"I feel very lucky today to score myfirst win of the season thanks to our perfect strategy", Schneider said. "When Ekström made his final pit stop I knew that I'm going to have 30 tough laps and I can't afford to do any mistakes. My plan worked just fine because my car handled perfectly today".
The DTM returned to the legendary British venue of Brands Hatch for the second year running. Although not on the full course (also known as the 'Grand Prix course'), but on the much shorter 'Indy layout' of the track in Kent county. A total of 82 laps would require an hour of maximum concentration, while also being very physically demanding.
On a rise following his win at the Lausitz EuroSpeedway, Mika Häkkinen (AMG Mercedes C-Class 2007) stormed to pole on familiar turf in Brands Hatch, in front his fellow Mercedes factory driver Bruno Spengler of Canada and former GP2 driver Alexandre Prémat (Audi A4 DTM 2006) returning to form after a neck vertebra fracture earlier this year.
The former double F1 world champion lost the start duel on Sunday to younger rival Spengler, who went on to set the pace for the first half of the race. Race ended as soon as it started for points leader Paul di Resta (AMG Mercedes C-Class 2007), after colliding with fellow DTM rookie Mike Rockenfeller (Audi A4 DTM 2006). Häkkinen would lose two further places on lap 54 and 57 respectively to Schneider and Ekström, who were now chasing the leader.
After an accident in qualifying that prevented him from recording any lap time on the final segment of the session, Martin Tomczyk started from eight on the grid only to fight his way through the field. The 25-year-old German eventually made up enough ground to catch up with front runner Bernd Schneider later in the race. Team-mate Mattias Ekström followed Tomczyk closely, but neither of them afford to take any unnecessary risks.
Häkkinen eventually took fourth, ahead of Spengler, with Salzgitter AMG Mercedes' Jamie Green (AMG Mercedes C-Class 2007) sixth in his home race. Unlike previous rounds this year, where older spec cars were on par with the latest versions of the two German manufacturers currently involved in the series, the first six places at Brands belonged to 2007-spec cars, while the remaining two points awarding places went to the two semi-works 2006 cars of the Audi Sport Team Phoenix.
One of the first to congratulate the veteran for his win in England was F1's rising star, which happens to belong to the Mercedes racing family. "Lewis Hamilton called me right after the race and congratulated me", Schneider later told the media.
The next stop on the DTM schedule is the traditional race on the streets of Nürnberg, or the Norisring as they like to call it. Last year's winner Bruno Spengler will do his best to rescue his 2007 title campaign, while 19 other drivers would want to take the win for themselves. The race is on Sunday, June 24.
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