No sandbagging ? Timo Scheider on pole at Zandvoort
Zandvoort. Just like in Mugello in Italy a fortnight ago, five Audi A4 DTMs were in front in qualifying for the seventh DTM round of the season at Zandvoort in The Netherlands. German Timo Scheider was delighted with his first pole position of the season. With 1:32.823 minutes, the Audi driver set the fastest lap time at the 4.307 kilometres long circuit in the dunes on the North Sea. Being in first place is an incredibly great feeling?, Scheider cheered. The 28-year old had claimed his maiden DTM pole and the only one to date four years ago at the same location.
Points leader Mattias Ekstr?m secured himself a good position in the battle for the title. The Swede set the second fastest lap time and will be starting from the front row of the grid alongside Scheider on Sunday at 13.00 h (ARD live from 12.45 h onwards). His fiercest rival in the battle for the title, Mercedes-Benz driver Bernd Schneider (D) failed to make it in the decisive final heat of the shoot-out qualifying session and will be sarting from 14th place in the 38 lap race. Third fastest in qualifying was Martin Tomczyk (D), who was followed by Audi drivers Alexandre Pr?mat (F) in his year-old car and Tom Kristensen (DK).
There is an exciting situation in sixth and seventh place on the grid as Mercedes-Benz drivers Bruno Spengler (CAN) and Paul di Resta (GB) are tied in third place of the points? standings and are now standing behind each other. With his year-old Audi A4 DTM, 23-year old Mike Rockenfeller qualified eighth. The winner of the race at Mugello in Italy, Mika H?kkinen, will be starting from 13th place with his AMG Mercedes C-Class for the seventh DTM round of the season.
Following an accident of Belgian lady racer Vanina Ickx (Audi), two minutes before the end of the first heat, qualifying was briefly interrupted. The remaining two minutes of the first session were added to the time of the second heat, in which all drivers were allowed to participate.
The ARD will be broadcasting the race on Sunday live from 12.45 h onwards.
Timo Scheider (1st grid position, Audi Sport Team Abt): ?Being on pole is an incredibly great feeling. So far, I have been fastest in all tests and practice sessions here at Zandvoort. I didn?t really expect it to continue like this in qualifying. When I will be first tomorrow in the race as well, this has been a perfect weekend.?
Mattias Ekstr?m (2nd grid position, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): ?I am very happy with this qualifying result. Admittedly, my car wasn?t really good in the second heat and I didn?t know why. But my engineer made some slight changes nonetheless and thus I had a perfect car in the third session. Although I made a slight mistake myself, second place behind Timo Scheider is absolutely all right. He has been fastest throughout the weekend so far. Now, we are focussing on tomorrow?s race, that hopefully will be run without a safety car intervention.?
Martin Tomczyk (3rd grid position, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): ?There are only Audis on the first five positions. That is a very good result. Congratulations to Timo. He really has deserved to be on pole. The goal for tomorrow is getting all the five Audi A4 DTMs that are in front to the finish, because we have some unfinished business from Mugello.?
Bruno Spengler (6th grid position, DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG Mercedes): ?In qualifying, I gave everything, but I didn?t succeed in improving my lap time. Here, we have 20 kg more weight in the car, that is quite a difference indeed. I am looking forward to Sunday, because we have seen in Mugello what can be achieved.?
Audi motorsport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich: ?That was a very good qualifying. Having six cars in the top eight is an outstanding result and a good situation for tomorrow?s race. However, we know how strong our opponent is. We had a similar qualifying result for the race in Mugello. Here at Zandvoort, we will concentrate on turning this into a good race result. We have had a couple of good races here at Zandvoort and therefore, I am hoping for a good, exciting and fair race on Sunday.?
Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug: ?First of all, I would like to congratulate Audi with this result. That was a great team performance. For us, the result certainly isn?t what we wanted to achieve. Audi is a very strong opponent and we have a disadvantage in terms of weight. But now we have won five races in a row and you can?t win them all, that is just the way it goes. Bruno Spengler has been doing an excellent job, Mika H?kkinen is two places further up on the grid than in the last race, and he won that one! I am not disappointed, but this surely wasn?t our best qualifying result. The race on Sunday is a different story and we will see what we can get out of it.?
