Scheider secures pole position for Audi in season opener
The new Audi A4 DTM will be starting from pole position for
its race debut at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg.
With his lap time of 1.32.655 minutes, Timo Scheider (Audi)
claimed the best possible start position for the first race
of the 2008 season. For the Audi works driver, it is the third
pole position of his DTM career. Reigning DTM champion, Mattias
Ekström (Audi), was only 0.149 seconds slower. He will
be starting from second place. The Audi duo is followed by
two Mercedes-Benz drivers on the second row: Bruno Spengler
and Paul di Resta. Best-placed driver with a year-old car
is DTM rookie Oliver Jarvis (Audi), who made it into the top
eight. Ralf Schumacher missed out on making it into the second
qualifying heat by only 88 thousandths of a second. The German
will be starting 15th for his first DTM race on Sunday.
Qualifying in detail
Air temperature: 15.7 ° C
Asphalt temperature: 22.3 °C
13:29 hrs Ralf Schumacher is the first driver to go out for
qualifying
13:32 hrs A lot of changes on top of the time sheets. Currently,
Timo Scheider is fastest with 1.33.521
13:35 hrs Jamie Green is second from Bernd Schneider, Alexandre
Prémat, Markus Winkelhock, Oliver Jarvis and Gary Paffett.
13:37 hrs Mattias Ekström is the only driver who hasn't
posted a lap time yet.
13:38 hrs Tom Kristensen is fastest with 1.33.486 minutes
13:38 hrs Mattias Ekström is now on top with a lap time
of 1.33.382 minutes
13:40 hrs At the moment, the four drivers with 2008-spec Audis
are locking out the first four places: Ekström ahead
of Kristensen, Scheider and Tomcyzk. Paul di Resta is fastest
Mercedes-Benz-driver in fifth place
13:42 hrs Susie Stoddart off the track at the first corner
after having posted the 12th fastest time
13:43 hrs Prémat improves to seventh, pushes Schumacher
to 15th, which means he will miss the cut
13:45 hrs End of the session. Ekström remains fastest
from Kristensen, Scheider, Tomczyk, di Resta, Spengler, Prémat,
Winkelhock, Green and Paffett.
13:45 hrs Schumacher, Engel, Stoddart, Lauda and Legge haven't
made it into the second heat.
13:49 hrs Start of the second heat
13:53 hrs Bernd Schneider sets a lap time of 1.33.903, then
Jamie Green is on top with 1.33.540
13:54 hrs Timo Scheider is fastest: 1.33.042, Paul di Resta
is second with 1.33.454
13:56 hrs Christijan Albers is the last driver of the 14 to
go out with 2.40 minutes remaining
13:58 hrs Tomczyk from ninth into second place
14:00 hrs Ekström is now second with 1.33.128
14:01 hrs Timo Scheider remains fastest from Ekström,
Tomczyk, di Resta, Kristensen, Spengler, Green and Jarvis,
who is the best-placed driver with a year-old car. Bernd Schneider
is the only driver with a 2008-spec car not to make it into
the final heat.
14:06 hrs Start of the third and final heat
14:07 hrs Oliver Jarvis is the first driver out on the track
14:09 hrs Timo Scheider claims the top position with 1.32.655
14:10 hrs Paul di Resta is second with 1.33.075
14:11 hrs Martin Tomczyk is the last driver to go out on the
hunt for a fast lap time. Mattias Ekström is now second:
1.32.804.
14:15 hrs Kristensen claims fourth from Spengler
14:15 hrs Spengler moves up into third place
14:16 hrs End of the session. Timo Scheider claims the third
pole of his DTM career from Ekström, Spengler, di Resta,
Kristensen, Green, Tomczyk and Jarvis.
Audi driver Timo Scheider claims first DTM pole of the year
Timo Scheider made the first mark of the new DTM season.
