Spengler on pole for the second time in a row at Norisring
The Nuremberg street circuit seems to suit Bruno Spengler:
after 2007, the Franco-Canadian secured himself the best starting
grid position for the season highlight of the DTM for the
second time in a row. With his AMG Mercedes C-Class, he claimed
pole position for the fifth season round in a convincing way.
With a fastest lap time of 47.785 seconds, he outpaced his
team-mates Jamie Green and Paul di Resta, who were second
and third respectively. For Spengler, it is the sixth pole
of his DTM career. In 2006, Spengler celebrated his maiden
victory in the most popular international touring car series
at the Norisring. DTM points’ leader, Timo Scheider
was the fastest driver with an Audi A4 DTM in fourth place.
The following drivers: Martin Tomczyk, Tom Kristensen (both
Audi), Bernd Schneider (Mercedes-Benz) and reigning DTM champion,
Mattias Ekström (Audi). At the Norisring, Ralf Schumacher
scored his best DTM qualifying result to date. The Mercedes-Benz
driver made it into the second qualifying heat without any
problems and set the eleventh fastest time. An extensive press
release with quotes from the drivers and motorsport directors
will follow shortly.
Qualifying in detail
Air temperature: 23.4 °C
Asphalt temperature: 27.3 °C
13:28 hrs Qualifying starts with the first session of 14 minutes.
Mike Rockenfeller is the first driver on the track.
13:34 hrs Many position changes, Spengler is currently leading
with a fastest lap time of 48.183.
13:36 hrs Kristensen, Tomczyk and Ekström are the last
drivers who have yet so set a lap time.
13:37 hrs Green is now leading with 48.158, but then Di Resta
is fastest with 48.074.
13:38 hrs Spengler is now on top with 48.007 - who will be
the first driver to crack the 47-second barrier?
13:40 hrs With 2.30 minutes remaining, most drivers are in
the pits. Spengler is fastest from Di Resta, Green, Ekström,
Lauda, Paffett, Scheider, Kristensen, Schneider and Jarvis.
13:42 hrs End of the first heat. Stoddart, Rockenfeller, Albers,
Winkelhock and Legge haven't made it into the next heat.
13:43 hrs Spengler remains fastest from Di Resta, Green, Ekström,
Tomczyk, Lauda, Paffett, Scheider, Kristensen, Schneider,
Jarvis, Prémat, Schumacher and Engel.
13:49 hrs Start of the second heat, Bernd Schneider is the
first driver out.
13:54 hrs Tomczyk is fastest with 48.058 from Green with 48.060
and Spengler with 48.092.
13:55 hrs Spengler is on top with 47.997 seconds and is the
first driver to crack the 48-seconds barrier.
13:56 hrs Timo Scheider is second with 48.029 from Tomczyk,
Green, Ekström, Di Resta, Kristensen and Schneider.
13:58 hrs Timo Scheider moves up into first place with 47.877,
Bernd Schneider improves from eighth to third with 48.055.
13:59 hrs End of the session. Paffett, Prémat, Schumacher,
Engel, Jarvis and Lauda aren't qualified for the final heat.
14:00 hrs Timo Scheider remains fastest from Bruno Spengler,
Jamie Green, Bernd Schneider, Martin Tomczyk, Mattias Ekström,
Paul di Resta and Tom Kristensen.
14:06 hrs Start of the third and final qualifying heat of
nine minutes.
14:07 hrs Bernd Schneider is the first driver to go out on
the track.
14:09 hrs Jamie Green is leading with 48.228 seconds.
14:09 hrs Bruno Spengler on top: 47.994, Timo Scheider moves
up into second place with 48.058.
14:13 hrs Jamie Green is now first with 47.963 seconds.
14:13 hrs Bruno Spengler counters and claims back the lead
with 47.785 seconds.
14:14 hrs Behind Spengler and Green, Di Resta is third with
47.969.
14:16 hrs End of the session. Spengler claims pole from Green,
Di Resta, Scheider, Tomczyk, Kristensen, Schneider and Ekström.
“The Norisring is my thing” – Bruno Spengler
on pole position
Nuremberg. Canadian Mercedes-Benz driver, Bruno Spengler
is on the best way to becoming the king of the Norisring.
