The ADAC-Preis von Sachsen-Anhalt 2001 Feature Race, otherwise known as the 2001 Oschersleben Feature Race, was the sixth race of the 2001 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben in Oschersleben, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany on 20 May 2001. The race would see Marcel Fässler sweep to his first Feature Race victory in the series, having started from pole position.
Fässler had won the earlier Qualifikationslauf to secure pole, and duly aced his start to claim an early lead. Bernd Schneider, meanwhile, would power through to secure second from Laurent Aïello into the first corner, with the Frenchman's Abt-Audi also falling to Uwe Alzen later around the opening tour.
Subject ID: 44640
MoreThe ADAC-Preis von Sachsen-Anhalt 2001 Feature Race, otherwise known as the 2001 Oschersleben Feature Race, was the sixth race of the 2001 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben in Oschersleben, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany on 20 May 2001. The race would see Marcel Fässler sweep to his first Feature Race victory in the series, having started from pole position.
Fässler had won the earlier Qualifikationslauf to secure pole, and duly aced his start to claim an early lead. Bernd Schneider, meanwhile, would power through to secure second from Laurent Aïello into the first corner, with the Frenchman's Abt-Audi also falling to Uwe Alzen later around the opening tour.
The race quickly settled down, with Fässler eeking out a lead over Schneider, while Aïello also briefly slipped behind Mattias Ekström in the Junior Audi. The Frenchman would, however, quickly get back ahead of the Swede and escape his attentions, leaving Ekström to form a bottle neck in fifth.
Elsewhere, Martin Tomczyk was the first to stop in the top half of the field, although with cold tyres the German youth immediately slid onto the grass at pit-out. He duly dropped to the very back of the field, with Peter Dumbreck the first of the leaders to stop a lap later.
On lap seven Fässler made what was arguably his first mistake of the weekend, suffering a wiggle exiting turn three before sliding onto the grass at turn four, handing the lead to Schneider. In response the Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes squad opted to pit the Swiss racer earlier than planned, hoping to undercut Schneider.
Two laps later and Schneider was in for his stop at the end of lap thirteen, with Fässler running quicker on fresh tyres. As a result the #1 Mercedes emerged just behind the #6 Mercedes, and began to challenge the Swiss racer for the lead with a succession of quick laps.
Elsewhere, Alzen would stalk the lead duo but was unable to intervene in the fight, while Dumbreck streaked up the field to fourth after his early stop. Aïello, meanwhile, found himself in a fight with teammates Christian Abt and Ekström, while Timo Scheider was running in a lowly twelfth at the head of the Opel hoard, and lapping significantly slower than the leaders.
The fight for victory would last until the final lap, with Schneider ultimately having to concede defeat after sliding wide at Triple. Fässler hence swept across the line for his second win of the day ahead of the defending Champion, while Alzen trailed the #1 Mercedes across the line. Dumbreck secured fourth ahead of the Abt-Audi trio of Aïello, Abt and Ekström, with Marcel Tiemann, Patrick Huisman and Thomas Jäger rounding out the scorers for Mercedes.
Subject ID: 44640
Subject ID: 44640