Following a one-year break, Timo Scheider made his DTM comeback with Audi. In his first season as driver for the brand with the four rings, the 28-year old convinced right away. At the end of the ten-round season, the German finished tenth, thus securing the best result of the drivers racing a 2005-spec Audi. Following his successful season, Scheider makes up a positive balance of his DTM comeback.
”Altogether, I’m happy with what we have achieved,” he says. “Quite obviously, there were some minor problems with my new team, in the opening stages of the season, as we had to adapt to one another. We failed to achieve our goal to secure several top-five results, still, the regulations enabled us to annoy the 2006-spec cars, every now and then.”
Scheider did so in races such as the season highlight, at the Norisring. In the prestigious race at the Dutzendteich, Scheider finished seventh, thus securing the best result of the drivers at the wheel of a 2005-spec Audi. The 28-year old also regards this race – the fifth round of the season – as one of the highlights of the year. “The race at the Norisring is a very emotional one and you’re even closer to the fans than usual,” he explains. But the atmosphere around the DTM races isn’t the only factor inspiring the father of a family. He also loves the thrilling battles in DTM, with the ones he was involved in with Bernd Schneider and Mika Häkkinen at Brands Hatch having been particular big fun, for him. His best results, however, the Audi ace secured in the DTM round held at Zandvoort, Netherlands and the season finale at the Hockenheimring. In both races he finished sixth.
Just as it is the case in any other profession, motor racers always have to accept the fact that things tend to go wrong, sometimes. For Scheider, the most difficult moments were the ones when he had no chance of influencing the events. “At the EuroSpeedway, I was standing for 20 seconds at the pits as we experienced a problem,” he recalls. “For me, the driver, it felt like hours. You’re absolutely helpless and that’s much worse than when it’s you own fault. In situations like this, the entire team is very disappointed as the guys are working with a lot of passion. Therefore, the entire team suffers massively in the case of a retirement or other problems.”
For Scheider, the team spirit represented a crucial factor in his first season as Audi driver. “There were some races that could have run better. And there were some when I sacrificed a possible better result in support of Audi. But this was clear right from the start. The relationship with Audi was open and honest from day one – something I’ve experienced for the very first time. It was matter of give and receive.”
- DTM
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