Dear fans, it was a weekend, with ups and downs. After the good performance of Zandvoort we arrived in Oschersleben with a very good feeling. However, in free practice on Saturday morning, we had our first bad moment: The car's balance was really difficult. I was struggling a lot to get up to speed, the times reflected this immediately. After this disappointing first session we were only in 14th place.

It was clear to me that the qualification would be quite a challenge for us. To my surprise the car handled very well in qualifying. I really have to say a big thank you to all of my crew at Mücke Motorsport for solving our problems so nicely! With a well balanced car I managed to go 6th in Q1. For the second session of qualifying we fitted a new set of tires, the balance worsened on this set. So it was quite clear, it had to be something with the tires, because as we changed for a new set again, my C-Class was much better. Unfortunately I was a little late braking into the first corner and I missed the apex and lost three tenths and from this moment I could not manage any better than 11th. It is really annoying when you know that without the mistake we were fast enough to get to Q3 and qualify in the top 8. I was very sorry for the team and apologised to them.

Another low for us was the warm-up on Sunday. Again I had to fight with my car and I was ranked at the back of the field in 16th. However, we also changed the setup a bit, so we knew what we had to change to go faster again.

As expected, just before the race start I had a good feeling on my way to the starting grid. I was highly motivated and got a good start. Unfortunately, a competitor pushed me into the dirt on my way to the first corner. So I was next to Jamie Green in turn one. Door to door we went through the next three turns before I managed to pass him on the outside for the "triple" corner. That was certainly the key moment of my race in Oschersleben because overtaking is very difficult on this circuit.

In the subsequent period I was able to increase the gap to Jamie Green and follow the pace of Alexandre Prémat in front of me. A short time after the second pit stop, he made a small mistake and I managed to pass the Audi for 8th.

However, till the end of the race I had to survive a hard but all-time fair battle. My C-class lost some parts of the diffuser, which I felt immediately with strong oversteer. Alexandre Prémat and Mike Rockenfeller closed the gap and I had to try to resist successfully against Prémats’ attacks and at the same time take care of my rear tires.

Only two laps to go and suddenly some unexpected incidents happened. First, I saw Oliver Jarvis in front of me going off the track. Then the same thing happened right behind me with Prémat. Since I didn't know about the tire damage to Jarvis nor about the accident of Rockenfeller and Prémat, at first I thought that oil or dirt was on the track, and was careful for my two final laps. From behind I had nothing more to fear. Soon it became clear that the track was clean and I calmed down as I finished the race in 7th place.

Two points, I'm very pleased about them and also to be the best 2008 car provided a good mood in the team. However, for the next race at the Nuerburgring we will now have 10 kilos more ballast than the 2008 Audis, so it will not be easier there. I'm really curious how the performance will be in the Eifel. Forecasts are not easy at the moment, so I just hope to continue to perform strongly, and to be able to drive into the points again.

Keep racing
Maro