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altodx
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| 18 lug 2004 |
Mattias
Ekström finished third in the DTM invitation race in Shanghai (China),
giving Audi another podium result. Starting from ninth position in his
Audi A4 DTM in a gruelling heat of almost 40 degrees Celsius, the Swede
proved that the new street circuit in the centre of China´s boom
town allows overtaking. Impressive was also Rinaldo
Capello’s DTM debut: The Italian moved to third place with
a great start and eventually finished fifth despite paper had blocked
the air intakes of his Audi A4 DTM. As a consequence, the brakes overheated
while Capello did not get any more fresh air into the cockpit. A similar
problem caused Frank Biela to pit. Peter Terting finished a strong eleventh
at his DTM comeback in a 2003 Abt-Audi TT-R. |
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Audi lost the chance of winning in Shanghai due to collisions on the opening lap which caused the retirement of the fastest three Audi A4 DTM cars. Tom Kristensen was touched from behind and spun into the car of his team-mate Martin Tomczyk at the first corner. Emanuele Pirro was pushed into the wall while fighting for second position one corner later. Christian Abt also retired after an accident. Due to an incident that happened at the first start, only one of the two races scheduled in Shanghai where held. Works on the track delayed the start until almost 6 p.m. local time. |
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Quotes
after the race |
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