Bathgate’s Paul Di Resta scored his maiden victory in the German Touring Car Championship (DTM) when he dominated the latest round at the Lausitzring in Germany.
The 22-year-old led from start to finish after beginning the race from pole position, the first time the talented young Scot had qualified in the No1 slot.
“The race went brilliantly from my perspective,” Di Resta, who is now the lead Mercedes works driver in the championship, admitted today. “The start was crucial and leading through the opening two corners meant I could gradually pull away from the field.”
By the end of the first lap of the tight and twisty 2.1-mile circuit, the Scot was 1.6-seconds ahead of fellow Merc driver, Canadian Bruno Spengler. By lap nine the gap had increased to 3.6s.
“I just kept everything smooth and the pace just came,” Di Resta continued. “The guys in the team have worked brilliantly to give me such a fast car and it’s terrific to pay them back with our first win.”
Di Resta’s pace was blistering. On lap 12 he set a new lap record for DTM cars at the Lausitzring, clocking 1min 19.302secs. A lap later he dropped the time to 1:19.255, and on lap 18 he shattered the lap record with a best time of 1:18.938s.
“That just lets you see how quick the car was today,” Di Resta, who backed off towards the end of the race to eventually win by 5.562secs ahead of Timo Scheider with the second Audi of Mattias Ekstrom’s third, a further three seconds adrift.
As the series takes a six-week break before the next race at the Norisring, Di Resta, who finished second in the last round at Mugello in Italy, has leapt to second in the championship just three points behind leader Scheider.
But while one Scot was all smiles, there was further disappointment for Oban’s Susie Stoddart. Having started 17th on the grid after qualifying a massive 2.036s slower than Di Resta, she was forced to retire after being involved in a collision with the only other female racer, Katherine Legge in her Audi.
JM