13.10.2007

Qualifying promises exciting DTM final - pole for Kristensen

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.”