Third pole of the season for Bruno Spengler at Norisring
Nuremberg. Canadian Bruno Spengler, will be starting from
pole position for tomorrow’s fifth DTM round at the
Norisring in Nuremberg. With his AMG Mercedes C-Class, the
23-year old claimed the best grid position for the race with
a lap time of 55.963 seconds in qualifying. For Bruno Spengler,
it was the third pole position of the season and the seventh
of his DTM career. Lining up alongside him on the front row
of the grid will be two times’ Formula 1 world champion
Mika Häkkinen. The strong performance of Mercedes-Benz
was completed by DTM record champion Bernd Schneider in third
place and Gary Paffett in fourth. Timo Scheider is the best-placed
driver with a 2007-spec Audi A4 DTM in fifth place from Jamie
Green (Mercedes-Benz), Mattias Ekström and Tom Kristensen
(both Audi) in sixth to eighth place.
The Qualifying at a glance
Weather condition: rainy, wet track
Air temperature: 16,8 °C
Track temperature: 18,7 °C
13.28 hrs Qualifying starts, Mattias Ekström is the
first driver out for the 14 minutes' session. The track is
wet, it is still raining.
13.30 hrs Timo Scheider is fastest with 58.985 seconds ahead
of Ekström and Tomczyk.
13.31 hrs A lot of changes on the leaderboard: Tomczyk is
fastest, then Schneider, then Abt, then Schneider again with
56.940
13.34 hrs Christian Abt is on top with 56.706, which makes
him 0.607 seconds faster than Schneider.
13.35 hrs Currently, the two lady racers, Susie Stoddart and
Vanina Ickx are 13th and 14th and thus both provisionally
qualified for the second heat. Vanina Ickx spins at the Grundig-hairpin,
but continues.
13.38 hrs Alexandre Prémat spins at the Schöller-S
right-hander, hits the tyre barriers rearward, causing some
damage to the rear of his car.
13.39 hrs Abt is still fastest from Schneider, Paffett, Spengler,
Tomczyk, Green, Häkkinen and Ekström. Rain is getting
heavier, so there are no meaningful times at the moment.
13.40 hrs Lucas Luhr spins at the Schöller-S right-hander,
continues.
13.42 hrs End of the sssion. Prémat, Carroll, Margaritis,
Rockenfeller, Luhr and Lauda aren't qualified for the second
heat.
13.43 hrs Abt remains fastest from Schneider, Paffett, Spengler,
Tomczyk, Green, Häkkinen, Ekström, La Rosa, Scheider,
Di Resta, Kristensen, Stoddart and Ickx.
13.49 hrs The second heat starts,Bernd Schneider is the first
driver out while the Audi team is still working on Tom Kristensen's
car.
13.51 hrs Timo Scheider is fastest with 58.066.
13.52 hrs Kristensen is finally out of the pit box. Häkkinen
claims first place with 57.235.
13.54 hrs Bernd Schneider is now fastest with 57.177 seconds
from Jamie Green with 57.330.
13.56 hrs Häkkinen counters, claiming back first place
with 57.039, then Kristensen is on top with 56.989, before
Paffett improves to first with 56.618.
13.59 hrs End of the session. Di Resta, Abt, Tomczyk, Stoddart,
la Rosa and Ickx aren't qualified for the final heat.
14.00 hrs In the final minute, Spengler is fastest with 56.602
from Paffett, Kristensen, Häkkinen, Scheider, Schneider,
Green and Ekström.
14.01 hrs The final heat is starting at 14.06.
14.07 hrs The session has started, but no driver is out yet,
waiting for the track to dry.
14.08 hrs Mattias Ekström is the first driver out.
14.11 hrs Spengler is fastest with 56.385 from Ekström
and Paffett.
14.12 hrs Bernd Schneider improves to third, but then, Green
takes third from Paffett.
14.13 hrs Häkkinen is fastest with 56.199 from Spengler,
Schneider and Green.
14.15 hrs Bernd Schneider takes second between Häkkinen
and Spengler, then Spengler is fastest with 55.963.
14.16 hrs Bruno Spengler claims pole position from Häkkinen,
Schneider, Paffett, Scheider, Green, Ekström and Kristensen.
