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Oliver Jarvis made his race debut in DTM last weekend (13 April) driving for Audi. Here he gives a little more detail about his race in Hockenheim.
Oliver, talk us through Qualifying. “Qualifying is very similar to the F1 qualifying system. It is held in three stages where the first 14 cars make it through to Q2 and then the next eight into Q3. It was the first time I’d experienced this sort of qualifying and was amazed at how quickly the time goes as well as the pressure that it puts drivers under. In my first run in Q1, I didn’t get the best out of my tyres and so was down to P17 with 1min 30sec to go as I started my final lap in this segment. I managed to set a time of 1.34.1 which positioned me 11th and saw me safely through to Q2. Feeling more confident in Q2, I went straight out and improved on my Q1 time by over half a second to a 1.33.5. With little time left, I headed for the pits and we fitted a new set of tyres for a second attempt to ensure we made it to Q3. Although I only managed to set the same time, we got through to Q3. It was made even better as I was the only driver in a year old car to make Q3 and in the process knocked out multiple champion Bernd Schneider in a new Mercedes. We finished Q3 in eighth place.” You made a fantastic start in the race gaining two places, how did you feel? “I was really pleased with the start and managed to slip down the inside of Jamie Green and Martin Tomczyk into turn one. As I headed into the hairpin I was in sixth place but I was under pressure from Gary Paffett. I managed to keep him at bay for several laps but eventually he found a way to pass me and in doing so, allowed Green and Tomczyk to reclaim their positions. I was experiencing oversteer in my car and was struggling with this, which allowed Schneider to close the gap. As the race settled down, I was able to build up the gap again between myself and Schneider.” Talk us through your first pit stop. “I pitted on lap 13 and the team made a fantastic stop. As I was about to leave my pit bay a car was coming down the fast lane so I had to stop and wait for a few seconds, this being especially critical as when Schneider made his stop, he came out just in front of me.” And how did the race go from there? “I then pushed hard for two laps before making my second stop, rejoining in 9th place. I continued to push hard for the remainder of the race to try and close the gap to the cars in front. I also had to maintain the advantage I had over Mike Rockenfeller for the next best of the Audi 07 cars. I finished the race in 9th place just outside the points.” How did you feel your first DTM race went?“Overall I was very pleased with the weekend and although I was disappointed not to have scored points there were a lot of positives to take away from the weekend. I will hopefully be stronger in Oschersleben. It was really good to be the highest placed 07 Audi and especially with such strong competition. The weekend was extremely enjoyable and I was amazed by the atmosphere and size of the crowd. I would like to thank everyone at Team Phoenix and Audi for their help and support.” |
