It is his sixth season in the DTM yet Martin Tomczyk can only finally now celebrate his first ever victory in the series after a controlled drive from pole position at the Circuit de Catalunya, a race that almost certainly gifted Bernd Schneider the title.
Triumphing for his first time on his 77th start in the championship, Tomczyk's win comes having spent several years playing the team game and allowing others to take his place, but with team-mate Tom Kristensen, the only Audi driver with a chance to take the title, finishing outside of the points, it was his turn to claim the limelight and earn a popular victory for the team.
Schneider took second place after an eventful race that included a collision with sparring partner Kristensen, a result that puts him just two points away from the title with just Le Mans and Hockenheim left on the calendar. Heinz-Harald Frentzen rounded off the podium to equal his best result of the season.
Competing in front of a healthy 42,000 strong crowd, the Spanish spectators were treated to a spectacular pile-up at the first corner that eliminated three cars, two of them belonging to Furturecom TME, Vanina Ickx and Nicolas Kiesa seemingly paying the price for their highly improved qualifying grid slots, while on the other hand Jamie Green paid the price for his lower than usual starting position by also retiring with damage.
The incident was kicked off by Christian Abt hitting the back of Kiesa's Audi, the Dane being forced into his team-mate Ickx, who in turn collected Green. Of the four drivers involved, only Abt, who has come into criticism for his robust driving recently, survived to race on.
While the action broke out behind them, Tomczyk had got the hammer down from the start, exiting the first corner in the lead ahead of Frentzen, Kristensen and Schneider, the four drivers staying as they were from their grid slots.
