From the racetrack Audi motorsport news

May 15, 2005

In the DTM’s third round at Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) Audi made up ground in the overall standings. Mattias Ekström and Tom Kristensen in their Audi A4 DTM cars finished second and third on the fastest circuit of the season, reducing the distance to leader of the standings Gary Paffet, who only grabbed one point today.

Having clinched sixth place, Martin Tomczyk completed the strong performance of the Audi squad. Struck by bad luck was Allan McNish. Practically sure of scoring his first DTM points, the former Formula 1 driver had to park his Audi A4 DTM three laps before the finish because of a left rear tyre puncture.

Defeated below their true potential were the drivers of last year’s Audi A4 DTM cars: Christian Abt, who had started from third position on the grid, forfeited his chance of a fifth-place finish when he crossed the white line at the pit lane exit, which earned him a drive-through penalty. Pierre Kaffer, who had been fifth in the qualifying, was sent into a complete spin by a rival in the early stages of the race, causing him to drop back all the way to the end of the field to ultimately finish in 14th place. Frank Stippler and Rinaldo Capello worked their way up from starting positions 20 and 18 to positions eleven and 13.

Result and points
Spa-Francorchamps (B), 15 May, DTM round 3
1 Mika Häkkinen (Mercedes) 24 laps in 54m 34.544s
2 Mattias Ekström (Audi A4 DTM) + 4.258s
3 Tom Kristensen (Audi A4 DTM) + 5.976s
4 Jean Alesi (Mercedes) + 10.088s
5 Marcel Fässler (Opel) + 27.801s
6 Martin Tomczyk (Audi A4 DTM) + 28.001s
...
10 Christian Abt (Audi A4 DTM) + 50.856s
11 Frank Stippler (Audi A4 DTM) + 51.402s
13 Rinaldo Capello (Audi A4 DTM) + 55.961s
14 Pierre Kaffer (Audi A4 DTM) + 56.711s
18 Allan McNish (Audi A4 DTM) - 3 laps

Positions after 3 of 11 rounds: 1 Paffett, 19 points; 2 Häkkinen, Alesi and Ekström, 17; 5 Kristensen, 14; ... 7 Abt, 5; 9 Kaffer, 4; 10 Tomczyk, 3; 11 Stippler, 3.

Next race: Brno (CZ), 5 June