"Now my main programme in 2005 was DTM. The category has very limited testing and pretty much all of it is pre-season. It is the way the regulations are written to try and reduce costs, and so I was glad to be able to get a day in Spa before the race with the 2004 spec car. It was a really good test and the first one I had with the DTM car on a track I knew. It was dry and we were able to run 75 laps and always ran at the front, oh, and Eau Rouge was easy flat!!! And so is Blanchimont. We had one final test prior to the first race and that was my first run with my own race car, mechanics and engineer, it obviously was critical and the first time we could 'get to know each other'. But things ran pretty well and apart from rain interrupting play a few times we pushed as hard as we could to be ready for the first race.
"As I said, this year was very busy outside of my racing programme and so I was off to Bahrain GP for an event with UBS. It was a great race with the confirmation that there was a new world order with Alonso and Raikonnen dominating proceedings and
Ferrari nowhere to be seen. It was obvious that 2005 was not going to be their year.
"It was straight back to Hamburg for the official DTM launch where I had to drive my racecar around the streets in a simulated race with Mercedes and Opel. Over 20,000 fans turned out for a few cars driving at a maximum of 80km/h - a brief insight into how the Germans adore DTM. Yes, the police were present and no I did not get a speeding ticket but we did get a 'talking to'.
