DTM 2000 - Hockenheim - Highlights
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00:00We're going back to the future.
00:06This is the German Touring Car Masters 2000.
00:33A packed house, plenty of action.
00:36The German Touring Car Championship from 1986 to 1995.
00:40Thousands of fans saw it live.
00:42Millions more saw it on TV.
00:45It was the Formula One of touring car racing in Europe.
01:01It's been five years since these cars last took to the track.
01:05An average of 70,000 fans were at the track to watch these cars.
01:10Now the fans have a place to go again.
01:17At the time, this was the best the fans could have.
01:20They could go in, they could talk to the drivers, they could touch their stars.
01:25It was the best scheduled racing on the calendar.
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05:29They were back, the German touring car masters, Mercedes, Opel and Audi and 19 drivers.
05:35All of them with the team managers want to bring back the action and they want to bring
05:39back the fans for the new German touring car masters.
05:44If you remember, we had a really successful ETM championship in the past and we know that
05:53it's absolutely necessary to have it below the Formula 1.
05:57We need fascinating cars, we need spectacular cars and beneath that, what we now see here
06:02today, real racing cars, especially for our visitors and that is the reason why we are
06:08here and why we are happy to integrate the DTM for 2000.
06:12The DTM has a real great history and even outside from Germany, everybody who is focused
06:23on motorsport knows the DTM very well.
06:26It's spectacular motorsport, it's a lot of fun for the spectators and that's what will
06:30happen in Hockenheim again when we start the 28th of May.
06:33In 1996 we had a great championship in Germany, a lot of spectators were very happy about
06:39this series and now we are back again in 2000 and we hope we have a big show.
06:46And the big show will start here, at the Hockenheim Motor Drome in Hockenheim, Germany.
06:5119 cars ready to start the event, 8 Opels, 8 Mercedes and 3 Audis.
06:59Drivers from 8 nations are competing as we go out on the warm up lap.
07:03On the pole position is a former champion, Bernd Schneider from Germany.
07:08Next to him is Manuel Reuter, Schneider switched places for a better start position on the
07:13front row.
07:14Reuter qualifying at 95.33 and then it was Schneider ahead of him at 95.67 but the surprise
07:20is Timo Schneider who also matched Reuter's time with 6 minutes remaining in qualifying.
07:25He is a rookie in the series, he's only 21 years old, he qualified 3rd for the race today.
07:33There are going to be 2 races as a part of every German Touring Car Masters weekend.
07:38Both of them here at Hockenheim, 38 laps scheduled.
07:42They have to cover about 100 kilometers or 62 miles.
07:46A remnant of the past, the smoke bombs from the different colors of the cars.
07:5156,000 fans for the first event in this new series after a 5-yard break from touring car
07:59racing.
08:00They'll come around the corner, all 19 cars and take the flag.
08:05One of the very few series in Germany that takes a rolling start.
08:09And the fans are ready, the blue and white of Mercedes, the yellow, those are the flags
08:14for the Opel fans.
08:16They're here by the thousands, some of the best fans you'll ever find for motorsports.
08:21On the left is Schneider, on the right Reuter and we're underway.
08:26And let's see who gets the jump, it looks like Reuter in that white and yellow Opel
08:30gets out in front, Schneider is running right behind him.
08:34There's a short shoot here now and they go into another right hander, this is a short
08:37course remind you, this is not the long course where the Grand Prix is.
08:40They cut around through and Reuter has gone off the course.
08:44Manuel Reuter, who was leading, has gone off the course.
08:49And Bernd Schneider has taken the lead and Timo Scheider, the 21-year-old rookie is running
08:55in second place and another rookie is running third.
08:58Marcel Fessler from Switzerland is running third.
09:02So you have a veteran and two rookies in the top three.
09:07Fessler is only 24 years old.
09:10The field sorting itself out now as we're coming back into the stadium area, the most
09:15popular place you can see and this one puts it right in your living room.
09:22Heading down now in a short shoot and a dip, a small sink, a right hander and then the
09:26long half mile straightaway which takes him in front of the pits.
09:31There you see it, Reuter made a mistake, went off, he's lucky that he didn't damage his
09:36spoiler and also that he was able to get back onto the track cleanly without being
09:40bumped by anyone.
09:41And Schneider's got a little breathing room already.
09:47Bernd Schneider, your leader, Timo Scheider is running second, Marcel Fessler is running
09:51third, running fourth, Michel Bartels, Uwe Ahlsen and then comes Jochen Winkelhoff.
09:58So a good mix of the Mercedes and Opels.
10:02The yellow Audis in the back of the pack, well they're probably using this as much for
10:07training as anything, the cars weren't really ready and Christian Abt spins out.