After his race wins in the last two years at the only street
circuit on the DTM calendar, the 24-year old will be starting
from pole position tomorrow at 14.00 h (ARD live from 13.45
h), just like last year. “The Norisring is my thing,
I am feeling well here”, a happy Spengler said. For
the Canadian, it was the first pole of the season and the
sixth of his career in the DTM. Spengler lapped the 2.3 kilometres
short circuit in 47.785 seconds. Things also went very well
for his British fellow Mercedes-Benz drivers, Jamie Green
and Paul di Resta, who will be starting from second and third
place respectively for the race over 74 laps and 170.2 kilometres.
The points’ leader, Timo Scheider (D) will be startng
as the best-placed Audi driver from fourth place. At the Norisring,
Ralf Schumacher (D) scored his best DTM qualifying result
to date and will be starting from the sixth grid row in eleventh
position on Sunday.
Once again, the 19 drivers showed the spectators in an impressive
way how close things are in the DTM. In qualifying for the
fifth season round, the best times changed regularly. After
the three sessions of the shoot-out qualifying, fastest driver
Spengler and last-placed Katherine Legge (GB) with her Audi
were separated by only 1.044 seconds. The leader in the points’
standings, Audi driver, Timo Scheider, only missed out on
his fourth pole position of the season by 0.243 seconds, but
still was only fourth fastest in qualifying. He was followed
by his fellow Audi drivers, Martin Tomczyk (D) and Tom Kristensen
from Denmark, meanwhile eight times’ winner of the Le
Mans 24 Hours.
DTM record champion Bernd Schneider (D) was classified seventh
with his Mercedes-Benz from reigning DTM champion Mattias
Ekström from Sweden, driving an Audi A4 DTM. Best-placed
driver with a year-old car was Gary Paffett (GB). The 2005
DTM champion qualified ninth with his AMG Mercedes C-Class.
Frenchman Alexandre Prémat completed the top ten by
qualifying tenth.
Before Sunday’s race, Scheider is leading the DTM points’
standings with 26 points from di Resta (23) and Green (21).
Bruno Spengler (1st grid position, Mercedes-Benz
Bank AMG Mercedes): “The Norisring is my thing,
I am feeling well here. Today is a good day. It can go on
like this. I think that we are well prepared for Sunday and
I have a good chance of winning. But we can’t be sure
too early, because a lot of things can happen here at the
Norisring.”
Jamie Green (2nd grid position, Salzgitter AMG Mercedes):
“Starting into the race from second position is quite
good. Unfortunately, I didn’t get all my best sector
times together in one lap. Otherwise, I would have been higher
up. But the race on Sunday is long and a lot of things can
happen.”
Paul di Resta (3rd grid position, AMG Mercedes):
“I am not entirely satisfied with third place on the
grid, but in the race, that can change quickly. However, I
am very happy that we have locked out the first three grid
positions in front of this great backdrop at the Norisring.
All of us would be very happy when tomorrow’s race result
would be similar.“
Timo Scheider (4th grid position, Audi Sport Team
Abt): “With my fastest lap, I am satisfied,
but not with my grid position. All in all, I am optimistic
for tomorrow, because our car has become much better here
compared to previous years.”
Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug:
“This result makes me happy. Locking out the top three
grid positions for this prestigious race is a great feeling.
That is much more than I had expected. But we don’t
want to exaggerate, because the drivers in fourth and fifth
place aren’t that far away. When you take into account
how short this track is, Bruno’s advantage is remarkable.
Admittedly, he set a similar time before, but you have to
get it all together when it counts. In that respect, Bruno
is like our Lewis Hamilton. The final kick comes in exactly
when it matters. Congratulations to our HWA crew, Hans-Jürgen
Mattheis and Gerhard Ungar, who perfectly managed to make
the best use of the increasing grip.”
Audi motorsport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich: “Congratulations
to Mercedes-Benz for the first three grid positions. We haven’t
managed to use the increasing grip to our advantage. Of course,
I am not happy with the result. When I would be happy, I would
be very unhappy with myself. Like everybody knows, the race
will be very exciting and close tomorrow. Therefore, we have
to deal with this quickly and we have to make the best out
of what we have prepared for the race. Of course, that would
be easier starting from the front positions of the grid, but
when we get through the first corner all right, a lot of things
can still happen.”
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