Bruno Spengler claims first season win for BMW at Lausitz
Klettwitz. BMW didn’t have to wait long for its maiden win after the brand’s return to the DTM: having started from pole position, Canadian Bruno Spengler won the 52 laps long second round of the 2012 DTM season at Lausitzring with his BMW M3 DTM. Gary Paffett (Mercedes AMG C-Coupé) claimed second place behind Spengler. At the finish line, Paffett was 1.019 seconds down on the race winner. With Augusto Farfus in third place, another BMW driver rounded out the podium. Behind fourth-placed Jamie Green (Mercedes-Benz), Mattias Ekström crossed the finish line as the best-placed Audi driver in fifth. Timo Scheider (Audi), Martin Tomczyk (BMW), Edoardo Mortara (Audi), Filipe Albuquerque (Audi) and Ralf Schumacher (Mercedes-Benz) also scored points in sixth to tenth place. After two rounds, Gary Paffett is leading the drivers’ standings with 43 points. The race in detail Spectators during the race weekend: 72,000 Air temperature: 8.9 °C Asphalt temperature: 11.9 °C Start   Spengler leads. Paffett takes second from Farfus. All the cars through the first corner. Lap 1   Spengler is leading from Paffett, Farfus, Mortara, Rockenfeller, Green, Tomczyk, Ekström, Tambay. Lap 2   Green puts the pressure on Mortara in the battle for fourth place. Rockenfeller had dropped back to eighth. Lap 3   Tomczyk is closely behind Green as well. Out in front, Paffett is closing up to race leader Spengler. Lap 6   Farfus is 1.6 seconds behind Paffett while the battle between Green and Mortara for fourth continues. Lap 8   Finally, Green has overtaken Mortara and is now fourth. Lap 11   Vietoris attacks Tambay in the battle for 14th place. Hand and Coulthard overtake Merhi Lap 12   First pit stops: Tomczyk, Molina, Ekström, Vietoris, Schumacher, Tambay, Merhi Lap 13   Ekström and Tomczyk side by side coming oit of the pit lane, Ekström gets in front. Albuquerque, Wickens, Wolff into the pits Lap 14   Paffett, Mortara into the pits. Lap 15   Farfus, Rockenfeller, Coulthard, Frey into the pits. Lap 16   Spengler into the pits Lap 17   Merhi past Tambay under braking for the first corner. Spengler comes out of the pits ahead of Paffett. Lap 18   Werner into the pits. Lap 19   Scheider into the pits. Lap 20   Green, Priaulx, Hand are the only drivers still to come in for their first stop. Tomczyk overtakes Mortara for ninth. Priaulx comes into the pits. Lap 22   Wickens into the pits, the first to make his second stop. Paffett is closing up on Spengler, the gap between the two is 0.7 seconds. Lap 23   Merhi into the pits. Lap 25   Green into the pits for his first stop. Lap 26   Problems with the left rear wheel of Green’s car. He re-joins behind Farfus. Spengler is leading from Paffett, Farfus, Green, Hand, Ekström. Vietoris, Wolff into the pits. Lap 27   Hand into the pits. He is the last one to make his first stop. Schumacher in for his second stop. Lap 28   Vietoris overtakes Werner and is now 18th. Tambay takes the escape road after missing his braking point before turn 1. Lap 29   Rockenfeller and Albuquerque into the pits. Lap 30   Mortara into the pits. Green is closing up on Farfus. Lap 31   Paffett, Molina, Priaulx into the pits. Lap 32   Spengler into the pits. Lap 33   Spengler stays just ahead of Paffett. Later in the lap, Paffett attacks. Green, Ekström, Tomczyk into the pits. Lap 34   Farfus, Scheider, Coulthard into the pits. Lap 35   Farfus rejoins ahead of Green and remains third. Ekström overtakes Scheider in the battle for sixth. Lap 36   Paffett is right behind Spengler and keeps the pressure on the race leader. Lap 37   Hand into the pits. He is the last driver to make a stop in this race. Lap 40   Paffett is 0.569 behind Spengler, the difference between Farfus and Green is also half a second. Lap 46   Paffett keeps the pressure on Spengler, Green is still closely behind Farfus. Lap 48   Wickens retires – his cars stops at the pit lane entry. Lap 49   Coulthard battles with Rockenfeller for twelfth and gets past under braking for the first corner. Lap 50   Spengler is leading from Paffett, Farfus, Green, Ekström, Scheider, Tomczyk, Mortara, Albuquerque, Schumacher. Lap 52   Paffett runs wide at turn 1, allowing Spengler to extend his lead. Finish   Spengler wins from Paffett, Farfus, Green, Ekström, Scheider, Tomczyk, Mortara, Albuquerque, Schumacher. DTM.