Second pole in 2007 for Mika Häkkinen
In qualifying for the fourth round of the DTM at Brands
Hatch, Mika Häkkinen claimed his second pole position
of the season. Driving his AMG Mercedes C-Class, the two times’
Formula 1 world champion set a fastest lap time of 42.660
seconds at the 1.929 kilometres long circuit. Bruno Spengler
secured himself second place on the grid for tomorrow’s
race. He was 0.032 seconds down on Häkkinen’s fastest
time. Best-placed Audi driver was Alexandre Prémat
with the 2006-spec A4 DTM in third place. His fellow Audi
driver Mattias Ekström is completing the second row of
the grid.
Qualifying in detail
Air temperature: 23.4 °C
Track temperature: 28.5 °C
12.28 hrs. Winkelhock first car on the track
12.30 hrs. Winkelhock sets the first fastest time in 43.218
seconds
12.31 hrs. Lucas Luhr takes the lead with 42.8600 seconds
12.32 hrs. Spengler now first: 42.802 seconds
12.34 hrs. Ekström takes second place with 42.816 seconds
12.36 hrs. At the moment, Carroll, Stoddart, Lauda, la Rosa,
Prémat and Ickx don't make it into the next heat
12.38 hrs. Lauda is now seventh with 43.005, pushes di Resta
out of the top 14
12.39 hrs. Alexandre Prémat takes fourth place with
a lap time of 42.912 seconds
12.40 hrs. Jamie Green claims the top position with 42.730
seconds
12.41 hrs. Points leader di Resta has not made it into the
top 14, just like Carroll, Margaritis, Stoddart, la Rosa and
Ickx
12.42 hrs. End of the session. Green is fastest from Spengler,
Ekström, Luhr, Prémat, Schneider, Tomczyk, Paffett,
Lauda, Winkelhock, Rockenfeller, Scheider, Häükkinen
and Abt
12.49 hrs. Start of the next heat, Winkelhock is the first
driver out on the track
12.50 hrs. Premat is topping the time sheets with 42.760
12.52 hrs. Tomczyk is now fastest with 42.720
12.54 hrs. At the moment, the drivers not in the top eight
are Luhr, Paffett, Rockenfeller, Winkelhock, Abt and Schneider.
Eksröm is now fastest with 42.597
12.56 hrs. Häkkinen takes second place behind Ekström
with a lap time of 42.603
12.58 hrs. End of the session. Not qualified for the final
heat are Winkelhock, Lauda, Luhr, Scheider, Paffett and Rockenfeller.
12.59 hrs. Ekström remains fastest from Häkkinen,
Schneider, Tomczyk, Green, Spengler, Abt and Prémat
13.06 hrs. Start of the third and final qualifying heat. Bernd
Schneider is first on the track
13.09 hrs. Mika Häkkinen is fastest with 42.660. Martin
Tomczyk straight on into the barrier at Druids, session stopped
with red lag. 5.30 minutes remaining
13.12 hrs. Session will be continued at 13.17
13.17 hrs. Session restarts with 5.30 minutes remaining, Ekström
is the first driver out on the track
13.19 hrs. Green still has no lap time, just like Tomczyk.
Abt and Premat out on the track
13.21 hrs. Spengler into second place with 42.692, Häkkinen
remains fastest
13.23 hrs. End of the session, Häkkinen remains fastest,
taking his second pole of the season from Spengler, Prémat,
Ekström, Abt, Schneider and Green
Mika’s third stroke: Pole position at Brands
Hatch
Things are going well for the Flying Finn: following pole
position at Oschersleben and victory at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz,
Mika Häkkinen also put his AMG Mercedes C-Class on pole
at Brands Hatch. The Finn lapped the 1.929 kilometres short
circuit, the shortest track on the DTM calendar, in 42.660
seconds. Qualifying was really difficult as all the drivers
are so closely together here. Pole is pole and tomorrow, the
others have the pressure, because they are behind me”,
the 38-year old showed himself delighted with the third DTM
pole of his career. Häkkinen’s team-mate Bruno
Spengler secured himself second place. The Canadian was only
32 hundredths of a second down on the fastest time. Third
fastest at the legendary circuit in the south-east of England
was French Audi driver, Alexandre Prémat.
Mattias Ekström (Audi) also secured himself a good position
for the battle for the DTM championship title by qualifying
fourth. Last year’s Brands Hatch winner is second in
the points’ standings, four points down on Scot, Paul
di Resta. On Saturday, di Resta failed to make it into the
second session of the shoot-out qualifying and will be starting
15th for the race on Sunday at 14.00 h (ARD live from 13.45
h).
Ekström is being followed by the best-placed German,
Christian Abt with the Audi A4 DTM. DTM record champion Bernd
Schneider (Mercedes-Benz) and his team-mate Jamie Green followed
suit. Martin Tomczyk caused a brief interruption of the qualifying
session. After locking up under braking in the third and final
session, the Audi driver landed in the gravel trap, causing
a five minutes’ interruption. The third-placed in the
points’ standings will be starting from eighth place.
Other than Jamie Green, none of the five British drivers
was able to use the home advantage in Kent county. The 2005
DTM champion, Gary Paffett, will be starting 13th, his fellow-countrymen
di Resta and Adam Carroll from 15th and 16th place respectively.
Susie Stoddart was 18th.
Mika Häkkinen (1st grid position, AMG Mercedes):
“Qualifying was really difficult as all the drivers
are so closely together here. In the first qualifying heat,
I was taking it a little bit too easy. That was a mistake,
my times weren’t excellent. From the second heat onwards,
I was totally focussed and my times improved. Eventually,
I was on pole. Pole is pole and tomorrow, the others have
the pressure, because they are behind me.”
Bruno Spengler (2nd grid position, DaimlerChrysler
Bank AMG Mercedes): “Qualifying was very hard
because it was all very close. I am really happy with the
result, because I struggled here last year and things weren’t
perfect yesterday either. We have been working very hard overnight
and second place on the grid is the result. Tomorrow’s
race will be very long and very hard, it will be important
not to make any mistakes.”
Alexandre Prémat (3rd grid position, Audi
Sport Team Phoenix): “I am very happy with
my qualifying as I managed to improve in every session. My
fastest lap was good, but not good enough. A faster lap time
would have been possible. Like at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz,
I am the best-placed Audi driver and I am very happy with
that.”
Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug: “I
am very happy with the qualifying result. Congratulations
to Mika Häkkinen for his second pole of the season and
the fourth for the new C-Class. We have four cars in the top
seven and everything is possible in the race on Sunday. Surely,
it will be one of the toughest and most exciting races of
the season. Being on pole doesn’t mean that one wins
the race as well.”
Audi motorsport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich:
“First of all, I would like to than all those who have
made it possible for us to be racing here at Brands Hatch
again this year. The track is something special. We have seen
an exciting qualifyin session. The lap times show that it
can hardly be any closer. I want to congratulate Mercedes-Benz
for pole position. We have two cars on the second row and
we have shown already this year that these cars still can
bring a good performance, even with handicap weight on board.”
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