Because of the live broadcast of the Tour de France’s final weekend, the qualifying for the seventh race of the 2008 DTM at the Nürburgring this coming weekend will start only at 18:48 h instead of 13:28 h; Sunday’s race will begin at 17:35 h instead of 14:00 h. German channel ARD will broadcast qualifying and race live.
At the Nürburgring, Mercedes-Benz is the most successful manufacturer since the launch of the new DTM in 2000. Mercedes-Benz drivers won six out of the 13 races in the Eifel mountains, Audi took five victories and Opel two. After the first six of this championship’s 11 rounds, Mercedes-Benz and Audi are tied on victories with three each.
Jamie Green (Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class) won in Mugello and at the Norisring
Paul Di Resta (AMG Mercedes C-Class), racing his first season for the HWA team took victory at the Lausitzring.
Prior to the Nürburgring race, the top five in the championship are within 14 points; among them are three Mercedes-Benz drivers: Jamie Green is third overall with 34 points, six points behind the leader. Paul Di Resta is fourth overall on 29 points ahead of Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class) with 26 points. In the five races to come, a driver can score a maximum of 50 points.
Since 1984, there have been a total of 64 DTM races at the Nürburgring. Mercedes-Benz won 28 of them and is the most successful manufacturer at this circuit. Volker Weidler took the first victory for the brand in a 190E of Dr. Helmut Marko’s team in 1986, two years before Mercedes-Benz entered the series as manufacturer. Klaus Ludwig is the most successful DTM driver at the Nürburgring with 13 victories, 12 of which he achieved with Mercedes-Benz. Gary Paffett, who races the 2007 stern AMG Mercedes C-Classe this year, is the fastest DTM driver at the Nürburgring. The 2005 champion holds the DTM lap record with a time of 1m24.442 on the short track for three years
Comments on the Nürburgring race by Bruno Spengler, best Mercedes-Benz driver in the previous race in Zandvoort; Ralf Schumacher and Norbert Haug Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class: “I won at the Nürburgring in 2006 and last year I finished second. I like this track. It would be great if I could reduce the gap to the top of the ranking at this circuit.”
Ralf Schumacher, Trilux AMG Mercedes C-Class: “Although my Formula 1 victory in the Eifel Mountains happened five years ago, I still have good memories of the great atmosphere there. Of course, there are only a few things my 2003 Grand Prix car and my DTM race have in common and being a rookie I’m learning in the DTM with every race.“
Norbert Haug: “At the Nürburgring, qualifying and race will be held in the evenings. With respect to track temperatures and weather, they might bring conditions which we cannot practice on the test day before. However, there is a big chance that more viewers will have the chance to attend the TV broadcasts on Saturday and Sunday and therefore we look forward to this experiment.”
Winners of the DTM and ITC races at the Nürburgring with 27 Mercedes-Benz victories out of 55 races (since Mercedes-Benz has entered the DTM in 1988):
1988 Kurt Thiim (BMW), Dany Snobeck (AMG Mercedes 190E)
1988: Armin Hahne (Ford, both races)
1989: Steve Soper (BMW, both races) 1989: Alain Ferté (Ford, both races)
1989: Klaus Ludwig (AMG Mercedes 190E, both races)
1990: Steve Soper (BMW, both races)
1990: Jacques Laffite (BMW), Frank Biela (AMG Mercedes 190E)
1990: Emanuele Pirro (BMW), Walter Röhrl (Audi)
1991: Klaus Ludwig (AMG Mercedes 190E, both races)
1991: Klaus Ludwig (AMG Mercedes 190E, both races)
1992: Frank Biela (Audi), Roland Asch (AMG Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo2)
1992: Klaus Ludwig (AMG Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo2, both races)
1992: Bernd Schneider, Klaus Ludwig (AMG Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo2)
1993: Nicola Larini (Alfa Romeo), Klaus Ludwig (AMG Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo2)
1993: Nicola Larini (Alfa Romeo, both races)
1994: Klaus Ludwig (AMG Mercedes C-Class), Nicola Larini (beide Alfa Romeo)
1994: Alessandro Nannini (Alfa Romeo), Klaus Ludwig (AMG Mercedes C-Class)
1994: Jörg van Ommen (AMG Mercedes C-Class, both races)
1995: Bernd Schneider (AMG Mercedes C-Class, both races)
1996 (ITC): Jörg van Ommen (AMG Mercedes C-Class), Manuel Reuter (Opel)
1996 (ITC): Alessandro Nannini (Alfa Romeo, both races)
2000: Bernd Schneider (AMG Mercedes CLK, both races)
2000: Manuel Reuter (Opel, both races)
2001: Laurent Aiello (Audi)
2001: Laurent Aiello (Audi)
2002: Uwe Alzen (AMG Mercedes CLK)
2003: Christijan Albers (AMG Mercedes CLK)
2003: Laurent Aiello (Audi)
2004: Gary Paffett (AMG Mercedes C-Class)
2005: Mattias Ekström (Audi)
2006: Bruno Spengler (AMG Mercedes C-Class)
2007: Martin Tomczyk (Audi)
The International Touring Car Championship (ITC) was held parallel to the DTM in 1995 and as its successor in 1996. - Since 2001, there has been only one race per event.