Spengler leaves the opposition out in the rain: pole
at Norisring
Nuremberg. Canadian Mercedes-Benz-driver, Bruno Spengler,
had the upper hand over his rivals in qualifying for the fifth
round of the season in the DTM and will be starting from pole
position tomorrow at 14.00 h (ARD live from 13.45). Torrential
rain at the start of qualifying made the session at the only
street circuit on the DTM calendar to a slippery affair. Spengler
turned out to be fully concentrated in all sessions of the
shoot-out qualifying at the 2.3 kilometres short track and
thus claimed the best grid position for the race for the third
time already this season. “This was the most difficult
pole position of the year, because conditions were so extraordinary”,
said the winner of four races last year, who still hasn’t
opened his winning account this season.
Spengler’s team-mate Mika Häkkinen from Finland
was second, missing out on a third pole position of the year
by 0.236 seconds. The winner from Brands Hatch, Bernd Schneider,
and Gary Paffett completed the lock-out of the first two grid
rows for Mercedes-Benz by qualifying third and fourth respectively.
Paffett already won twice at the Norisring in 2004 and 2005.
Austrian-based German driver, Timo Scheider, qualified fifth
with his Audi A4 DTM, making him the best-placed Audi driver
of the day. Last year’s pole sitter from Nuremberg,
Jamie Green from Great Britain, only had to make do with sixth
place. The winner of the season opener from Hockenheim didn’t
get an excellent qualifying result either. Swede Mattias Ekström
drove his Audi A4 DTM to seventh position on the grid. The
driver in eighth place caused huge delight among teams and
spectators. Tom Kristensen (Audi) from Denmark is making his
comeback in the DTM following his severe accident at Hockenheim.
The particular weather and track conditions caused joy and
grief for some drivers. The leader in the points’ standings,
Martin Tomczyk (Audi) failed to make it into the final session
of the top eight and was eleventh. On the other hand, his
fellow Audi-driver Vanina Ickx and Susie Stoddart with her
AMG Mercedes C-Class were happy with the wet conditions. Watched
by star guest Roger Moore, Stoddart qualified twelfth and
Belgian lady racer Ickx was 14th.
In the points’ standings, Martin Tomczyk is first with
20 points, only just ahead of his closest rival Mattias Ekström
at 18. DTM record champion Bernd Schneider is third with 17.5
points.
Bruno Spengler (1st grid position, DaimlerChrysler
Bank AMG Mercedes): “I am really happy, because
today, qualifying was really difficult. Initially, I didn’t
have a clue, as I never drove at Norisring in the rain before.
Throughout the three sessions, the car got betterand better.
The team has done a great job and therefore I am really happy
with this pole position.”
Mika Häkkinen (2nd grid position, AMG Mercedes):
“Surely, qualifying was very exciting for drivers and
teams. Condtions were changing all the tim and we had to react
immediately. Finding the right line was a real challenge.
Because you really have to brake from high speeds here at
the Norisring, finding the right braking point is particularly
difficult in these conditions, but I am happy with the result.”
Bernd Schneider (3rd grid position, Original Teile
AMG Mercedes): “I think, qualifying in the
dry wouldn’t have been bad either. There was massive
aquaplaning on the main straight. My car was really sideways
twice there and I was lucky that everything went well. At
the Norisring, it is quite possible to win the race from my
grid position.”
Timo Scheider (5th grid position, Audi Sport Team
Abt): “Finding the right set-up for qualifying
was a little bit like a lottery. After I messed up in qualifying
at Brands Hatch, I can live with fifth place very well. My
team and I have seen what can be achieved and I am in a good
position for the race tomorrow. When the race is run in the
dry, we are already well sorted.”
Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug:
“This was a very exciting qualifying session with times
changing from one lap to another. For our team, the result
is great and I really have to praise them, because I didn’t
see any mistakes. In such conditions, you have to go a certain
way concerning set-up and then stay on the track. Locking
out the first two grid rows certainly is an advantage, but
that doesn’t guarantee victory in the race. Tomorrow,
strategy will be playing a very important role, as it is important
not to be stuck in traffic. Now, we are happy with the result
and we will see what happens tomorrow.”
Audi motorsport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich:
“Here, we were beaten by Mercedes-Benz and not by the
weather, no doubt about it. Weather was the same for both
of us. Our cars often had good sector times in one sector,
and then times that wouldn’t have been enough to qualify
fourth. Now, we will not give up, but sit down and talk and
try to make the best out of it for tomorrow. When the weather
remains as changeable as this, we must try to find a good
compromise in set-up. When we are running consistently in
the race tomorrow with a good strategy and without making
slight errors, the spectators will get to see an exciting
race.”
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