Tom Kristensen on pole position for DTM final
The line-up on the starting grid for the DTM season final
at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg promises plenty
of excitement: with a dominant performance, Tom Kristensen
claimed pole position for the tenth round of the season. At
the 4.574 kilometres long circuit, the Dane set the fastest
lap time of 1.32.862 minutes from his fellow Audi drivers
Timo Scheider and points’ leader Mattias Ekström
(Audi). Fastest driver with an AMG Mercedes C-Class was Jamie
Green in fourth place. The two other title candidates Martin
Tomczyk (Audi) and Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz) will both
be starting from the third grid row in fifth and sixth place
respectively for the season final. The only driver with a
year-old car to make it into the third and final qualifying
heat was Daniel la Rosa, who was eighth. However, the driver
from Hanau will be dropped ten places on the grid, just like
his fellow Mercedes-Benz driver Mika Häkkinen. La Rosa
will be starting 18th, Häkkinen will be lining up in
20th place on the grid for the tenth round of the season.
An extensive press release with quotes from the motorsport
directors and the drivers will be following shortly.
Qualifying in detail
Weather conditions: dry
Air temperature: 17.4 °C
Asphalt temperature: 19.1 °C
13.28 hrs The final qualifying session of the season starts,
Markus Winkelhock is the first driver out, followed by Vanina
Ickx
13.31 hrs Häkkinen is fastest with 1.34.816
13.32 hrs Mike Rockenfeller is first with 1.34.459, then Bernd
Schneider takes over with 1.33.960
13.33 hrs Timo Scheider on top: 1.33.884, but he is immediately
outpaced by Bruno Spengler with 1.33.788
13.34 hrs Jamie Green is fastest with three outright best
sector times: 1.33.450
13.37 hrs Kristensen is third with 1.33.831. Ekström
is the final driver to go out on the track, the Swede doesn't
have a timed lap yet
13.39 hrs With two minutes remaining, Stoddart, Abt, Di Resta,
Winkelhock, Luhr and Ickx would be out for the second heat
13.42 hrs End of the session. Green remains fastest from Spengler,
Kristensen, Scheider, Tomczyk and Schneider.
13.43 hrs Winkelhock still made it into the top 14 and pushed
Lauda out. Lauda off the track. Abt improves to 15th, misses
out on the second heat by only 0.007 seconds
13.49 hrs Start of the second heat of 10 minutes
13.52 hrs Fastest time for Daniel la Rosa: 1.33.991
13.53 hrs Bruno Spengler is on top with 1.33.331, Timo Scheider
is second with 1.33.458
13.57 hrs Martin Tomczyk moves up from 14th to fourth
13.58 hrs Bernd Schneider improves from eleventh to third
13.59 hrs Fastest lap time for Tom Kristensen: 1.33.128
14.00 hrs End of the session: Kristensen remains fastest from
Scheider, Spengler, Ekström, Schneider, Green, Tomczyk
and La Rosa
14.01 hrs The following drivers are out for the third and
final heat: Paffett, Margaritis, Prémat, Rockenfeller,
Winkelhock and Häkkinen
14.06 hrs Start of the final heat with the eight fastest drivers
battling for pole, for the last time this year. Martin Tomczyk
is the first driver on the track
14.09 hrs Tomczyk is fastest with 1.33.335, then Kristensen
takes first with 1.32.862, while Green moves up into second
with 1.33.028
14.10 hrs Ekström is now third with 1.33.029, one thousandth
of a second slowe than Green
14.14 hrs Time improvement for Tomczyk, but he remains fifth
14.15 hrs Timo Scheider from fourth to second, Mattias Ekström
from fourth to third with 1.32.950.
