From the DTM Championship

Scottish driver Paul Di Resta made the best use of his home advantage at the British circuit of Brands Hatch, driving home a dominant lights-to-flag victory for Mercedes-Benz. For the 23-year old, this was the first win of the season and the third victory in his DTM career.

In the direct comparison, Mercedes-Benz is now leading Audi with four to three race wins. However, the brand from Ingolstadt has the points’ leader in its ranks.

Reigning DTM champion Timo Scheider scored eight valuable points in the battle for the title by finishing second behind Di Resta. Fellow Audi driver Martin Tomczyk (D) again showed a good performance following his victory at the Nürburgring a fortnight ago and finished fourth ahead of British driver Gary Paffett (Mercedes-Benz).

In the points’ standings, Scheider remains in the lead with a total of 43 points from his main rival Mattias Ekström (Audi). The Swede finished the race in fifth place and is trailing the 30-year old at 38 points. Third is Paffett with 34 points.

There were numerous duels at the track, the shortest circuit on the DTM calendar at 1.929 kilometres. Di Resta had an impeccable getaway and drove a nearly undisputed victory home in front of the field.

Scheider, who had started second, held on to his position for a long time, but had problems during both pit stops. During the first stop, he left the pit lane together with fellow Audi driver Christian Bakkerud (DK) and just managed to avoid a collision. During the second stop, he lost valuable seconds and slotted back in behind Tomczyk.

On lap 49, the Audi driver benefited from a battle between Tomczyk and Canadian Bruno Spengler with the AMG Mercedes C-Class. Scheider was up into second again, followed by Tomczyk. Spengler lost his position due to a puncture.

The Canadian, who came to Brands Hatch placed third in the points’ standings, ended up sixth in the race and dropped back to fifth in the points, tied at 29 points with today’s race winner Di Resta.

The best-placed driver with a 2008-spec car was Mike Rockenfeller, who finished seventh with his Audi A4 DTM.

The eighth DTM weekend of the year will be taking place at Barcelona in Spain, September 18th till 20th.