10:13Christian Abt in one of the Audis has spun out.
10:17Two of those Audis were being finished up as the cars were loaded on the trucks to come
10:21down to Hockenheim.
10:23And now Christian has got a problem.
10:27Looks like part of the problem was Klaus Ludwig right there in the Mercedes.
10:33And there wasn't enough room left.
10:35And Christian Abt spins, his teammates get around him, looks like Abt touched Ludwig
10:41and then Abt was the one that spun and not Klaus.
10:45So the battle continues back for second and third position here in the opening moments
10:51of the first race of the season in the German Touring Car Masters.
11:00There you see Schneider, then Scheider as they head into the front section of the course.
11:10This is where the fans are, listen to them.
11:17These are some of the most faithful fans you're ever going to want to see.
11:21Uwe Ahlson back in fifth place, then comes Jochen Winkelhock, a former touring car champion,
11:26right behind him in sixth place.
11:28But right now, here's that battle for second and third between two rookies.
11:36What's interesting is, is that the Mercedes really got a jump on the field.
11:39All the Mercedes teams had their cars earlier than the Opel teams did.
11:43But it looks like Opel has done a great job of catching up and used their test time perfectly.
11:50You see that it's Timo Scheider who is running in second place, a rookie.
11:56The car is running well for Opel.
11:59So it's Mercedes first and third, Opel second and fourth.
12:05But all eyes are on two rookies.
12:08Much was said during the week about the generation change in German touring car racing.
12:14There are a number of veterans in this field, including Klaus Ludwig.
12:18Ludwig is 50 years old.
12:20But Ludwig is still competitive.
12:23He has the desire to win.
12:25He had retired for one year, came back so he could compete.
12:28But no one expected that the veterans would have this much trouble with some of these rookies.
12:35These fellas are pushing it right to the floor.
12:41Scheider is 21 years old, comes from Baubrock, Germany, ran karts early, then he went to
12:46Formula Renault.
12:48In the last couple of years, he was in German Formula 3.
12:51Eric Ellery is off.
12:53Eric Ellery and his Opel off the course.
12:56Ellery, who made a name for himself in the super touring cars for the past couple of
13:00years in Germany, off the course.
13:05Ellery, one of the two Frenchmen in the field, a royal yellow, in an Audi is the other.
13:10You're riding with Klaus Ludwig.
13:14Right ahead of him is Pedro Lamy.
13:16You get a good look at the course from the driver's view.
13:25Back up to the second and third place battle, Scheider and Fessler.
13:33And again, right in your living room.
13:39And here's what happened to Eric Ellery.
13:41It looks like he lost it, basically.
13:43Went off into the gravel and couldn't get out again.
13:46Tough break for the Frenchman, 33 years old.
13:51Last couple of years in super touring cars.
13:55Now he's going to have to wait for the second race of the day.
13:59Michel Bartels now is starting to pull up behind Fessler.
14:03And Fessler really got wild there.
14:07Behind in that yellow Opel is Uwe Ahlsen.
14:12Ahlsen, one of the very few drivers in the field who didn't start in Formula Racing.
14:17He started out in Porsche manufacturer cups and worked his way into touring cars.
14:22Never really got into Formula Racing whatsoever.
14:25And he now is pushing Michel Bartels.
14:28Bartels is the teammate for Manuel Reuter.
14:31But Ahlsen is right up on him.
14:33And as you saw in that last shot, it is starting to rain here.
14:37It was raining off and on all weekend.
14:41And the sprinkles have started to come down.
14:47This will make things interesting.
14:49And the question is, will it play into the hands of the veterans?
14:52The older drivers have gotten used to this kind of driving, can handle it in different
14:56weather conditions.
14:57The younger drivers, having never driven cars like this or as powerful as this, it will
15:02be interesting to see how they handle it if they have to drive in the rain.
15:06The crews are getting ready in case they have to change tires to rain tires.
15:12Right now, though, nothing seems to be on the minds of the drivers except staying out
15:16in front.
15:18You have a tough pack there.
15:20There's Manuel Reuter, who dropped all the way back to 10th position, and now has worked
15:25his way back up into the top seven.
15:29And he wants to get by Dumbrecht, and it looks like he does it.
15:35Manuel Reuter continues to push his car forward.
15:38There you see the AMG team, second from the right, Norbert Haug, the man in charge of
15:45motorsports for Mercedes.
15:50He's been through these battles before on the various touring car circuits in Germany
15:54and Europe.
15:56You continue to see the white cars.
16:04You might notice that it's very difficult to tell.
16:06As Pedro Lamy is spun, Pedro Lamy spins.
