The calendar for May is packed with major motorsport events. Formula One returns to Monaco for the prestigious Grand Prix through the streets of the principality. But first, the DTM goes to the Motorsport Festival Lausitzring where it shares the billing with the ‘Super Sports Car League’.
- 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: Weekend’s results & facts
- Formula One: Lewis Hamilton wins the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona
- Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup: Double podium for the Mercedes-AMG GT3 at Silverstone
News snippets
Stat-Attack – Spain: The Spanish Grand Prix weekend belonged to Lewis Hamilton. The three-time World Champion struck gold four times, with pole position, race win, fastest lap and fastest pit stop. The story as it happened: Lewis claimed his 64th F1 pole on Saturday – his third at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and his third of the season. In the All-Time Greats, he is now only one pole position behind his childhood idol, Ayrton Senna. On Sunday, Lewis clinched Grand Prix victory number 55, his second in Barcelona as well as his second of the current campaign. Furthermore, he set the fastest lap for the third time in five races. And to apply the icing on the cake, the team’s pit crew performed the speediest wheel change of the race when Hamilton made his pit stop in a time of 2.39 seconds. The stop for Valtteri was the third-fastest on Sunday afternoon in a time of 2.57 seconds. What a fantastic achievement for the pit crew!
On to the Lausitzring: The Lausitzring has been hosting the DTM since the year 2000. A total of twelve wins from 21 races makes Mercedes-AMG Motorsport the most successful team at this particular venue. The drivers who have registered the most victories here are record DTM championship winner Bernd Schneider and Gary Paffett, each having lifted the trophy on three occasions. The team can also point to two first-time winners in its ranks: Pascal Wehrlein was crowned as the youngest winner in the history of the DTM at the Lausitzring in 2014, and Lucas Auer became the first Austrian to secure a DTM victory in the equivalent fixture last year.
Championship lead in Blancpain GT Sports Club retained: With a third podium in the fourth race of the season, Anthony Pons has consolidated his lead in the drivers’ standings of the Blancpain GT Sports Club. The Frenchman, who drives the number 72 Mercedes-AMG GT3 entered by AKKA ASP, finished fifth in Saturday’s qualification race and third in Sunday’s main race on the Silverstone Circuit in the UK. “Between the two races, we worked really hard, not only on the car, but also on the tactics,” said Pons. “And what we did paid off completely.” After an impressive performance on a wet surface, a Top Three result was assured when his opponent Cédric Leimer (SUI) in the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 was handed a time penalty. Three podium appearances – including one victory – from four races have secured the top spot for Pons in the drivers’ championship.
Third win in four races for Oscar Tunjo: Kornely Motorsport have registered another victory in the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy (STT) series. Their 21-year-old Colombian driver, Oscar Tunjo, claimed pole position in both the third and fourth races of the season, which were contested last weekend at Oschersleben (second of seven events). On Saturday, the South American driving the number 70 Mercedes-AMG GT3 celebrated a third success in the as yet young campaign and the following day once again made it onto the podium with a P3 finish in the general classification and a P2 in the H-R Cup. Team-mate Mario Hirsch (GER) in the number 20 SLS AMG GT3 finished sixth and fourth in the two races.
Class victory in the Le Mans Cup opener: The second season of the Michelin Le Mans Cup got underway last weekend on the Monza circuit in Italy. The driver pairing of team principal Lee Mowle and Phil Keen (both GBR) in the number 7 Mercedes-AMG GT3 took the victory in the GT3 class. They also finished ninth in the general classification which includes the LMP3 cars.
Three questions for Gary Paffett
Going into the second weekend of the season, you are second in the standings on level pegging with Jamie Green. How much does it mean to you to have got your season off to such a good start?
Gary Paffett: If you don’t score any points in the season opener at Hockenheim, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re out of the running for the championship. But equally, it doesn’t mean that Lucas already has the title sewn up just because he leads the standings after the first two races. A good start to the season is therefore not imperative, but for the driver, the engineers and the team, it serves as strong motivation for the rest of the season. It puts you in a positive frame of mind, because you know that the car is fast. The points themselves aren’t everything, but they obviously help.
You’ll be competing in your 150th DTM race for Mercedes at the Lausitzring. At the start of your DTM career, could you have imagined that you would one day reach the 150 milestone?
Gary Paffett: No. When you’re starting out on your career, it’s really hard to imagine that you might be doing it for more than a decade of your life. 150 DTM races is really quite a lot. I am very proud of what I’ve achieved here, because you’re only around for as long as you’re putting in decent performances. That’s what I’ve managed to do. It’s hard work to be around for so long, because there are a lot of good drivers who would like to have your place and youngsters who are coming through from the junior classes. You have to work very hard to keep your place in the team. In all these years, there are some races that stand out in my memory. For example, the Norisring in 2005 which I remember vividly. It was an incredible race. You always remember the tough races that caused you problems and in which things didn’t go according to plan. One occasion that had great sentimental significance for me was winning my home race at Brands Hatch in front of my home fans in the UK. That’s always something special. Those two races are the ones I remember most.
You and Bernd Schneider share the record for the most victories at the Lausitzring – three each. Why are you so good on this track, and would you like the record all for yourself?
Gary Paffett: It doesn’t mean a great deal to me, but it’s always nice to hold a record. So if you look back and see that there are only two drivers who have won three times on a particular track, then you think: “Wow, I can’t have been all that bad.” The Lausitzring is a track where I’ve been good even when I wasn’t doing so well elsewhere. When I returned to HWA in 2009, I secured my first victory at the Lausitzring. In 2013, we were having a hard time, but at the Lausitzring, I managed my only win of the campaign. It is one of those tracks that is always good for a surprise result. That’s why we will go into this race weekend fully focused and well-prepared. And I certainly wouldn’t mind if I came away as the only driver to have won four or even five races there.
Social Media News
#Hospitality: Meet some of the hardest-working people in Formula One. Experience a typical Friday with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport Hospitality crew in Barcelona…
Watch video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiTPzMEZVWU
#BehindTheScenes: A fresh insight into Formula One as Valtteri takes us on a personal tour of his driver’s room, deep in the heart of the Silver Arrows ultra-secret engineers’ truck.
Watch video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzazqgTAm3g
#F1explained: Starting with the Spanish Grand Prix, the driver’s name now appears on the side of the F1 car and the number on the front has to be of a minimum size. The purpose behind this new regulation is to ensure that the fans can identify each car – and even more importantly each driver. In our video, we show how the design team at the Silver Arrows factory created the new look for the W08.
Watch video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VsJQcetnog
#ThisIsWhyWeRace: It all began in 1988 with the entry of a works team in the DTM. Since then, Mercedes-AMG Motorsport have won 176 of the 400 races they have contested. Discover the emotions that have driven the whole team on in the intervening years.
Watch video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfF6Qb54FYk
Upcoming events & dates
| Date | Event |
| Friday 19/05/2017 | DTM: Lausitzring – Practice 1 |
| Saturday 20/05/2017 | DTM: Lausitzring – Practice 2 / Qualifying 1 / Race 1
ADAC GT Masters: Lausitzring – Race 1 |
| Sunday 21/05/2017 | DTM: Lausitzring – Practice 3 / Qualifying 2 / Race 2
ADAC GT Masters: Lausitzring – Race 2 |
Source : Mercedes.com
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