14.16 hrs Tom Kristensen will be starting from pole, leading
an Audi trio with Timo Scheider and points leader Mattias
Ekström. Jamie Green is best-placed Mercedes-Benz driver
in fourth from Martin Tomczyk, Bruno Spengler, Bernd Schneider
and Daniel la Rosa
Qualifying promises exciting DTM final – pole
for Kristensen
Hockenheimring. The best possible situation for Audi after
the final DTM qualifying of the year at the Hockenheimring
Baden-Württemberg. Danish driver Tom Kristensen will
be starting from pole position for the DTM final on Sunday
(ARD live from 13.45 h onwards). Fellow Audi driver Timo Scheider
will also be starting from the front row of the grid for the
tenth DTM round of the season after qualifying second. The
most promising candidate for overall victory is Swede Mattias
Ekström, who got himself the best chances in the battle
for the title by qualifying third on Saturday. After all,
his fiercest rivals, team-mate Martin Tomczyk and Mercedes-Benz
driver Bruno Spengler will only be starting fifth and sixth
behind the fourth-fastest driver, Jamie Green (Mercedes-Benz).
“I have been fighting like a lion, my car was just a
dream”, said Ekström. In the overall standings,
Tomczyk is four points down and Spengler is two points down
on the Swede, who can claim his second title in the most popular
international touring car series after 2004 on Sunday.
Qualifying already showed how exciting the battle for the
title during Sunday’s DTM final at the Hockenheimring
Baden-Württemberg will be. The fastest lap times were
beaten every second. Audi drivers Kristensen, Scheider, Ekström
and Tomczyk had a capturing fight with Mercedes-Benz drivers
Schneider, Spengler and Green in the third and final qualifying
heat. The race will start on Sunday at 14.00 h. The drivers
will be lapping the 4.574 kilometres long track 37 times and
will cover a distance of 169.238 kilometres. At approximately
15.00 h, the 2007 DTM champion will be crowned. The ARD will
be broadcasting live from 13.45 h onwards
Tom Kristensen (1st grid position, Audi Sport Team
Abt): “A good qualifying. Nice to be back up
front again. The track became faster and faster. But I was
even a little bit surprised by this time myself. I am hoping
for a good start on Sunday to be able to drive a comfortable
race out in front.”
Timo Scheider (2nd grid position, Audi Sport Team
Abt): “All in all, this is a great qualifying
result for us. Between the second and the third heat, we made
some changes to the car. That was the right decision. Being
that far up front and seeing that my performance in qualifying
has been consistent for four races is great. Nice for Tom
that he is on pole.”
Mattias Ekström (3rd grid position, Audi Sport
Team Abt Sportsline): “After my first lap in
qualifying, I didn’t believe that we would be able to
be that far up front. Then we changed something on the car,
and after that, my car was like a dream. I was fighting like
a lion. A great performance of the entire team, we have got
ourselves into a very good position with three cars in front.”
Jamie Green (4th grid position, Salzgitter AMG Mercedes):
“For me, qualifying was quite decent. The best thing
is that I only had to do one fast lap in the first two heats
to make it into the next one. I did my fastest time in the
final session. That was good, because I showed my best performance
when it mattered.”
Audi motorsport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich:
“Surely, having three cars on the first two rows of
the grid and in total four in front of Bruno Spengler is a
good result. However, we have also seen how close things were
in qualifying. That is what makes the DTM stand out. I am
happy that Tom Kristensen is on pole here. After his accident
in the season opener, he certainly is back, he is his old
self again. Certainly, Martin Tomczyk is a little bit disappointed
but all in all, it is a good result and a good situation to
be in for an exciting and fair race. However, the race will
only start tomorrow and we still have a lot of work to do.”
Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug:
“I think that Jamie Green’s performance was all
right. Ten kilograms more weight are playing a role here as
they are a slight handicap. Audi has been very strong with
a closed team performance and the time differences in the
first four places are very small. We have six cars among the
first ten. That isn’t the most ideal position for the
race on Sunday and it didn’t look like that in the first
two qualifying heats. However, we are quite relaxed as far
as the championship is concerned. Of course, we want the title
and we want to do everything to achieve it, but not at any
cost. In tomorrow’s race, we want to show good and fair
sport.”
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