16:10It looked like he may have had a little help from Marcel Thiemann.
16:14It's very difficult to tell those white Mercedes apart.
16:16There are two of them that are Rosberg AMG Mercedes, and the only way you can tell them
16:20apart is that Lamy's car, besides the fact that it has something hanging off right now,
16:25also has two yellow dots on the back wing, and that's the only way you can tell those
16:28two cars apart.
16:29It's a little hard.
16:34Right now it's not hard at all.
16:35You can tell he's got that part hanging off.
16:38There's Klaus Ludwig in the back of that four pack.
16:40He's in the black Mercedes.
16:42You can tell it's his Mercedes because he has red rearview mirrors.
16:46There you see Thiemann and Pedro Lamy.
16:50Pedro Lamy, a former Formula One driver, getting into touring cars.
16:56Not sure if Thiemann lost control when he came around the corner or whether Lamy went
17:00into him, but Lamy kept under control, got it back out there, and they've got the parts
17:09cleared off the track and we can keep racing.
17:11There's your leader, Bernd Schneider, a touring car veteran in Germany.
17:16He's won touring car championships.
17:18He's won GT championships.
17:22He is a Mercedes driver for a number of years.
17:29There's Olsen.
17:30Then comes Reuter.
17:31What a great drive he has had.
17:34After spinning out in the lead on the very first lap, dropping back all the way to 10th
17:38place, he's up to fifth.
17:39Excuse me.
17:40Up to sixth.
17:41Let's see if he can make fifth place.
17:46But the battle is back in the pack.
17:50Bernd Schneider couldn't have it any better than what he's got now.
17:52He got a good jump, was able to build it a little bit, and now the rest of the pack is
17:57battling just for position, and nobody's free enough to go out and go after him.
18:01Although Manuel Reuter's car seems to be capable of chasing him down if he can get past the
18:06rest of the pack.
18:07But he's got a long way to go yet.
18:15And one of the Audis has come in.
18:17Christian Opp's Audi has come in.
18:20He was the one that spun.
18:21They're going to have to see what they can do to get the car back out on the track.
18:26As we mentioned, these cars were finished late.
18:28They had been tested in England, and then finally they got them together and bring them
18:32out.
18:33So actually, Hockenheim becomes a test run for them as much as a race.
18:36Back with Klaus Ludwig inside his Mercedes.
18:42Great look at the course here at Hockenheim.
18:45And there you see Klaus Ludwig from outside.
18:48He is a three-time German touring car champion.
18:52He has also won Le Mans, he has won FIA championships, he's won just about everything you can imagine.
18:59And he's also one of those drivers the fans either like or they don't like because he
19:04does win so much.
19:07Right there is your battle still for second and third.
19:11Timo Scheider, 21 years old, from Germany.
19:15And behind him, Marcel Fessler, 24 years old, from Switzerland.
19:27They've been raging a battle here ever since the opening moments.
19:31They're starting now to come up on some of the slower cars.
19:38This is bumper-to-bumper racing for second and third between two rookies in the series.
19:43Listen to the fans, they really appreciate it.
19:47Into the famous Sachs corner where plenty of passing goes on.
19:54Now the short segment that connects to the front.
19:55This is the Bartels pit crew watching what they're doing.
20:01He's running very well right now, he's up in the top five.
20:05So they can be quite happy.
20:08And here comes the pass, is Fessler going to be able to get by?
20:13Scheider is on the right, Fessler on the inside, he cuts him off.
20:17He held him off.
20:19The two rookies putting on a show.
20:23Opel against Mercedes.
20:26They're in the first German touring car Masters event of the 2000 season.
20:3556,000 fans, a great start for the new series.
20:44And we have another car spinning, that's Michel Bartels.
20:48Bartels would have been up and forth, spun out.
20:51Question is, how did it happen?
20:55There you see the identical car, third one coming through, the identical car to Ben Schneider
20:59is driven by Thomas Jaeger.
21:02There is Michel Bartels, who so unceremoniously has been dropped back in the pack a little
21:07bit.
21:13Bartels will now have to fight his way all the way back to the front.
21:17Bartels you could say is a man looking for a championship.
21:19He has always been very competitive.
21:22He has driven a number of cars.
21:23He's driven touring cars specifically since about 1994, but a championship has eluded
21:29him.
21:30He's always been competitive, always up there in the points, just has never come home with
21:33a win.
21:34Schneider now is back into third place, being challenged by Manuel Reuter with just a couple
21:40of laps to go here in the first race.
21:43Coming into a left-right hand combination, Schneider and Reuter goes inside in a surprise
21:51move, not the place you normally would pass here, which I'm sure surprised the rookie.
