Mercedes Norisring DTM review

The Norisring once again lived up to its reputation as the highlight of the DTM season. But the most important news to come out of the weekend was that Gary Paffett walked away relatively unscathed from a massive crash.

• This is what happened: Weekend results and facts
• News from the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport teams
• Three questions for Gary Paffett
• Social media news: What’s new online?
• This week’s important dates and events

This is what happened: Results and facts

• DTM: Lucas Auer and Edoardo Mortara both on the podium in Race 2 at the Norisring
• DTM: Gary Paffett achieves his one hundredth DTM Top Ten finish

News snippets

Next stop Spielberg: The 2017 Formula 1 season is hurtling towards half-time: the Austrian Grand Prix at Spielberg next weekend will be the ninth fixture on the F1 calendar, and the midway point comes just one week later at Silverstone. For the Silver Arrows, the circuit in the Austrian Alps has been a happy hunting ground over the last three years, with two wins for Nico Rosberg and one for Lewis – the team’s three podiums even included a couple of one-two victories. The two most recent pole positions (Hamilton) as well as the last two fastest race laps (Hamilton, Rosberg) also went to the Silver Arrows.

Back in an F1 cockpit: Last weekend, the annual Goodwood Festival of Speed in West Sussex (England) once again played host to the motorsport world. It was an occasion which the Silver Arrows were obviously not going to miss out on. Valtteri Bottas was there, as was the reigning Formula One World Champion Nico Rosberg in the cockpit of a F1 W05 Hybrid. For Nico, it was the first outing in a Formula 1 car since his retirement last year. Our video shows onboard recordings of Nico’s laps which met with an enthusiastic reception from the spectators.

Watch the video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9q5BXA1K2A

Stat-Attack Norisring: On Saturday afternoon, after the first race of the weekend, it did not look as if the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM Team were destined to write another glorious chapter in their record on this track. One minor consolation was that Gary Paffet had at least passed a milestone in his DTM career with points-scoring finish number one hundred. But then, in a dramatic race the following day, Lucas Auer and Edoardo Mortara registered the team’s second double podium of the season, the first having gone to Auer and Robert Wickens for their one-two victory in Saturday’s race at the Lausitzring.

Excellent progress in the IMSA at halfway point: The Mercedes-AMG GT3 only began contesting the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at the start of the year, and after six of the twelve races on the calendar, it has already exceeded expectations. Mercedes-AMG Motorsport now leads the manufacturers’ standings in North America’s most important sports car series. The maiden podium came as early as the first race of the campaign when Jeroen Bleekemolen (NED), Adam Christodoulou (GBR), Mario Farnbacher (GER) and Ben Keating (USA) driving the number 33 Mercedes-AMG GT3 finished third in the GTD class of the prestigious 24-hour race at Daytona. And a maiden victory was to follow in the second outing when Jeroen Bleekemolen, Mario Farnbacher and Ben Keating triumphed on the historic Sebring International Raceway. Their success was complemented by a class P3 for the SunEnergy1 Racing car driven by Tristan Vautier (FRA), Boris Said (USA) and Kenny Habul (AUS). The Mercedes-AMG Motorsport teams extended their run of success in the third fixture of the season with a one-two win at Long Beach as Riley Motorsports – WeatherTech Racing came in ahead of Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsport. This time, it was Cooper MacNeil and Gunnar Jeannette in the third of the regular Mercedes-AMG GT3 entries who claimed the top spot on the podium. Jeroen Bleekemolen and Ben Keating returned to winning ways with the third consecutive victory for the car at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin. With customer team SunEnergy1 Racing taking third place, it was the third occasion on which two Mercedes-AMG GT3 teams had finished in the Top Three. After the first six races of the season, Mercedes-AMG Motorsport has made seven podium appearances and finds itself heading the manufacturer’s standings.

Fourth win in six races: Oscar Tunjo (COL) has extended his impressive run of victories in the STT series (Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy = Special Touring Car Trophy). The pole-sitter, who drives for Kornely Motorsport, registered a lights-to-flag victory in difficult, wet conditions at the Nürburgring. With four victories from six season races, the 21-year-old continues to lead the junior standings. In the second race, the South American finished fourth overall and third in his class. P3 on the day before had gone to Mario Hirsch (GER). The number two driver for Kornely Motorsport team finished sixth overall in his SLS AMG GT3. Josef Klüber (GER) in the number 30 Mercedes-AMG GT3 entered by équipe vitesse recorded two further points-scoring results for P9 in both races.

