Mika Häkkinen starting from pole at Oschersleben
Mika Häkkinen (Mercedes-Benz) will be starting from
pole position for the second season round of the DTM at the
Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. In an exciting qualifying session,
the Finn drove his AMG Mercedes C-Class to a fastest lap time
of 1:22.456 minutes, securing the first grid position for
the race on Sunday (live from 13.45 h onwards on ARD). For
the two times’ Formula 1 world champion, it was the
second pole position in his DTM career. Mike Rockenfeller
(Audi) caused a slight sensation in qualifying: the Audi driver
will be starting from the front row of the grid alongside
Häkkinen in only his second DTM race. Eventually, Rockenfeller
with his 2006-spec Audi A4 DTM only came 0.074 seconds short
of Häkkinen’s fastest lap time. Third place was
occupied by Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz) from Mattias Ekström
(Audi). Reigning DTM champion Bernd Schneider will be starting
from tenth place.
Qualifying in detail
Air temperature: 22.8 °C
Track temperature: 29.0 °C
13.28 hrs. Qualifying starts
13.32 hrs. Timo Scheider is on top of the time sheet with
a lap time of 1:22.609
13.33 hrs. Mike Rockenfeller is second with 1:22.766 ahead
of a Mercedes-quartett with Bruno Spengler, Bernd Schneider,
Mathias Lauda and Alexandros Margaritis
13.35 hrs. Martin Tomczyk moves up into third place with his
lap time of 1:22.888
13.40 hrs. Frank Biela off the track into the tyre barrier
at the back stretch
13.42 hrs. End of the session. At the moment, La Rosa, Luhr,
Werner, Biela, Stoddart and Ickx are not qualified for the
next session
13.43 hrs. Timo Scheider remains fastest from Schneider, Rockenfeller,
Ekström, Paffett, Spengler, Tomczyk, Green, Di Resta,
Häkkinen, Abt, Carroll, Lauda and Margaritis
13.48 hrs. Next session starts, Christian Abt is the first
driver out on the track
13.52 hrs. Bruno Spengler tops the time sheet with a lap time
of 1:22.647, Timo Scheider claims second place with 1:22.678
13.53 hrs. Mika Häkkinen outpaces Spengler by 0.008 seconds
and is now fastest with 1:22.639. Bernd Schneider straight
on in the chicane, runs through the grass
13.57 hrs. Jamie Green moves up into seventh. At the moment,
Bernd Schneider is out of the top eight
13.58 hrs. Timo Scheider is fastest with 1:22.551. He remains
on top from Häkkinen, Spengler, Ekström, Rockenfeller,
Paffett, Tomczyk and Green
13.59 hrs. Drivers not making it into the third and final
qualifying heat are Christian Abt, Bernd Schneider, Paul di
Resta, Mathias Lauda, Alexandros Margaritis and Adam Carroll
14.06 hrs. The final session starts, Bruno Spengler is the
first to go out
14.09 hrs. Bruno Spengler tops the time sheet with 1:22.625,
Jamie Green is second with 1:22.791
14.10 hrs. Mike Rockenfeller takes third place with 1:22.840
14.14 hrs. Mike Rockenfeller is now fastest with 1:22.530,
but Mika Häkkinen immediately outpaces him with 1:22.456
14.15 hrs. End of the session. Mika Häkkinen claims his
second DTM pole from Rockenfeller, Spengler, Ekström,
Green, Scheider, Tomczyk and Paffett
Mika Häkkinen conquers the Börde: pole
positon at Oschersleben
Oschersleben. Mike Häkkinen is the second DTM pole sitter
of the year. The Finnish Mercedes-Benz driver lapped the 3.696
kilometres long track in the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben
in 1:22.456 minutes with his C-Class. “It has been quite
a long time since I was in front. Therefore, my poloe position
is a great satisfaction”, the crowd’s favourite
said after claiming his second DTM pole. 23-year old German
Mike Rockenfeller caused a slight sensation. With his year-old
Audi A4 DTM, the DTM rookie will be starting from second place
into Sunday’s 44 lap race in the Magdeburger Börde
region (live on ARD from 13.45 h onwards). He was 74 thousandths
of a second down on the former Formula 1 world champion. Third
place in the shoot-out qualifying session was occupied by
Mercedes-Benz driver Bruno Spengler from Canada, who had been
on pole for the Hockenheim season opener.