21:57And Manuel Reuter now has moved up into third place.
22:03So right now it's Mercedes, Mercedes, Opel, and Opel.
22:09In the first of the two events of the German Touring Car Masters here on the short course
22:13at the Hockenheim Motordrom in Hockenheim, Germany, Manuel Reuter driving for the Phoenix
22:20team in his second year.
22:22That's Volker Strzick.
22:23He's ahead of Opel Racing.
22:24He's a former champion in the German touring car scene back in 1984, I believe it was.
22:31He was the champ.
22:34Now he's ahead of it all for Opel.
22:38This is the man that's the head of the field, Bernd Schneider.
22:41He has dominated ever since the opening moments of the race when Manuel Reuter went off after
22:46taking the early lead.
22:48And since then, Schneider has slowly built up a lead.
22:52He's almost out there by about 20 seconds.
22:55He's just got to bring it home.
22:57There's Manuel Reuter.
23:00He is now running third.
23:01Behind him is Timo Scheider.
23:03Seems to be slowing down just a little bit.
23:06This course is murder on tires.
23:10You really have to conserve them, so if you want to push at the end, you can.
23:15You push in the front.
23:16You conserve if you can, and then you push at the end.
23:21Right now, Bernd Schneider, the man in control here at Hockenheim.
23:28He won the touring car, international touring car championship.
23:35And now he's won the first event of the German touring car masters, and the Mercedes fans
23:41can celebrate.
23:49The rest of the finishers now will be coming in.
23:53Fessler is going to finish second.
23:54Reuter will finish third.
23:57Timo Scheider.
23:58There's Reuter.
23:59There's Scheider.
24:01Will finish fourth.
24:03And another newcomer, Peter Dombrek from Scotland, is going to finish fifth.
24:10And his teammate, Marcel Thiemann, is going to finish sixth.
24:13So it's been a good mix here of the veterans and the newcomers, although the newcomers
24:18seem to have made quite an impression.
24:20But it's the veteran, Bernd Schneider, who has taken home the checkered flag in the first
24:27race of the season.
24:29Bernd Schneider, a very popular driver with Mercedes fans.
24:34He was ITC champion in 1995.
24:37He won the FIA GT championship in 1997.
24:42Now let's see if he can do it again.
24:44Second race of the day.
24:45They start according to the way they finished in the first race.
24:51Seventeen cars have made the start.
24:55Uwe Ahlsund's Audi is not among the field.
25:01There you have it.
25:03Take a look at the field as they go out.
25:07Ressler and Schneider will lead the pack here on the short course.
25:10One and a half miles long, 38 laps.
25:13There was a little rain in the first race.
25:15It's been overcast and rainy all weekend.
25:18There's your second row, Reuter and Scheider.
25:21They had tied for the fastest time in qualifying for the first race.
25:24Now they're running side by side here in the second race.
25:28Dombrek from Scotland and Marcel Thiemann, both of them, in Mercedes.
25:35Thomas Jaeger, another newcomer, along with Michel Barkels in the Opel.
25:40And here is Aiello.
25:42Laurent Aiello, the super touring car champion from a couple of years ago.
25:48This is an unusual moment for him.
25:50He's used to running up front.
25:51He also won the British championship last year.
25:54Now he's in a car that's going to take a season to develop.
25:57That's a hard change for a very competitive driver like him.
26:04Rolling around.
26:05You can see the smoke bombs going off again.
26:08There's your second row.
26:10Your leaders behind the pace car.
26:13A packed house here at Hockenheim.
26:15Race two in the German touring car masters on the short course at the Hockenheim Motor Drone.
26:22Let's see who gets the jump.
26:24It's the rookie against the veteran.
26:26Scheider, the rookie, on the right.
26:29Bernd Schneider, the veteran, on the left.
26:32Schneider looks like he got a good jump.
26:34But everyone else is coming up, including Reuter on the outside.
26:37It's three ways into the first corner.
26:39They sort it out.
26:40Reuter gets through, but Scheider does not.
26:43Something happened, and Scheider has spun.
26:46And the Jaeger Mercedes has lost the hood.
26:52That's going to be dangerous.
26:54They've got to get that off the track.
26:55They were lucky it didn't hit somebody when it went off.
26:59Look at that Mercedes without the hood of Thomas Jaeger.
27:02That's an identical car, except for the hood, of course, of your leader, Bernd Schneider.
27:06The rest of the pack sorting itself out here at Hockenheim.
27:11Back and see what happened here in just a moment.
27:13Look at that.
27:14Schneider already gets a little bit of lead.
27:16Fessler is running second.
27:17Reuter is running third.
27:19Looks like Bartels is running fourth.
