May 1, 2004
First
Pole Position for the Audi A4 DTM
Source: Audi
Sport
The new Audi A4 DTM
has clinched its first pole position in DTM already in its
second race. Mattias Ekström was the dominating driver at
Estoril (Portugal) on Saturday. After setting the fastest time
in the morning's free practice and in Qualifying, the Swede
was also fastest in the "Super Pole" single-car shoot-out.
Martin Tomczyk (4th), Tom Kristensen (5th) and Christian Abt
(10th) completed the strong performance of Audi Sport Team Abt
Sportsline which qualified all four cars within the top ten.
Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro (both Audi Sport Infineon Team
Joest) will start Sundays race (1 pm local time) from
positions 15 and 16.
Quotes after qualifying
Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt / Audi A4 DTM #5)
1st in "Super Pole", 1m 34.039s
"My Audi A4 DTM was brilliant, I was just a little too
cautious at the start of my Super Pole lap. After being
fastest in free practice and qualifying, I tried to do the
best possible job. It would have been unfair not to give the
team the pole position after the good work they had done.
That's why I am really happy that it worked."
Martin Tomczyk (Audi Sport Team Abt / Audi A4 DTM #6)
4th in "Super Pole", 1m 34.621s
"Once again I recorded my fastest time of the weekend on the
Super Pole lap. I lost time during Friday's tests, so I had
to do the qualifying setup this morning. I was not convinced
it would work, but in the end I once more recorded a good
time."
Tom Kristensen (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline / Audi A4 DTM
#12)
5th in "Super Pole", 1m 34.677s
"Of course I'd expected more after yesterday's best
time. On Friday, the car was simply fantastic. I believe I
wanted a little bit too much in qualifying. I had to control
an oversteer on my Super Pole lap, which cost time."
Christian Abt (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline / Audi A4 DTM
#11)
10th in "Super Pole", 1m 35.097s
"It was my aim to take part in the Super Pole which I
achieved. In the first sector I was a little too cautious, I
simply did not want to make any mistake. I must still work on
my qualifying performance. Yesterday, I was fast with the race
setup, therefore I look forward to tomorrow."
Frank Biela (Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest / Audi A4 DTM #45)
15th, 1m 35.306s
"There are no ifs and buts in DTM: My result is simply bad,
things have to get better. I did not correctly heat up the
first set of tyres. With the second set, we tried different
tyre pressure, which did not work. The third set was okay, but
unfortunately I made a mistake."
Emanuele Pirro (Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest / Audi A4 DTM
#44)
16th, 1m 35.404s
"The weekend has been very disappointing for me so far. I
simply can't find any grip. I feel really sorry for the team
that works so hard. I fear, at the moment we lack experience.
We have still a lot of work to do."
Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline):
"We had all four cars in the Super Pole, and took the first
pole position of the year for Audi - this has been a great
performance from our team. I am totally happy. Now we will
also try to do a good race. We were very strong here from the
beginning and have got a good race setup. Now we just need the
necessary amount of luck."
Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Infineon Team
Joest): "I am pleased for Audi, for our team, however,
qualifying was disappointing. We simply do not manage to use
the grip of the new tyres. We hoped to get at least one car
into Super Pole. Unfortunately, now we stand there where
we've been also at Hockenheim. And there everybody could see
what can happen when you start so far from the back.
Nevertheless we will attempt to make the best from this
situation."
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): "I am very
pleased for the Audi squad, as we managed to be at the front
as eraly as the second race. In Qualifying we've seen once
again how close things are in DTM. That's why we are even
more more satisfied with the result of the Qualifying and the
Super Pole. Mattias was strong the whole day. He made it a bit
exciting in the first sector, nevertheless he still managed to
do a fabulous lap."