Podium lockout in the AM class of the International GT Open: Mercedes-AMG Motorsport teams enjoyed a number of successes in their class during the International GT Open at the Hungaroring. Lance David Arnold and Valentin Pierburg (both GER) brought the number 20 Mercedes-AMG GT3 entered by SPS automotive-performance home in second place overall in the first race and to a win in the Pro-AM category. Second place in the Pro-AM class went to Lechner Racing. The duo of Thomas Jäger (GER) and Mario Plachutta (AUT) finished eighth overall in the number 19 Mercedes-AMG GT3. Martin Konrad and Alexander Hrachowina (both AUT) won the AM classification. The MS RACING pairing crossed the line ahead of José Manuel Balbiani (ARG) and Marcio Basso (BRA) in the number 12 Mercedes-AMG GT3 entered by Sports & You. In the second race, Mercedes-AMG Motorsport celebrated a podium lockout in the AM classification: António Coimbra and Luis Silva (both POR) were the first to take the chequered flag in the number 99 Mercedes-AMG GT3 prepared by Sports & You. With Martin Konrad and Alexander Hrachowina in second place, and José Manuel Balbiani and Marcio Basso in third, the Mercedes brand monopolised the podium ceremony. There were two more Pro-AM class podium places in the second race as Thomas Jäger and Mario Plachutta reprised their runner-up spot from the previous day while Marcelo Hahn and Allam Khodair in the number 16 Team Drivex School Mercedes AMG GT3 finished third.

Debut, two Top Five results and two podiums in class: RAM Racing have now moved up to third in the 24H Series table. Tom Onslow-Cole (GBR) and Remon Leonard Vos (NED) in the number 30 Mercedes-AMG GT3 finished the 12-hour race at Imola 56.666 seconds behind the overall winner to take second place in the A6-Pro class. Paul Lafargue, Patrice Lafargue and Dimitri Enjalbert (all FRA) finished fifth overall in the number 17 Mercedes-AMG GT3 entered by IDEC Sport Racing. Meanwhile, MDC – Sports UG were making their debut in the 24H Series. Manuel Zumstein, Philipp Zumstein and Adrian Zumstein (all SUI) finished third in the A6-AM class.

Three questions for Gary Paffett plus follow this link to see the crash!

Gary, that was a horrific smash. How do you feel now?

Gary Paffett: A bit bruised. I have various pains and a few cuts here and there. But in general, I’m still in one piece, which is really good after such an accident. First of all, I have to say a massive thank-you to the people who designed the car. We keep saying how incredibly safe these DTM cars are nowadays. Here at the Norisring, we’ve seen just how safe they really are. The medical team at the circuit was really good, and the people at the hospital were amazing. They were very good at their job. They did scans and X-rays, and everything looked OK. When I told them how fast I was going when I crashed, they were quite shocked. They were quite surprised that I got out of the car without any injuries. I was pretty lucky today.

Can you describe the accident from your perspective in the cockpit?

Gary Paffett: It was really scary. I was going wheel to wheel with Jamie with the DRS open, and at the end of the straight we touched. As soon as you do that with the DRS open, you’re going to lose control, especially on the bumpy surface that you get at the Norisring. At that point, I was just a passenger really. I had two hard impacts with the barrier and then later on with Rocky in the corner – it was just really frightening. It felt like it was never going to stop. It kind of went on forever. The car just kept hitting things hard over and over again. So yes, it was pretty scary. Once it stopped, my heart was racing. I had to sit there for a minute and collect my thoughts. After such an impact, you really don’t know what has happened.

You then got out of the car without any assistance…

Gary Paffett: Yes, the medical team came over and did a quick assessment in the car. They wanted to do the extraction, but I felt OK and didn’t feel any pain in my back or my neck. I wanted to climb out of the car myself. I can only imagine how worrying it must have been for my wife and kids watching. For me, it was important to get out of the car and show everybody I was OK. You never want something like this to happen, but it’s motorsport, and such things do happen. We have to be thankful to the team for building a car that is so incredibly strong and safe. Sometimes you get lucky and win races, and sometimes you get lucky and come out of a crash like that in one piece. That’s the luckiest you can be. Now I have some time to relax on holiday with my family, and then I’ m looking forward to getting back in the car in Moscow. I’ll be back fighting as good as ever.

Social Media News

#StrategyAnalysis: What a race! The 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix had all the ingredients to be remembered as a classic. How did it unfold? In our strategy analysis, we take a closer look at the race…

Watch video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwOg4w9et54

#SetVisit: Behind the scenes with Formula 1 superstar Lewis Hamilton. We visit the set of the impressive Bose SoundTouch® 300 commercial.

Watch video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHIWuGTZ7Yo

#360°Onboard: We accompany Lewis as he takes F1 commentator David ‘Crofty’ Croft on a lap of Silverstone in the powerful Mercedes-AMG E63. We recorded it as a spectacular 360-degree video.

Watch video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=avv3q7LX-JA

#Motorsport-Night: David Coulthard and Jennifer Braun welcome us to Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Night at the Norisring.

Watch video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQI1_r-3n9s&t=0s

Upcoming events & dates

Source : Mercedes.com

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