27:20And there's the piece of hood on the track from the Thomas Jaeger car.
27:25Let's take a look at what happened.
27:26First of all, what happened to Scheider?
27:27There he goes.
27:28It looks like he got bumped from behind, and he spun out.
27:31Now, right in the middle of the pack, a hood is going to come flying up.
27:34Ah, there it is.
27:36It looks like Jaeger probably bumped into Winkelhorn.
27:40Yep, there it was right there.
27:42You saw the bump with that orange car right in front of Scheider spun in front of him.
27:46And now the hood will go flying off.
27:47You can see it loosening up, and it's gone.
27:51So Jaeger will come in.
27:52They'll put a new hood on the car and get him back out.
27:55That'll put him way behind in this race.
27:57It's awfully hard to catch up from that far back.
28:05Two of the Audis still. Look at that.
28:06Scheider is all the way back in last place.
28:10So he had finished so well in the first race, and now
28:17he has dropped all the way back.
28:20Timo Scheider had finished fourth in the first one,
28:23and now he has a long haul to go for a rookie.
28:27Into the sax corner, back in front of the fans once again.
28:31And the work to put the front spoiler and the new front hood
28:36and spoiler together onto the Thomas Jaeger car.
28:42You're riding with Bernd Scheider.
28:46Inside his AMG Mercedes.
28:52They're your top six.
28:53And Marcel Thiemann has moved into the sixth place.
28:55His teammate, Dombrek, right ahead of him.
28:57Pedro Lamy got off to a good start.
29:00He's in seventh. Klaus Ludwig is eighth.
29:03It's an unusual year for Ludwig.
29:04They just can't get the car sorted out the way he wants it.
29:07He's not been up front as you might expect him to be.
29:10Modena is in tenth place.
29:12Stefano getting a late Opel.
29:13Getting it together, though, for the Euro team.
29:19Gabriele Ceresini is the owner of that team.
29:24He's been around touring car racing in Germany for quite a while.
29:27Running Alfa Romeos.
29:30Now he's got an Opel.
29:35Once again, Klaus Ludwig working his way through the pack.
29:43And it's Pedro Lamy ahead of him.
29:47Ludwig's been racing for some 30 years.
29:49Three Le Mans wins, three German touring car titles,
29:52two German sports car titles,
29:54and he gets by Lamy here going into the anthill corner.
29:57The anthill corner is the one that takes him off into the section
30:00connecting the two sections of race courses.
30:05Ludwig is always competitive, but right now,
30:07they just haven't quite got the car sorted out the way he wants it.
30:11He's going to have to work his way through.
30:12Right behind him is Jochen Winkelhock in the Opel.
30:15Now, Winkelhock was well-known in Europe for racing for BMW.
30:20This year, he switched to Opel.
30:21BMW not represented this year in the touring car series.
30:27Winkelhock, one of the most popular drivers,
30:29and also right now dragging a part of the car.
30:35In England, they call him Smoking Joe.
30:39In Germany, he's Jochel.
30:41No matter what, he's a tough competitor on the racetrack.
30:46And Ludwig has put his windshield wiper on.
30:49Something is happening here, if it's going to rain or not.
30:53Ludwig going inside of Pedro Lamy.
30:58Other drivers quickly putting on their windshield wipers.
31:05Christian Menzel goes by.
31:07Once again, Klaus Ludwig.
31:12One of the Pearson Mercedes ahead of him.
31:16You get a good view of the course here at Hockenheim.
31:22A very tough course with two good places to pass.
31:25A couple of others that are not quite as easy.
31:27You saw in the first race Manuel Reuter with a very nice move
31:31on a short right-hand corner.
31:33Not a normal place to pass, but he surprised the rookie to make it.
31:38Now more cars have got their windshield wipers on.
31:41And a bump. Marcel Thiemann.
31:44Let Michel Bartels know, hey, I'm here.
31:48Let's see what kind of sundry drive we can do together here.
31:51But right now, the raindrops are coming down.
31:56We notice it on the camera lens.
32:00And the cars are starting to slide a little bit more.
32:02It's getting wet. The rain is getting harder.
32:07We had wet race conditions in the first event.
32:10It looks like we're definitely going to have them here.
32:13And the rain is coming down harder.
32:15The cars are going to have to come in shortly to get changed tires if this keeps up.
32:19They're running on slicks. Intermediates are not allowed this season.
32:24So they either have the slicks or the rain tires.
32:26And it looks like they're going to have to come in to get the rain tires.
32:31This could change the whole complexion of the event.
32:35Mainly because a lot of these young drivers have not raced in such conditions.
