Warsteiner AMG Mercedes driver Uwe Alzen won the ninth and penultimate round of the 2001 DTM at Zandvoort, Netherlands over the weekend.
After 24 laps and a thrilling finish, Alzen crossed the finish line 0.3sec ahead of Abt-Audi TT-R driver Christian Abt. Bernd Schneider, who had prematurely defended his championship title two weeks ago for D2 AMG Mercedes, came home third 0.6sec behind. Alzen achieved his fifth DTM victory, his second this year and for Mercedes-Benz.
Alzen had qualified seventh fastest and finished the eight-lap qualifying race in the same place while pole setter Abt won. In the main race, the safety car was deployed from the end of the third until the beginning of the eighth lap, following a collision between Martin Tomczyk (Abt-Audi TT-R) and Peter Mamerow (Opel Astra V8 Coupé). After the re-start, Abt was still in the lead and Alzen was seventh.
Between lap eight and 13, the drivers pitted for the compulsory tyre change; Alzen came into the pits on lap nine. On lap 14 he was second behind Abt. Until the 20th lap, Alzen closed the gap behind the leading Abt-Audi from more than three to less than one second. On the final lap, Alzen attacked and both the leading cars passed the last three corners door to door with the Mercedes driver crossing the finish line first.
''This was one of my best duels, our cars touched several times but everything was fair,'' Alzen said. ''I think this was very entertaining for the fans.'' In the season's final at Hockenheim on 7 October, he needs one more point to clinch the runner-up position in the championship.
Bernd Schneider, after an off in qualifying, started the qualifying race 14th on the grid and improved to tenth at the chequered flag. In the main race, he charged through the field to third, also supported by a well executed pit stop strategy of his team.
