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Jamie produced his best qualifying performance of the season so far to get second on the grid and from there he made a textbook start to lead into the first corner. Thereafter he was never headed as he wrapped up his third DTM win, a victory that moves him into second place in the standings.

 

“Aside from getting pole position, it was the perfect weekend,” he said. “I pushed really hard in the opening stages and just controlled the race from there. At one stage after the first stops Paul di Resta started to catch me a little, but I was able to up my pace and respond and at the end I think I had a little bit in hand.”

 

Adding to Jamie’s perfect weekend was polesitter Timo Scheider jumping the start, which earned him a drive-through penalty. It removed the leading Audi from the fight, but Jamie was already well on his way to recording Mercedes' first DTM win of 2008.

 

“The team has been working very hard and I think it was important for me and the team to get this result. This win means our weight will be a lot closer to Audi’s at the next race. It’s always difficult to know how much of a factor that will be.”

 

The next race is at Lausitzring in eastern Germany. Jamie has been on pole position there in the past but has yet to finish on the podium at the track.

 

“It’s good to be second in the points, but it’s much more important to be up there at the end of the season not at the beginning. We’ll go into Lausitz hoping to be a factor, but it’s a very different track to Mugello. Mercedes have always gone well there in the past, so hopefully we’ll be as competitive there.”