32:39Although the way they've raced today, I wouldn't be surprised if they handled it just perfectly.
32:42Look at that.
32:44Marcel Thiemann tried to get inside of Michel Bartels, but the grip just was not there.
32:49The grip is not there.
32:52And it looks like we're going to have some pit stops coming up to change tires.
32:58There is no grip right now.
33:01And the pace car has come out.
33:03The pace car has come out.
33:06This will give the drivers a chance to line up and get in to change tires.
33:11And here they come. They start coming in now.
33:16Here comes Bernd Schneider.
33:18He goes right through the Fessler pits into his.
33:21And they're putting on the rain tires for your leader, Bernd Schneider.
33:27Here comes Fessler in to change his tires.
33:31You can expect the rest of the cars will be coming in to change tires.
33:34The rain continues to come down.
33:36It's a very heavy rain.
33:38The track is going to be very, very difficult to drive.
33:42Your 1-2 cars are out.
33:44Pedro Lamy has gone off the course.
33:47Pedro Lamy in his Mercedes is in the gravel.
33:51And there goes Timo Scheider, the rookie in his Mercedes,
33:55who raced so well in the first race, spun out,
33:59and has been working his way back ever since.
34:01He's still on the course, but Pedro Lamy is not.
34:03And now it's even getting hard to see the cars.
34:08Christian Menzel coming through. There's Schneider, who was the leader.
34:12Here's what happened to Pedro Lamy in his Mercedes.
34:14Off he went. He just lost it.
34:19The rest of the cars now going in to change.
34:24And it looks like Marcel Thiemann is one of those who has not changed tires.
34:29He's gambling the rain is going to let up.
34:33But it's still coming down very, very hard.
34:38There is the Thomas Jaeger Mercedes.
34:47Eric Ellery is in in his Opel to change.
34:54Just about everybody's coming in.
34:55These other cars are now coming in late.
34:57They had waited to see if the rain would let up or not and stay out on slicks.
35:00But it looks like it's going to keep right on raining for a while.
35:02So they have come in. Something's wrong with the Ellery car.
35:06They're having trouble with the lug nut.
35:11They're having troubles here, and whether they can get that fixed or not,
35:14it's going to cost Eric a lot of time.
35:17What a tough way to start the season for him.
35:18First race you go off in the gravel.
35:20And the second one you have troubles changing tires.
35:26There's Marcel Fessler.
35:28Look at the water.
35:32And Marcel Thiemann has not come in in his Mercedes to change tires.
35:36He's still got slicks on.
35:40And he still has not got Ellery's car fixed and ready to go out.
35:48And he stalled it.
35:51They're going to have to pull Pedro Lamy's car out of the gravel.
35:57We're waiting now for the pace car to pull off.
36:01Marcel Thiemann is your leader.
36:02Klaus Ludwig is right behind him.
36:07And Ludwig has got a stop-and-go penalty.
36:11It's reported that when he went in to change tires,
36:14he came out and went through the red light at the end of the pit lane
36:19instead of waiting for it to turn green.
36:21And he's going to have to go in for a stop-and-go.
36:23That'll cost him plenty of positions.
36:30He will drop back to the back of the pack for sure on this one.
36:35Klaus Ludwig, who has not been at all happy with the fact his car is not handling the way he wants to.
36:41Look at Thiemann, the leader.
36:43He's on slicks in the wet, hoping it would get dry, and now he's in trouble.
36:48It better dry quick or he's going off quick or he's going to be passed quick.
36:53He had gambled and it looks like he's lost the gamble here.
36:57Ben Schneider is running third.
36:59Fessler is running fourth, at this time, behind the safety car.
37:04So if Ludwig goes in, they'll move up into second and third place.
37:07Ludwig is going to have to take his stop-and-go.
37:12The pace car coming around.
37:14The entrance to the pit lane is right about there in the dip.
37:22The pace car is going to go off.
37:23Ludwig is right behind him and passes the pace car on pit lane to get in for his stop-and-go.
37:28He'll come speeding up to a point and I'll watch him brake.
37:31They have to get down to about 35 miles an hour from this point on to take care of pit lane speeds.
37:39There's a radar gun waiting for them at the other end to check them out.
37:43Klaus Ludwig will come into his pits, come to a stop, and then start again.
37:47And by the time he gets out, everybody will be by him.
37:54So the season is starting off as a difficult one for the veteran in the field, 50-year-old Klaus Ludwig.
38:00He had retired last year and then decided, well, if touring cars are coming back, so am I.
38:04And he did.
38:09And look at Marcel Thiemann.
38:11They're back in racing and Thiemann running on slicks doesn't stand a chance.
38:16Everybody is going by him.
