Two-times
F1 world champion, Mika Hakkinen showed his class at Spa today [Sunday], by taking the win in only his third DTM race. 'The Flying Finn', who started from pole, eventually triumphed by 4.258 seconds.
Although the Mercedes ace lost out at the start, when Ekstrom went in front, thanks to some quick laps and two perfect pit stops, Hakkinen got the upper hand.
During the course of the race, Mikka extended the gap between himself and Ekstrom, even though he had to contest the race with 20 kilos of ballast weight, due to Mercedes' successes in the previous rounds.
"This has been a great week for me, but an exhausting weekend," he said. "The qualifying already was a major challenge. I completely owe this victory to my team. The car works perfectly. The only thing I still have to practice is the start."
Ekstrom thus had to settle for second - however he freely admitted that he had no answer to Mika's pace.
"Usually, I like to defeat the guys in front of me. But I just wasn't able to get Mika Hakkinen under control, this weekend," he confirmed. "We had some bad luck regarding the pit stops and further details, but in DTM, everything has to be perfect if you want to win."
Tom Kristensen completed the podium, despite a race long battle with Marcel Fassler.
"During the course of the entire race, I was fighting hard to defend my position against Marcel Fassler. The team has done a fantastic job to provide me with a perfect car. Quite obviously, I would love to soon take the lead in our 'Scandinavian Championship'," he joked.
Further back Jean Alesi was fourth, ahead of Fassler, Martin Tomczyk and Laurent Aiello. While Fassler lost out in the battle to beat Kristensen and slipped behind Alesi, his result did give Opel something to cheer about, as they finally notched up their first points of the season.
