félix da Costa saw him accidentally collect Esteban Ocon as the field went through the second corner. There was little the Frenchman could do as momentum carried him into the back of Bruno Spengler, the Canadian immediately thrown into a spin with Ocon still sliding into his car. Then there was Jamie Green, whose attempts to take avoiding action ended with him being smacked by the sliding Ocon, all three eventually sliding into the gravel trap on the edge of the run off. All three were out as a result, Green and Ocon in the gravel while Spengler limped back to the pits to retire.

The safety car was called so the cars could be removed, with Mortara recovering to the back of the field having thrown his car into a spin to avoid the collision ahead of him. Once Ocon and Green were removed, the race was back under way with just seven minutes gone with di Resta sprinting away from Martin. The Belgian, however, would have difficulty in responding the Scot's early sprint being as he happened in the sights of Paffett, who had completed a move on Farfus early on lap one. A dive down the inside of the Mercedes Arena gave the Brit the place, leaving him to chase after di Resta already two seconds up the road.

Results

The full result from the 2016 Hockenheim Opening Race 2 is displayed below:

2016 Hockenheim Opening Race 2 Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	3	Paul di Resta	Mercedes Team HWA II	37	1:01:42.654	1:35.335	25
2nd	18	Augusto Farfus	BMW Team MTEK	37	+13.905s	1:35.927	18
3rd	36	Maxime Martin	BMW Team RBM	37	+14.493s	1:35.676	15
4th	2	Gary Paffett	Mercedes ART Grand Prix	37	+15.055s	1:35.388	12
5th	6	Robert Wickens	Mercedes Team HWA I	37	+19.377s	1:36.054	10
6th	31	Tom Blomqvist	BMW Team RBM	37	+21.690s	1:35.866	8
7th	51	Nico Müller	Audi Team Abt	37	+22.220s	1:35.898	6
8th	11	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	37	+23.790s	1:36.187	4
9th	100	Martin Tomczyk	BMW Team Schnitzer	37	+24.454s	1:36.080	2
10th	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	37	+31.303s	1:35.525	1
11th	48	Edoardo Mortara	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	37	+50.053s	1:36.377
12th	84	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes Team HWA II	37	+56.722s	1:36.629
13th	27	Adrien Tambay	Audi Team Rosberg	37	+1:02.408	1:35.896
14th	8	Christian Vietoris	Mercedes BWT Mücke	37	+1:05.985	1:36.374
15th	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes BWT Mücke	35	+2 laps	1:36.341
16th*	12	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes Team HWA I	29	Accident	1:35.657
DSQ†	16	Timo Glock	BMW Team RMG	37	Disqualified	1:35.943
Ret	17	Miguel Molina	Audi Team Abt	22	Spin	1:36.125
Ret	10	Timo Scheider	Audi Team Phoenix	18	Retired	1:37.796
Ret	5	Mattias Ekström	Audi Team Abt Sportsline	16	Retired	1:38.109
Ret	13	António Félix da Costa	BMW Team Schnitzer	11	Suspension	1:37.732
Ret	7	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team MTEK	1	Collision	—
Ret	34	Esteban Ocon	Mercedes ART Grand Prix	0	Collision	—
Ret	53	Jamie Green	Audi Team Rosberg	0	Collision	—
Source:

• * Juncadella was still classified despite retiring as he had completed 75% of the race distance.
• ^† Car #16 excluded for illegal bodywork.

Milestones

• Paul di Resta claimed his first pole position since the 2010 Shanghai Race.
  • Also di Resta's sixth DTM pole.
• di Resta's seventh career victory.
  • First DTM race victory for di Resta since 2010 Hockenheimring Race.
• Fifth podium for Maxime Martin.

Standings

Paul di Resta's imperious display in the second race of the weekend meant the Scot left Hockenheim in the lead of the Championship, nine points ahead of Robert Wickens. The Canadian had two strong performances to claim 28 points, leaving him three clear of race one winner Edoardo Mortara. Nico Müller was also among the early front runners in fourth, and the only other man with more than 20 points, while Maxime Martin completed the top five. Of the 24 drivers entered in the 2016 Championship 16 had scored in Hockenheim.

Team HWA had both of their teams leading the Teams' Championship, the second entry led by di Resta leading the way courtesy of the Scot's 37 points from the weekend. Behind the two HWA outfits was the Abt Sportsline team, with Mortara leading their challenge, while BMW Team RBM led the BMW challenge from fourth. As for the Brands' Championship, it was Mercedes who led the way with 87 points, 22 clear of BMW, while Audi would leave Hockenheim with 50.

 

2016 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Paul di Resta 37 ▲3 2nd Robert Wickens 28 ◄0 3rd Edoardo Mortara 25 ▼2 4th Nico Müller 21 ▼1 5th Maxime Martin 19 ▲3 6th Augusto Farfus 18 ▲8 7th Gary Paffett 12 ▲4 8th Christian Vietoris 10 ▼3 9th Tom Blomqvist 8 ▲4 10th Bruno Spengler 8 ▼4 11th António Félix da Costa 6 ▼4 12th Marco Wittmann 4 ▲4 13th Martin Tomczyk 2 ▼1 14th Mattias Ekström 2 ▼5 15th Miguel Molina 1 ▼5 16th Mike Rockenfeller 1 ▲1

2016 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Mercedes Team HWA II 37 ▲3 2nd Mercedes Team HWA I 28 ◄0 3rd Audi Team Abt Sportsline 27 ▼1 4th BMW Team RBM 27 ▲4 5th BMW Team MTEK 26 ▲1 6th Audi Team Abt 22 ▼3 7th Mercedes ART Grand Prix 12 ▲2 8th Mercedes BWT Mücke 10 ▼3 9th BMW Team Schnitzer 8 ▼2 10th BMW Team RMG 4 ◄0 11th Audi Team Phoenix 1 ▲1 12th Audi Team Rosberg 0 ▼1 2016 Manufacturers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Mercedes 87 ▲1 2nd BMW 65 ▲1 3rd Audi 50 ▼2

Only point scoring drivers are shown.

References

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