38:18All he can do is hope that it dries up quick enough that he can come back from the back of the pack.
38:22Meanwhile, Van Schneider's taking the lead.
38:26Fessler is running in second place.
38:31We'll pick up who is running in third.
38:33It's one of the Pearson Mercedes.
38:35But we'll find out here in a minute who it is.
38:42Marcel Thiemann is dropping back, so Dunbrink must be the driver running third right now in the Mercedes.
38:51There is Scheider.
38:52He has moved up a bit.
38:54It is Dunbrink.
38:55Fessler gets a little loose in the puddles.
38:58Really loose on the corner.
39:01It's the first time you've been in a touring car with this much power and then you have to do it in the rain.
39:06A certain amount of a thrill there.
39:10Van Schneider your leader.
39:11Then comes Fessler.
39:15Behind him, Dunbrink.
39:16And here comes Manuel Reuter.
39:19Reuter is running fourth right now behind Dunbrink.
39:26Reuter, a veteran of Le Mans and all types of other touring car and hard top racing, is running the wet more than most drivers.
39:35The question is going to be, can he get by Peter Dunbrink?
39:41Reuter, one of Opel's hopes this season.
39:47Needs to get back up to stay in the points chase with Schneider.
39:5020 points go to the winner.
39:5215 for second place.
39:55Dunbrink, 26 years old.
39:57He comes from Scotland.
39:58He was in kart racing, Formula 3 in Britain in 97, 98.
40:01He was the Formula 3 champion in Japan.
40:05He ran Le Mans in 1999 for Mercedes and he also was in Japanese Formula 3000 last year.
40:14It's his first outing in a touring car.
40:19But that doesn't say much anymore when you consider the Fessler running second with a wobbly car as it is.
40:25It's also in his first year.
40:26He's running second here.
40:32Manuel Reuter would like nothing more than to move up and take on Peter Dunbrink.
40:39But the conditions are not ideal for it.
40:43With all that spray coming up from behind the cars, it's difficult to see.
40:48And Bernd Schneider now, as you can see going out of the screen, has picked up a good lead here.
40:53Here comes Reuter.
40:55But Manuel's not going to be able to make the inside move on Dunbrink.
41:00The battle here for second, third and fourth place.
41:04In the German touring car masters.
41:07First race weekend, second race of the weekend here at Hockenheim, Germany.
41:12The short course, 1.6 miles long.
41:16Tough on the brakes.
41:17And now it's tough on everybody with the rain.
41:22There is a time limit for these events, up to 40 minutes.
41:26They run the distance of 40 minutes.
41:28And this one has been slowed down enough, it's going to be a little tight.
41:34Bernd Schneider, your leader.
41:35And you can see he's got a good lead on Fessler.
41:38Schneider won by some 20 seconds in the first race.
41:41And that was in the dry.
41:42A little bit of rain, but not much. Not like this one.
41:45And everyone's getting squirrely coming out of that corner.
41:49Through the anthill corner.
41:51Then they go into that right-left combination. A short straightaway.
41:56And then there is a left-right combination.
42:00Which you have to take perfectly to set up for a bending right-hander
42:03that takes you back into the stadium area.
42:06There's the right-hander.
42:08Now it starts to bend out onto the main course again.
42:11And you're heading into the stadium.
42:17And it looks like Fessler's got a little bit of breathing room now on Dumbrecht.
42:22And Reuter has not pulled up behind him yet to make a challenge.
42:26But you can see how wet the course still is.
42:29It rained very, very hard.
42:32All except Marcel Thiemann are on wet tires.
42:39And Thiemann is way back now.
42:42All he can do is hope that they can make some time up here if it dries out.
42:46But the battle before the 56,000 fans here at Hockenheim
42:50is for second, third, and fourth.
42:53Two rookies and a veteran of touring car racing
42:56running for these positions.
42:59Van Schneider way out in front.
43:01Absolutely no problems here in this second race.
43:04He came in, changed tires with no problem.
43:06Fessler came out right behind him.
43:08But look at the difference here.
43:10Unbelievable how Schneider has had this race to himself.
43:17And Dumbrecht went off the course.
43:20Peter Dumbrecht has gone off the course.
43:22Have to wait to see what happened there.
43:24But he's dropped now behind Manuel Reuter.
43:27Looks like Winkelhock is right behind him.
43:31He was running in third. Here he comes.
43:33Reuter gets inside.
43:35Well, that's one of those you talk about.
43:38Manuel probably gave him a little bit of a tap there.
43:42Those are the hard ones to judge.
43:43And if you're really good at it, it's hard to tell who did what.
43:46But it looks like Manuel may have given him a tap.
43:48And Dumbrecht went off.
