While Nascar and Indycar racers might not compete in the rain, don’t imagine that’s the case elsewhere in motorsport. We found this photo of Timo Scheider narrowly avoiding drowning at this weekend’s DTM race at the Nürburgring. We liked it so much that’s it’s now available at www.eurotuner.com on our Wallpaper pages. You can download this or many of our other favorite images for your desktop. Or you can print them and hang some on your wall.  

Scheider was taking part in the race to defend his overall lead in the DTM (German Touring Car) series this year. With a fifth-place finish, Scheider held on to the points lead. However, poor tire choice deprived Audi of a possible fourth victory for the season. 
 

As is often the case at the Nürburgring race track in Germany, the weather played a crucial part. Shortly before the race start, a thunderstorm arrived. The meteorologists contracted by Audi (who are normally right on the mark) predicted rain for at least 30 minutes at the beginning of the race. Therefore, most of the Audi A4 DTM cars wentout on the formation lap on rain tires. However, instead of a shower, there were only a few drops of rain. So Audi drivers Mattias Ekström, Timo Scheider and Markus Winkelhock got a call from their teams to switch to slicks immediately. They started the race from pitlane but other Audi drivers pitted during the first few laps to switch to slicks as well, losing ground to their Mrcedes-Benz coutnerparts.
 

Mattias Ekström and Timo Scheider thrilled spectators (85000 throughout the weekend) with strong recoveries, which ultimately resulted in them finishing fifth and sixth, thus saving valuable championship points.
 

Mattias Ekström was running in front of his team-mate, Timo Scheider, by a narrow margin for almost the whole race. This duel was ultimately decided by a tire gamble: When rain did set in during the final phase, Scheider switched to wets five laps before end. On the last lap he managed to overtake Ekström and almost caught Mercedes driver Gary Paffett on the finish straight, too with whom Scheider and Ekström had previously fought a tough duel. 
 

Martin Tomczyk drove the fastest race lap by far, but retired with a right rear suspension failure. Tom Kristensen, who had started from the pole position and was a victim of the unfortunate tire choice as well, slid into the gravel trap shortly after his second mandatory pit stop.
 


Results from the DTM Nürburgring 
 

1 Bernd Schneider (Mercedes) 43 laps in 1h 04m33.024s 

2 Paul di Resta (Mercedes) + 5.764s 

3 Jamie Green (Mercedes) + 13.069s 

4 Gary Paffett (Mercedes) + 19.416s 

5 Timo Scheider (GW:plus/Top Service Audi A4 DTM) + 19.582s 

6 Mattias Ekström (Red Bull Audi A4 DTM) + 21.074s 

7 Bruno Spengler (Mercedes) + 37.484s 

8 Ralf Schumacher (Mercedes) + 45.630s 

9 Markus Winkelhock (Playboy Audi A4 DTM) + 59.601s 

10 Mathias Lauda (Mercedes) + 1m 00.671s 

11 Christijan Albers (Audi A4 DTM) + 1m 06.751s 

12 Susie Stoddart (Mercedes) + 1m 07.939s 

13 Oliver Jarvis (Best Buddies Audi A4 DTM) + 1m 11.250s 

14 Alexandre Prémat (Audi Bank/Shell Helix Audi A4 DTM) - 1 lap 

15 Mike Rockenfeller (S line Audi A4 DTM) - 1 lap