Audi Set the Benchmark at Zandvoort As Well
Zandvoort is obviously another circuit well suited to the new Audi A4 DTM: in both of Friday’s test sessions the Audi drivers were setting the pace on the circuit along the North Sea coast of the Netherlands. At the end of the first test four Audi A4 DTM cars were at the front of the field for the first time ever, and in the second session Audi drivers took the first three places. Quickest driver of the day was Tom Kristensen, the winner of Oschersleben, who was the first DTM driver to undercut the 1m 35s mark at Zandvoort. Leader of the standings Mattias Ekström clocked the second-best time of the day, Christian Abt came in third. Quotes after Friday’s tests Tom Kristensen (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline / Audi A4 DTM #12) Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt / Audi A4 DTM #5) Christian Abt (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline / Audi A4 DTM #11) Martin Tomczyk (Audi Sport Team Abt / Audi A4 DTM #6) Frank Biela (Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest / Audi A4 DTM #45) Emanuele Pirro (Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest / Audi A4 DTM #44) Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): “This Friday has been exactly to my liking. We know that during the hot battle for the title win we need a solid team performance – and today we’ve taken the first step in this direction. Yet none of our mechanics or drivers will rest on the laurels of the places we’ve clinched today. Instead, everyone will be giving their level best to repeat this performance tomorrow afternoon between 1 and 2 p.m.” Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest): “Our drivers are very happy with their cars. The long runs went well. Getting the best out of the new tyres continues to be our main problem. An improvement of two tenths of a second is simply not enough. With new tyres, you need to squeeze out almost one second here. We now have to analyse why we’ve not been able to do that so far.” Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): “We expected the circuit at Zandvoort to suit our Audi A4 DTM well, and so far our performance has been good. In both tests, we’ve had four cars among the top five respectively, despite the fact that everyone was focused on finding a good set-up for the race today. Having achieved the goals we’ve set so far, our challenge now is to put in the same good work for the qualifying tomorrow.” |