Bathgate’s Paul Di Resta boosted his German Touring Car Championship (DTM) hopes by storming to a dominant victory, his second of the season, in the latest round in Barcelona.
The 22-year-old Scot, who started third on the grid, overtook the Mercedes of pole-sitter Bernd Schneider at the first corner and immediately settled behind the Audi of championship leader Timo Scheider.
Throughout the first part of the 60-minute race there was never more than a couple of tenths between the pair as Di Resta hunted down the German who started the race with a nine-point advantage.
Eventually the talented Scot, the former European Formula 3 champ and who won his maiden DTM race at the Lausitzring, made the pressure pay off when he dived down the inside of Scheider at the end of the back straight and eased himself into the lead.
Despite both cars making slight contact with each other, Di Resta’s HWA Mercedes was ahead on the exit and he slowly increased his advantage to eventually win by 4.531secs from Scheider.
“That was tough, but we achieved our two goals which was to win the race and reduce Timo’s points advantage in the championship,” Di Resta, who heads to Le Mans in France for the penultimate round in a fortnight just seven points adrift of Scheider, explained today.
“The championship’s still on, but I’m under no illusion that it’s going to be tough. Timo’s a very consistent driver and is very good at scoring points. But I’m up for the fight and I’ll be doing everything I can to win the championship for Mercedes.”
JM