?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 Ekstr?m 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 Pr?mat 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-J?rgen 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.?
