DTM, first approach to real life racing.
I am a Chinese student currently studying automotive engineering in Germany. I have been to a lot of race tracks mostly Sportscar and GT events. Like many Chinese motorsport fans I started my motorsport memory from Formula 1 since 2003,as that was the first year when people were able to watch F1 live on TV. But I have to point out my first motorsport experience on TV was actually Rally, 2002 WRC Sweden on Star Sports (ESPN Asia).
Talking about Touring cars is a little bit strange for most of the Chinese, because there is even these days not many accesses to learn about it. But fortunately I read since 2000 the Chinese version of the German Auto Motor und Sport magazine, that was the year when the new generation of DTM reborn. I still remember when I saw the brand new Opel Astra DTM race car I was wondering how beautiful can a car be! But it doesn't mean that I was able to follow the series since then, until when the news came that DTM would come to Shanghai in 2004 for a show race in Pudong. I was very lucky that I lived in Shanghai, where probably the modern motorsport in China starts. So this was the first time I saw real race cars in my life.
I still remember how hot that summer was in 2004,but I enjoyed myself those days. On race day two rounds were planned, but at the start of the Round 1 the F1 safety car driver Bernd Maylander driven Mercedes C Class crashed the cover of waterpipe underground. So due to the safety reason they decided to weld all the covers alongside the track which lead to the cancellation of Round 2.
Finally the race started and Gary Pafett won, he was for me always a big name besides Bernd Schneider. He really deserved more than he had but we know this is motorsport life here does not go straight away as you want. Even when he had his difficulty trying to move up to the F1 but didn't quite make it. I still believe he is one of the most competitive guys in the last decade.
Haoyu Wang
Memory added on April 7, 2013
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