Until the end of the qualifying session, it was a close call
between Mika Häkkinen and newcomer Mike Rockenfeller.
With only a few minutes left, the driver from Neuwied set
the fastest lap time and looked set to claim pole position.
However, Häkkinen used all his experience and countered,
demoting the youngster to second.
Hockenheim winner, Audi driver Mattias Ekström (S) was
fourth fastest. Jamie Green (Mercedes-Benz) from Great Britain
and German Timo Scheider (Audi) are lining up on the third
row of the grid in fifth and sixth place respectively. The
top ten was completed by Martin Tomczyk (Audi), Gary Paffett
Mercedes-Benz), Christian Abt (Audi) and Bernd Schneider.
Also in the second shoot-out qualifying of the 2007 season,
the Mercedes-Benz driver failed to make it into the final
session. In the first five grid rows, there is one AMG-Mercedes
C-Class and one Audi A4 DTM each. Once again, the field of
the 20 DTM drivers demonstrated how close the action is in
the most popular international touring car series. In qualifying,
there were 17 drivers within one second.
Going into the second of ten season rounds, Audi driver Mattias
Ekström is leading in the points’ standings with
ten points ahead of his rivals Martin Tomczyk (eight points)
and Daniel La Rosa (six points). The race in the Motorsport
Arena Oschersleben will be covering a distance of 162.624
kilometres.
Mika Häkkinen (1st grid position, AMG-Mercedes):
“It has been quite a long time since I was in front.
Therefore, my poloe position is a great satisfaction. Especially
after I had bad luck in the Hockenheim season opener, we have
shown that we are back again. Today, I have shown the performance
that I expect from myself. It can go on like this tomorrow.”
Mike Rockenfeller (2nd grid position, Audi Sport
Team Rosberg): “The first grid row in my second
DTM race, that is just awesome. I didn’t expect being
that far up. My goal was a position in the top eight, but
that I am this far up is also a huge surprise for me. For
the race, a good start is essential in order to make it through
the first corner without any trouble.”
Bruno Spengler (3rd grid position, DaimlerChrysler
Bank AMG-Mercedes): “I am very happy with third
place on the grid. All the time, there were so many cars on
the track that finding a clear lap was difficult. On my last
quick lap, I locked up a little bit under braking, otherwise
I probably could have been a little bit further up. Especially
concerning the first corner, being in front is important.
A good start tomorrow, then through the first corner without
an accident, and then anything can happen.”
Mercedes-Benz-Motorsportchef Norbert Haug:
“Qualifying was very exciting, the top position went
back and forth quite often. Of course, I am happy with Mika
Häkkinen’s pole position here at Oschersleben,
a circuit that is definitely not ideal for us. Tomorrow in
the race, beating the Audis will not be easy for us either,
Mike Rockenfeller has shown a tremendous performance in qualifying,
thanks that he didn’t take pole away from us. Bernd
Schneider was slowed down and lost two tenths of a second.
In qualifying, that means that you can’t do anything
anymore. But with a good start in tomorrow’s race, he
can still catch up from 10th.”
Audi-Motorsportchef Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich:
“The fact that Mike Rockenfeller is strong here doesn’t
surprise me. In testing, he already has showed that the track
suits him. I am happy that he is among the front runners as
a young driver. In free practice this morning, Mattias Ekström
has destroyed his splitter and had to use a new one in qualifying.
Because of that, his car was not as good as before. But I
am convinced that he will find a good set-up for the race.
The first three grid rows are evenly split up between Audi
and Mercedes-Benz, there are five Audis and five Mercedes
among the top ten. When the cars are making it through the
first corner tomorrow, it will surely be a good and exciting
race.”
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