43:50And Manuel Reuter has taken over third place.
43:55The experts will talk about that move a little bit later on.
44:01As we move into the final phases of the event,
44:04you can see that Schneider has a big lead over another Mercedes of Fessler.
44:13Michel Bartels now is running third.
44:19Michel Bartels is running third.
44:21And there has been a penalty assessed against Manuel Reuter,
44:27which has dropped him way back.
44:30And it had to do with that little bumping incident.
44:33There's Jochen Winkelhock.
44:37Can't miss that car.
44:38He and the other Opel in orange.
44:42It's just a different shade of orange to separate the two cars.
44:45The other one driven by Eric Allory.
44:47There's your leader, though.
44:48Bernd Schneider.
44:49What a great weekend it has been for him.
44:52The German, who lives in Monte Carlo,
44:55picked up basically where he left off a couple of years ago.
45:02He didn't win the ITC championship,
45:04but he won the last German touring car championship.
45:08And he's always been extremely competitive.
45:11Always out in front.
45:12Very consistent.
45:15You give him a little bit of lead on his last lap,
45:17and you aren't going to catch him.
45:19He's going to be as smooth and push just as hard as he needs to
45:23to bring the car home.
45:25And that's exactly what he's done here on the short course at Hockenheim
45:28in the first race weekend of the German touring car masters.
45:32What a great performance by Schneider.
45:35Incidentally, these cars, they're only allowed to have one motor.
45:38If they lose a motor during the season sometime,
45:41in the next race they have to drop back to the end of the pack
45:44for the next race, no matter how they qualify.
45:47They're trying to keep the cost down.
45:50So they've got to be real careful with their motors,
45:53or it's going to cost them a start.
45:54In fact, it gets even worse.
45:55If they happen to lose two motors,
45:57they drop back for two consecutive races to the end of the pack.
46:00But we're not there yet.
46:01Right now we're here to celebrate Bernd Schneider and his Mercedes.
46:07A double winner here at Hockenheim on the short course
46:10in the opening weekend of the new German touring car masters.
46:14Your winner, Bernd Schneider in Mercedes.
46:21Schneider winning before a packed house, 56,000 fans.
46:25Then the touring car rookie, Fasler, Marcel Fasler from Switzerland comes in.
46:33Getting great applause from his crew.
46:37Norbert Hau behind there.
46:38And there is Michel Bartels finishing third.
46:40He's on the podium.
46:42Then Jaeger.
46:43And then comes Scheider.
46:45Can you believe that?
46:46He came in fourth.
46:47He dropped all the way back to the end of the pack in this race
46:50and fought his way back up to fourth.
46:52A 21-year-old rookie has had a great weekend here at Hockenheim.
46:57But then the veteran did too.
46:59Bernd Schneider, a double winner in the German touring car masters.
47:02The German touring car masters and Mercedes fans have a reason to celebrate.
47:09Drivers in cars coming back to the pits.
47:12Schneider will be totally circled by fans and by the teammates.
47:18And there is Fasler coming in, a happy group.
47:21And there is Michel Bartels.
47:24Great performance for him and for Opel.
47:26Opel is proving that they definitely are competitive here in the German touring car masters.
47:33Behind him in that blue Mercedes, Scheider.
47:36Boy, has he had a great weekend.
47:38And the Mercedes fans and crew, a happy bunch.
47:41Time to celebrate.
47:42Bernd Schneider holds up the trophy.
47:44A double winner.
47:46A double winner here at Hockenheim on the short course.
47:52Free time.
47:53Reef time.
47:54And then, of course, there's one more thing that has to be done.
47:56And that's to get the champagne out.
47:58And I'm sure we're going to be getting to that in just a few moments.
48:00The next stop on the tour will be Ossersleben.
48:03Promises to be some great racing there on a relatively new course here in Germany.
48:08There you have the point standings after the races here in Hockenheim.
48:13A race weekend that certainly did belong to Bernd Schneider.
48:17And certainly was different in the fact that they had pit stops.
48:19Something that was brand new for him.
48:25I'm really not used to having pit stops.
48:28But my crew had practiced them yesterday, so it might happen today.
48:32And it really worked well.
48:34I have to give them a great compliment.
48:36The timing was perfect for the stop.
48:40And he feels that the car was better in the rain than it was in dry.
48:45He ran away with the race.
48:47What about what was going on behind him?
48:50It was going to be difficult in that second race.
48:52Marcel Vesler was able to keep up with me.
48:55But then everything went my way.
48:57I'm very, very happy.
49:00And everybody seems to be happy as the German Touring Car Masters
49:04puts its first race weekend in the record books here at Hockenheim.