Langbahn Team – Weltmeisterschaft

2007 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

Mattias Ekström (left) won his second Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Drivers' Championship while Bruno Spengler (right) finished second in the championship.
The Drivers' Championship was won by Mattias Ekström.

The 2007 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters was the twenty-first season of premier German touring car championship and also eighth season under the moniker of Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters since the series' resumption in 2000.

Season summary

The season started dramatically with massive crash on opening lap of Hockenheim race. As a result, Tom Kristensen and Alexandre Prémat were forced to sit out races.[1][2]

The season also included many controversial moments. In Lausitzring, the safety car caught the wrong driver and this shook up race results almost completely. Organizers admitted that Mika Häkkinen deserved the win and Paul di Resta second place, but other drivers were not in the places where they should have been. As a result, half points were awarded and thus race director Roland Bruynseraede was sacked on 31 May 2007.[3]

At Zandvoort, Audi drivers swapped positions on the start/finish straight on the final lap, handing the race win to Martin Tomczyk instead of Prémat.[4] Audi Motorsport Director Wolfgang Ullrich denied the presence of team orders and instead said that Prémat did the move on his own.[5]

At the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona before 42,000 spectators, Häkkinen collided with Martin Tomczyk and Daniel la Rosa with Mattias Ekström. This and couple of other incidents caused that all Audi drivers withdrew from the race on the instruction of Audi Motorsport Director Wolfgang Ullrich with nine laps to go. Häkkinen and la Rosa were excluded from the race (which was meaningless as both drivers retired in the incidents), fined and given 10-place grid penalty for final race of the season.[6][7]

This was the final season that Vodafone was a front windscreen sponsor as well as Blaupunkt as a front vehicle plate sponsor.

Teams and drivers

The following manufacturers, teams and drivers competed in the 2007 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Dunlop.

Make Car Team No. Drivers Rounds
Mercedes-Benz AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2007 HWA Team 1 Germany Bernd Schneider All
2 Canada Bruno Spengler All
5 United Kingdom Jamie Green All
6 Finland Mika Häkkinen All
AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2006 Persson Motorsport 9 United Kingdom Gary Paffett All
10 Greece Alexandros Margaritis All
AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2005 19 United Kingdom Paul di Resta All
AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2006 Mücke Motorsport 14 United Kingdom Susie Stoddart All
15 Germany Daniel la Rosa All
AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2005 18 Austria Mathias Lauda All
Audi Audi A4 DTM 2007 Abt Sportsline 3 Sweden Mattias Ekström All
4 Germany Martin Tomczyk All
7 Denmark Tom Kristensen 1, 5-10
Germany Frank Biela 2
Germany Markus Winkelhock 3-4
8 Germany Timo Scheider All
Audi A4 DTM 2006 Team Rosberg 11 Germany Mike Rockenfeller All
12 Germany Lucas Luhr All
Team Phoenix 16 Germany Christian Abt All
17 France Alexandre Prémat 1, 3-10
Germany Marco Werner 2
Audi A4 DTM 2005 Futurecom TME 20 United Kingdom Adam Carroll 1-5
Germany Markus Winkelhock 6-10
21 Belgium Vanina Ickx All
Sources:[8][9]

Driver changes

Jean Alesi left the DTM after five seasons in the championship, citing frustration with driving a year old car in 2006.[10]

2006 Formula 3 Euro Series champion Paul di Resta joined the series with Persson Motorsport.[11]

Stefan Mücke left the series after five seasons.[12] He was replaced at Mücke Motorsport by Mathias Lauda who had driven for Perrsson Motorsport the previous season.

2005 DTM champion Gary Paffett returned to the series with Perrsson Motorsport after spending the previous year focussing on his role as test driver at the McLaren F1 Team.[13]

Heinz-Harald Frentzen left the series after claiming that he had no support from Audi.[14] He was replaced by Timo Scheider who had driven for Team Rosberg the previous season.[15]

Mike Rockenfeller and Lucas Luhr joined the series with Team Rosberg after both switching from being Porsche factory drivers to Audi factory drivers.[15]

GP2 frontrunner Alexandre Prémat joined the series with Team Phoenix.[15]

GP2 driver Adam Carroll joined the series with Futurecom TME.[16]

Pierre Kaffer and Frank Stippler both left the series.

