Hockenheim proved a strange weekend actually as this year there is no longer any testing on Friday’s and so it’s just a two day event.  This means, that as a driver, it’s a really busy weekend because we have just as many commitments as before, but now it’s crammed into two days.  It was quite amazing – before I knew it, we were straight into Qualifying.  I’m sure we’ll get used to it as the season goes on!

Although pre-season testing had gone well, you are never really sure how quick you are until the first Qualifying of the season.  So it was a really nice surprise to make it through to the final Qualifying segment and to qualify 4^th.  That said, I think everybody was surprised by how much Mercedes struggled during Qualifying.

My start was ok in the race but I was passed by Timo Scheider into turn one. However we had both passed Tomcyk who had stalled. In the first few laps I was under some pressure from Paul Di Resta but I was really surprised that as the race settled down, I was able to pull away. From there, I just had to stay concentrated whilst pushing hard in order to stay in contact with the leaders and at the same time, open up a comfortable gap to those behind.

In the last few laps I was content with 4^th and was simply trying to bring the car home safely when with two laps to go, the team came on the radio to tell me that Ekstrom had a puncture. When I finally caught him, I was extremely cautious in passing as I was concerned that his suspension could break at any time.  If I wasn’t careful this could take us both out the race!  Fortunately this didn’t happen and I managed to pass him safely and then for the last 2 laps I drove very cautiously to score my first DTM podium.

Whilst I felt extremely sorry for Mattias Ekstrom who had driven perfectly all weekend, I was delighted to finish as not only the highest placed 2008 car but also to be on the podium. It was a good reward for all the hard work my team ‘Phoenix Racing’ and I had put in during the winter.