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Canadian driver leads standings after first half of European DTM circuit schedule
Canadian driver Bruno Spengler has a target on his back. The 27-year-old Mercedes-Benz racer has been dominating the European DTM sedan series this season, leading the points standings heading into the sixth round at the challenging Nürburgring circuit in Germany.
The DTM series is a 10-race tour with stops at some of the most famous road circuits in Europe and, this season, it features a shootout between two well-known premium German brands: Audi and Mercedes-Benz. Since the series was revived in 2000, Mercedes has won the championship six times, including last season with Paul di Resta, who now drives for Force India in Formula One. The roster of DTM drivers includes several former Grand Prix competitors, including David Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher, who are both driving for Mercedes this season.
Audi has finished atop the final standings five times, including three consecutive seasons from 2007 to 2009.
Spengler drives under the Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG banner, one of three factorybacked teams. However, as the series kicks off the final half of its schedule, a trio of Audi teams, with factory support, is focused on unseating the young Canadian. So says Italian driver Edoardo Mortara, a 24-year-old rookie in the DTM, who gave me an inside look at the series and the cars.
"We are not competing as individuals but as one team," says Mortara, who drives for former F1 veteran Keke Rosberg's Playboy-sponsored team. "Our goal - everyone's goal - is to win the European championship for Audi. When one of us wins a race, that's great for Audi because it's another step toward our goal of winning the championship this year."
As an example of the allfor-one approach, Mortara says all three Audi teams, with nine cars on the grid for the race, have a policy of sharing all engineering data.
The flow of information to the teams' engineers reflects the fact the cars in this series are amazingly sophisticated. Typically, sedan race cars are based on street versions of each brand, but, in the DTM, the only panel common to the production and racing versions of this Audi A4 is the roof.
The driver sits well back in the cockpit.
"Actually, it's like we're sitting in the back seat of the production car," Mortara explains. "The visibility is not very good. You can't see much - you can't see the apex in the corners.
Looking at the seating position buried so deep into the cockpit, one wonders how a driver would ever get out in a hurry.
"The rules say we actually have to show we can get out in five seconds - it's something we have to practice," Mortara says.
The experience of riding at speed in one of these machines is breathtaking. With 470 horsepower on tap from the 4.0-litre normally aspirated V8 to propel the 1,059-kilogram car, acceleration is amazing. The sophisticated suspension system works with the series-spec Hankook tires to keep things planted.
Huge ventilated carbonfibre rotors - the largest I've seen on a car - are mounted at the four corners, and their ability to haul the car down took my breath away.
On race day, Audi driver Mattias Ekstrom started from the pole and won the 49lap race. Mike Rockenfeller, also in an Audi, had second place secured until he overcooked his entry into a corner with two laps remaining, opening the door for Spengler to take the position and boost his points lead to seven. Rockenfeller recovered to place third. Mortara, my "tour guide," finished a respectable seventh.
The series continues Sept. 4 at Brands Hatch in England.
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