Fourth Pole Position for Audi A4 DTM
In the DTM’s eighth round of the season, an Audi A4 DTM will yet again be starting from the pole position. Leader of the standings Mattias Ekström was the quickest driver in the singled timed lap (“super pole”), thus clinching the best position on the starting grid for the third time this year. The Audi A4 DTM in its debut season today even achieved the best qualifying time for as much as the fourth time. Martin Tomczyk, Christian Abt and Tom Kristensen – securing the fourth, fifth and sixth places on the grid respectively – complemented the strong performance of the Audi teams as a whole. Today’s qualifying results mean that on Sunday at 2 p.m. local time, all four Audi A4 DTM cars fielded by Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline will be starting from the first three rows. Emanuele Pirro of Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest – with an eleventh-place finish in the qualifying – barely missed the super pole by 85 thousandths of a second. Team-mate Frank Biela will be starting the race from position 14. Quotes after qualifying Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt / Audi A4 DTM #5) Martin Tomczyk (Audi Sport Team Abt / Audi A4 DTM #6) Christian Abt (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline / Audi A4 DTM #11) Tom Kristensen (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline / Audi A4 DTM #12) Emanuele Pirro (Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest / Audi A4 DTM #44) Frank Biela (Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest / Audi A4 DTM #45) Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): “I’m very happy with the team result, we’ll have all four cars starting from the first three rows tomorrow. Perhaps there would have been a little more in it for us, but the super pole is always something very special in the DTM. `Well done’ to Mattias: once again, he got the best out of it for Audi.” Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest): “For some reason we’ve not been able to unlock the door to the super pole yet. We had been hoping that Emanuele’s time would be enough to get into the top ten. But in the end there was just under a tenth of a second missing. Starting places eleven and 14 aren’t all that bad though. I’m hoping that we’ll be driving a good race, bringing both cars across the finish line and scoring some points.” Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): “Today, we have achieved the best result of the season so far for the Audi squad: pole position, four cars among the top six, and the two Joest cars just barely missing the super pole. In the single timed laps there was a little luck involved today as well, because the track conditions had changed significantly after the qualifying. I have no doubt that the colourful mix on the starting grid will make for an exciting race tomorrow.” |