Mid season changes

Tom Kristensen had to miss three rounds due to injuries sustained at the season opener in Hockenheim. He was replaced by Frank Biela at Oschersleben and Markus Winkelhock at EuroSpeedway and Brands Hatch.[17][18]

Alexandre Prémat had to miss the Oschersleben round due to injuries sustained at the season opener in Hockenheim. He was replaced by Marco Werner.[19]

Adam Carroll left Futurecom TME after the fifth round after failing to fulfill sponsorship obligations and returned to the GP2 Series. He was replaced by Markus Winkelhock for the remainder of the season.[20]

Race calendar and winners

Round Circuit Date Local Time Pole position Fastest Lap Winning driver Winning team Winning manufacturer TV
Germany Präsentation Düsseldorf 15 April 10:00
1 Germany Hockenheimring 22 April 14:00 Canada Bruno Spengler Sweden Mattias Ekström Sweden Mattias Ekström Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline Audi ARD
2 Germany Oschersleben 6 May 14:00 Finland Mika Häkkinen United Kingdom Jamie Green United Kingdom Gary Paffett Laureus AMG Mercedes Mercedes ARD
3 Germany EuroSpeedway 20 May 14:00 Canada Bruno Spengler Sweden Mattias Ekström Finland Mika Häkkinen AMG Mercedes Mercedes ARD
4 United Kingdom Brands Hatch 10 June 13:00 Finland Mika Häkkinen Germany Martin Tomczyk Germany Bernd Schneider Original-Teile AMG Mercedes Mercedes ARD
5 Germany Norisring 24 June 14:00 Canada Bruno Spengler Canada Bruno Spengler Canada Bruno Spengler DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG Mercedes Mercedes ARD
6 Italy Mugello 15 July 17:45 Sweden Mattias Ekström Germany Martin Tomczyk Finland Mika Häkkinen AMG Mercedes Mercedes ARD
7 Netherlands Zandvoort 29 July 13:00 Germany Timo Scheider United Kingdom Jamie Green Germany Martin Tomczyk Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline Audi ARD
8 Germany Nürburgring 2 September 15:00 Germany Martin Tomczyk Canada Bruno Spengler Germany Martin Tomczyk Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline Audi ARD
9 Spain Barcelona 23 September 14:00 Germany Martin Tomczyk Canada Bruno Spengler United Kingdom Jamie Green Salzgitter AMG Mercedes Mercedes ARD
10 Germany Hockenheimring 14 October 14:00 Denmark Tom Kristensen United Kingdom Jamie Green United Kingdom Jamie Green Salzgitter AMG Mercedes Mercedes ARD
Source:[21]

Championship standings

Scoring system

Points are awarded to the top 8 classified finishers.[22]

Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th 
Points 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1

Drivers' championship

Pos Driver HOC
Germany
OSC
Germany
LAU
Germany
BRH
United Kingdom
NOR
Germany
MUG
Italy
ZAN
Netherlands
NÜR
Germany
CAT
Spain
HOC
Germany
Pts
1 Sweden Mattias Ekström 1 7 10 3 3 2 3 3 Ret 3 50
2 Canada Bruno Spengler 14 Ret 3 5 1 4 5 2 2 4 47
3 Germany Martin Tomczyk 2 5 9 2 Ret Ret 1 1 Ret 9 40
4 United Kingdom Jamie Green 6 11 6 6 6 Ret 11 5 1 1 34.5
5 United Kingdom Paul di Resta 5 2 2 Ret 15 3 14 6 3 8 32
6 Germany Bernd Schneider 7 6 4 1 2 11 12 7 Ret 5 31.5
7 Germany Timo Scheider 9 4 5 13 14 Ret 4 4 Ret 2 25
8 Finland Mika Häkkinen 10 17 1 4 9 1 7 10 DSQ 17 22
9 United Kingdom Gary Paffett 8 1 8 10 4 Ret 9 12 5 Ret 20.5
10 Greece Alexandros Margaritis 4 8 Ret 9 7 Ret 8 13 4 7 16
11 France Alexandre Prémat Ret Ret 7 8 7 2 9 10† 16 13
12 Germany Mike Rockenfeller 12 3 13 Ret 13 6 10 17 7† DSQ 11
13 Germany Daniel la Rosa 3 14 16† DSQ 12 5 DNS 14 DSQ 10 10
14 Denmark Tom Kristensen Ret 5 8 18† 8 9† 6 9
15 Austria Mathias Lauda 13 13 7 12 11 12† 15 11 6 11 4
16 Germany Christian Abt Ret 10 17† 8 10 Ret 6 15 11† 15 4
17 Germany Lucas Luhr 11 12 14 11 18† Ret 16 16 8† 12 1
18 United Kingdom Adam Carroll Ret 9 11 15 17† 0
19 Germany Markus Winkelhock Ret 14 9 13 Ret 12† 13 0
20 United Kingdom Susie Stoddart Ret 16 12 16 16 10 17 18 Ret 14 0
21 Belgium Vanina Ickx 15 Ret 15 17 Ret Ret DNS 19 13† 18 0
22 Germany Marco Werner 15 0
23 Germany Frank Biela 18† 0
Pos Driver HOC
Germany
OSC
Germany
LAU
Germany
BRH
United Kingdom
NOR
Germany
MUG
Italy
ZAN
Netherlands
NÜR
Germany
CAT
Spain
HOC
Germany
Pts
Sources:[23][24]
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver Second place
Bronze Third place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap

  • † — Driver retired, but was classified as they completed 90% of the winner's race distance.

