* Spengler claims eighth DTM race won from Ekström – maiden podium for Schumacher
* Safety car phase provided additional excitement
* Hankook enjoys trouble-free debut in the world’s most popular touring car series
Never before was Hankook’s slogan ‘Driving emotion’ more apt than at the opening round of the new DTM season at Hockenheim. 58,000 thrilled spectators, including Hankook board members Jin-Wook Choi (COO for Europe) and Hyun-Bum Cho (Global CSFO) saw an action-packed race, from which Bruno Spengler emerged as the glorious winner with his Hankook shood AMG Mercedes C-Class. “My team has provided me with a great car and carried out the pit stops at the right moment. The Hankook tyres were also very good. Even though we are running a lot over the kerbs here at Hockenheim, the tyres remained consistent. That is really very good”, said the eight times’ DTM race winner.
After 38 laps in the Motodrom, the 27-year old Canadian took the flag with a margin of almost four seconds over his Audi opponent Mattias Ekström, who came second with his A4 DTM. “For me, it was a great race”, the Swede said. “I had a good start and my car worked perfectly. There weren’t any problems with the tyres either.”
However, Ekström, who just had become a father, was really lucky on the last few metres as a loose uniball joint made his 470 hp strong race car almost undriveable in the final four corners. The first to benefit would have been Mercedes-Benz driver Ralf Schumacher, who crossed the finish line only 0.177 seconds later. Nevertheless, the joy for the Salzburg-based driver was huge as his third place was his first podium finish in five years and his first-ever in the DTM. “Special thanks to Hankook! Somehow that seems to help a little bit. I think it is not natural for a new tyre manufacturer comes into a series and deliver a good and consistent tyre. Here at Hockenheim, we we had no problems at all during testing and racing. Thanks to Hanook for being here with us. I think this is a really good addition for the DTM”, said Schumacher.
As a new DTM partner, Hankook can also rightfully be considered as one of the winners of this race weekend. On all the cars, the new Ventus F200 DTM tyres completed the 174 kilometres long race distance without any problems. Audi’s head of motorsport, Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, was impressed: “With Hankook, we now have a tyre that not only lasts throughout the race, but that we can also put pressure on.”
Right from the start, Bruno Spengler was leading the race, followed by Mattias Ekström and Ralf Schumacher, and apart from the pit stops, this order remained unchanged until the finish. However, the field came together again due to a safety car intervention on lap 25 after Martin Tomczyk had been released too early after his pit stop and only got rid of the refuelling can that got stuck on his car while back on the race track. Earlier in the race, Mercedes-Benz driver Susie Stoddart suffered from a similar mishap, but she was able to throw off her ‘souvenir’ from the pit stop without any problems in the hairpin.
Next to Ralf Schumacher’s maiden DTM podium finish, the great recovery by Mercedes-Benz driver Gary Paffett also thrilled the numerous DTM fans. The Brit had started from the back of the grid, made up six places on the opening lap already and eventually finished an excellent sixth behind the two Audi drivers Timo Scheider and Martin Tomczyk. “Our tyres were absolutely consistent with both manufacturers. Also for Gary Paffett, who had to push till the end”, said Hankook race engineer Michael Eckert.
On the day before the race, there was already plenty of reason to celebrate for Hankook, not only because of the company’s 70th anniversary and the early German soccer championship title for Borussia Dortmund, where Hankook is engaged as a Champion Partner. To celebrate the premiere of the new DTM control tyre, all teams with their drivers and team principals and the board members of the DTM umbrella organization ITR e.V. gathered in the impressive Hankook hospitality unit. Everybody was unusually unanimous in the verdict about the quality of the Ventus race tyres that was underlined in an impressive way by the excellent balance among the 18 drivers in the field. Speaking for everybody else, ITR chairman Hans Werner Aufrecht praised his new partner: “I can only say that I am impressed by everything that Hankook has achieved so far. After all, they are not only supplying all the teams with tyres, but they are also providing service. They have succeeded in developing a tyre for the two philosophies of the manufacturers that doesn’t give any one of the two a disadvantage. In doing so, they have done an incredibly tremendous job.”
Jin-Wook Choi, Hankook Tire Executive Vice-President and European COO, is only too happy to return this compliment to those in charge at the ITR e.V. and the manufacturers. “From the very beginning, we felt like a full partner of the DTM family. Now, we are positively looking forward to the next race at Zandvoort in a fortnight. A new challenge, but motivated by the positive result, we are very confident, also concerning the entire 2011 DTM season.”
