Pierre Kaffer quickest driver of an A4 from last year
Title defender Mattias Ekström in the Audi A4 DTM will start from the second row in the second round of the DTM at EuroSpeedway Lausitz. After clocking the fastest time in Saturday’s Qualifying, the Swede was not able to equal his own best time in the subsequent single-timed Super Pole session. This means that Ekström will start the race from fourth place on the grid. Tom Kristensen and Martin Tomczyk were the two other Audi drivers who managed to make it into the top-ten. Quickest driver of an Audi A4 DTM from last year was Pierre Kaffer, who claimed 12th position.
The race distance at EuroSpeedway has been extended from the original 42 to 48 laps. The race is scheduled to start at 2 p.m., ARD will broadcast “live” starting at 1.45 p.m.
Quotes after Qualifying
Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline #1)
4th place Super Pole, 1m 16.244s
“This was neither my best nor my worst lap. I didn’t make any major mistakes, but I was a bit too slow to claim a position at the very front of the grid. On the other hand, I’m quite satisfied because the car feels very good. We’ll pick up the fight again tomorrow, because I’d like to continue my series of podium results at EuroSpeedway.”
Tom Kristensen (Audi Sport Team Abt #5)
7th place Super Pole, 1m 16.468s
“My Super Pole lap was good. The car is running really well, but we’re losing too much time here in the second sector. That’s the reason why we’re not at the front. Yesterday, I had the best long run, but from this starting position, things will be difficult for me in the race.”
Martin Tomczyk (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline #2)
9th place Super Pole, 1m 16.596s
“I think that all Audi drivers did a good job in the Super Pole. We didn’t make any mistakes, our cars were doing well. At the moment, we’re simply a bit too slow. We’re going to carefully analyse this. We still have quite a bit of work ahead of us.”
Pierre Kaffer (Audi Sport Team Joest Racing #15)
12th place, 1m 16.890s
“I’d already figured that I’d be making it into the top ten. Unfortunately, I just missed it. Of course, I’m a little disappointed because I was always among the front runners in the Free Practice. This shows how tough the DTM is. We need to work on delivering the right performance in future Qualifying sessions as well.”
Allan McNish (Audi Sport Team Abt #6)
13th place, 1m 16.901s
“We found a good set-up for the Qualifying, the car’s balance was right. I was able to attack and improve by three tenths of a second in each outing. Unfortunately, this wasn’t quite enough to get into the top ten. I’m satisfied with the progress I made here.”
Frank Stippler (Audi Sport Team Joest #19)
14th place, 1m 16.913s
“After my second place in the Free Practice, I’m not happy with my position. I need to learn more about the car. I’m still lacking a certain amount of experience. I realise that there are still some rough edges here and there. And that’s something you can’t afford to have in the DTM.”
Rinaldo Capello (Audi Sport Team Joest #18)
16th place, 1m 17.073s
“In each of my three outings I ran up to other cars, and the first attempt I even had to abort completely. That was really a shame because my car was good.”
Christian Abt (Audi Sport Team Joest Racing #14)
18th place, 1m 17.268s
“In Qualifying, I wasn’t even able to equal the time I’d clocked in the morning’s Free Practice session. We need to analyse the reasons very carefully because, generally, my car feels very good here as well.”
Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): “We need to deal with the situation as it is. We’re going to work on delivering a better performance in tomorrow’s race. Our starting position isn’t the very best. But everyone knows that we’ll be fighting. The race will probably be tough. We’ll be looking for our chance.”
Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Team Joest): “Unfortunately, the Qualifying didn’t go as well for us as the Free Practice had. We need to evaluate the data. It’s strange that we didn’t achieve the times of the Free Practice session aside from that fact that the others improved. We had been hoping to get two cars into the Super Pole.”
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): “Today has shown us yet again how tight the field is in the DTM. Needless to say, the Qualifying result is a disappointment for us, because we’re not where we want to be. Now, we’ll have to make the best of the situation tomorrow in the race.”