• Half points were awarded at EuroSpeedway because of mistakes by race director during the safety car period. (Points were awarded 5-4-3-2.5-2-1.5-1-0.5).

Teams' championship

Pos. Team No. HOC
Germany
OSC
Germany
LAU
Germany
BRH
United Kingdom
NOR
Germany
MUG
Italy
ZAN
Netherlands
NÜR
Germany
CAT
Spain
HOC
Germany
Points
1 Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline 3 1 7 10 3 3 2 3 3 Ret 3 90
4 2 5 9 2 Ret Ret 1 1 Ret 9
2 Original-Teile / DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG Mercedes 1 7 6 4 1 2 11 12 7 Ret 5 78.5
2 14 Ret 3 5 1 4 5 2 2 4
3 Salzgitter / AMG Mercedes 5 6 11 6 6 6 Ret 11 5 1 1 56.5
6 10 17 1 4 9 1 7 10 DSQ 17
4 stern / Laureus AMG Mercedes 9 8 1 8 10 4 Ret 9 12 5 Ret 36.5
10 4 8 Ret 9 7 Ret 8 13 4 7
5 Audi Sport Team Abt 7 Ret 18† Ret 14 5 8 18† 8 9† 6 34
8 9 4 5 13 14 Ret 4 4 Ret 2
6 TV Spielfilm / JAWA4U.de AMG Mercedes 14 Ret 16 12 16 16 10 17 18 Ret 14 32
19 5 2 2 Ret 15 3 14 6 3 8
7 Audi Sport Team Phoenix 16 Ret 10 17† 8 10 Ret 6 15 11† 15 17
17 Ret 15 Ret 7 8 7 2 9 10† 16
8 TrekStor / Trilux AMG Mercedes 15 3 14 16† DSQ 12 5 DNS 14 DSQ 10 14
18 13 13 7 12 11 12† 15 11 6 11
9 Audi Sport Team Rosberg 11 12 3 13 Ret 13 6 10 17 7† DSQ 12
12 11 12 14 11 18† Ret 16 16 8† 12
10 Futurecom TME 20 Ret 9 11 15 17† 9 13 Ret 12† 13 0
21 15 Ret 15 17 Ret Ret DNS 19 13† 18
Pos. Team No. HOC
Germany
OSC
Germany
LAU
Germany
BRH
United Kingdom
NOR
Germany
MUG
Italy
ZAN
Netherlands
NÜR
Germany
CAT
Spain
HOC
Germany
Points
Sources:[22][23]

References

  1. ^ Meissner, Johan (24 April 2007). "Kristensen and Prémat are ok". TouringCarTimes. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  2. ^ Dumitru, Mihai (21 November 2012). "Werner, Biela to fill in for Prémat, Kristensen". AutoEvolution. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  3. ^ "DTM: Personeelswisselingen in wedstrijdleiding DTM". autosport.nl. 31 May 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
  4. ^ "Tomczyk inherits win". Eurosport. 29 July 2007. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  5. ^ "Ullrich: "Fahrer haben selbst entschieden"" [Ullrich: "Drivers decided for themselves"]. Motorsport-Total.com (in German). 29 July 2007. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  6. ^ Collantine, Keith (23 September 2007). "DTM Barcelona: Scandal as Audi withdraw". RaceFans. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  7. ^ Wester, Arno (23 September 2022). "DTM heute vor 15 Jahren: Der unglaubliche Barcelona-Skandal" [DTM 15 years ago today: The unbelievable Barcelona scandal]. Motorsport Magazin (in German). Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  8. ^ "Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Summary 2007". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  9. ^ "DTM (German Touringcar Masters) – 2007: Entrylist". Speedsport Magazine. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  10. ^ "Alesi to leave DTM after this year".
  11. ^ "Many new teams up for 2007". 8 September 2006.
  12. ^ "Stefan Mucke quits the DTM". 17 February 2007.
  13. ^ "Mercedes confirm Paffett return".
  14. ^ "Frentzen hits out at Audi team".
  15. ^ a b c "Audi completes squad for 2007 DTM".
  16. ^ "Carroll gets final Audi seat".
  17. ^ "Biela to replace Kristensen".
  18. ^ "Winkelhock Joins Audi".
  19. ^ "Premat set for layoff".
  20. ^ "Carroll dropped by TME".
  21. ^ "Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Results 2007". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  22. ^ a b "DTM (German Touringcar Masters) – 2007: Point standings". Speedsport Magazine. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  23. ^ a b "Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Standings 2007". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  24. ^ "2007 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Drivers' Standings". TouringCars.net. Retrieved 3 October 2023.