Paffett Takes Fifth DTM Win Of The Season

Posted By www.eMercedesBenz.com on October 02, 2005 at 4:22 PM CST

In DTM racing news, Gary Paffett of DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG-Mercedes  
moved one step closer to capturing the DTM Championship, taking his  
fifth win of the season in Istanbul today.  Paffett, who started the  
race one point behind Audi's reigning champion Mattias Exstrom, moved  
within touching distance of the championship, needing only one point  
in the final race at Hockenheim to clinch the title.

In addition to Paffett, the other Mercedes drivers also performed  
well.  Mercedes swept the podium, with Mika Hakkinen and Bernd  
Schneider taking second and third place, respectively.

You can check out the full press release, pictures and interviews at  
www.eMercedesBenz.com


OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE


DTM Istanbul: Fifth Win And Championship Lead For Gary Paffett

Istanbul, Oct 02, 2005

Starting from his fourth pole position of the year, Gary Paffett  
accelerated into an immediate lead ahead of Schneider. Green was  
third at the end of the opening lap ahead of Häkkinen and Alesi.  
Bruno Spengler who had qualified the 2004 C-Class third dropped to  
seventh behind Ekström. Häkkinen overtook Green entering lap two to  
take third position.

Paffett, Schneider and Alesi made their first pit stops on lap 17.  
Now Häkkinen held the lead ahead of Green and Ekström. These three  
pitted one lap later and Paffett regained the lead. Häkkinen was  
second ahead of Schneider, Green and Alesi, who did not refuel during  
his first stop because Jean's radio did not work and he therefore  
came into the pits too late.
The Frenchman pitted for the second time on lap 20 and dropped to  
eighth. Paffett and Häkkinen made their second compulsory stop on lap  
24 with Schneider and Green pitting one lap later. After¬wards,  
Paffett led ahead of Häkkinen, Schneider and Green. After 32 laps  
these four crossed the finish line in the same order. On lap 26,  
Alesi pitted a third time to refuel and came home seventh ahead of  
Spengler. It has been at the A1-Raing three years ago, that the HWA  
team achieved a 1-2-3-4 success.

Gary Paffett, DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG-Mercedes, winner: "In the  
difficult conditions on the wet track I started really well and our  
team did a perfect job, particularly with the pit stops. I'm really  
happy about my fifth win of the year and want to thank everybody.  
However, nothing is over yet and we will give our all again at  
Hockenheim."

Mika Häkkinen, Sport Edition AMG-Mercedes, second: "A perfect race  
for the team and for me. They gave me a perfect car which made my  
second place possible. I thank everybody for their great efforts."

Bernd Schneider, Vodafone AMG-Mercedes, third: "I started quite well,  
but not ideally. Then I was able to follow Gary until our first  
pitstops, but dropped to third behind Mika later. Afterwards I didn't  
take chances in order to score as many points as possible for the team."

Jamie Green, Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes, fourth: "It was a difficult  
race on the slightly drying track. However, my car ran well and at  
the end of the opening lap I was able to overtake Ekström who was  
significantly slower."

Jean Alesi, AMG-Mercedes, seventh: "I'm not quite satisfied as the  
car ran very well and a better result would have been possible. But  
we had a problem with our radio and therefore I came in too late for  
my first pit stop and was not able to refuel. As a consequence I had  
to pit a third time."

Bruno Spengler, Mercedes Second Hand Cars, eighth and best driver  
with a last year's car: "Visibility was really poor and braking for  
the first corner was like a lottery. Then I suffered from understeer;  
however, that disappeared in the end and I was able to score one point."

Stefan Mücke, Mücke Motorsport AMG-Mercedes improved from 19th on the  
grid to ninth at the chequered flag. His team mate Alexandros  
Margaritis came home 11th.

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: "An excellent  
job by Gary, Mika, Bernd, Jamie and Jean. Congratulations to the  
entire team on this first-class result. Everybody in the HWA team  
under Hans-Jürgen Mattheis and Gerhard Ungar performed really well  
and received the best reward. It is great to achieve a second win on  
this challenging circuit six weeks after Kimi Räikkönen's Grand Prix  
victory. Gary and we still need one point in the championship, and  
until the grand finale at Hockenheim on 23 October everything remains  
open. DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG-Mercedes already won the team  
championship – thanks and congratulations on that for everybody."


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