In qualifying for the season opener at the Hockenheimring
Baden-Württemberg, the Audi driver set a fastest lap
time of 1.32.655 minutes at the 4,574 kilometres long track
and thus secured himself the first DTM pole position of the
season. “A perfect lap, a perfect car, a perfect day”,
the 29-year old said. His team-mate, reigning DTM champion
Mattias Ekström (S), will be starting from second place
and also on the front row for the 37 lap race with a distance
of 169.239 kilometres. Third place was taken by the runner-up
of last year's DTM, Bruno Spengler (CDN, Mercedes-Benz). For
Scheider, it is the third pole position of his DTM career.
For his employer Audi, it is the 37th.
After torrential rain had its effect on the test sessions
on Friday, sunshine and mild temperatures brought excellent
conditions on Saturday for the first qualifying session of
the season. The 19 drivers staged an exciting qualifying for
the spectators. The performance of DTM novice Ralf Schumacher
was watched with particular interest. The former F1 driver
didn't let them wait for long and was the first driver out
on the track with his AMG Mercedes C-Class from last year.
By only 88 thousandths of a second, Schumacher just missed
out on making it into the second heat of the shoot-out qualifying
session and will be starting 15th for his maiden DTM race.
“In the DTM, it is very close. I am not unhappy and
I have learned a lot”, Schumacher said.
Scotsman Paul di Resta (Mercedes-Benz), only 21 years old,
was fourth fastest driver across the finish line, followed
by Dane Tom Kristensen with his Audi A4 DTM and Mercedes-Benz
driver Jamie Green (GB). DTM novice Oliver Jarvis had a great
debut. The 24-year old Briton made it into all three qualifying
heats and will be starting eighth on Sunday with his Audi
A4 DTM behind fellow Audi-driver Martin Tomczyk as the best-placed
driver of a year-old car.
With his AMG Mercedes C-Class, DTM record champion Bernd
Schneider failed to make it into the final qualifying heat.
The 43-year old will be starting ninth for the first DTM round
of the season. After two and a half seasons in Formula 1,
the runner-up of the 2003 DTM, Christijan Albers (NL), made
it into 14th place upon his return in the DTM. The two ladies
in the field, Susie Stoddart (Mercedes-Benz) and Katherine
Legge (Audi) will be starting from 17th and 19th place respectively.
The ARD will be broadcasting live from the DTM season opener
at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg from 13.45 h
onwards.
Timo Scheider (1st grid position, Audi Sport Team Abt): “A
perfect lap, a perfect car, a perfect day. It was a breathtaking
qualifying. In fact, my third pole came as a little bit of
a surprise for me as well. I owe quite a lot to my mechanics
as they have provided me with an excellent car.”
Mattias Ekström (2nd grid position, Audi Sport Team
Abt Sportsline): “I am very happy with second place,
and I am impressed to see the new Audi A4 DTM working so well.
Before the season, I already had a good feeling and expected
the car to be good. However, it is even better than I had
expected. But qualifying is qualifying, the race is the race.“
Bruno Spengler (3rd grid position, Mercedes-Benz
Bank AMG Mercedes): “Today, it wasn't enough
for pole position. Of course, I am a little bit disappointed.
But the race weekend isn't over yet, and tomorrow in the race,
victory is at stake. I am certain that we will have a very
strong car.”
Audi motorsport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich:
“Of course, having the first pole of the year is very
nice. But this doesn’t tell us at all what the rest
of the season will be like. We have to wait how tomorrow’s
race will turn out. Based on the long-runs, I am optimistic.
During the winter, we have developed an entirely new car and
the benchmark for those defending the title is very high,
as everyone is expecting a special performance. For today,
I am really satisfied, also with the performance of Oliver
Jarvis, who made it into the top eight in his first DTM qualifying.”
Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug:
“It was an exciting qualifying session and I am happy
with the result, as I had expected a far worse result. From
the very beginning, we haven’t been that strong here
and we haven’t been working into the right direction.
In the DTM, a gap of two tenths of a second to Timo Scheider
is a lot. Audi was simply better, congratulations for the
first pole of the season. But today was only qualifying, tomorrow’s
race is something totally different and our test results show
good consistency. Ralf Schumacher only just failed to make
it into the top 14. But we are not disappointed, it went according
to plan for him.”
|
