7th August, 2010
Mattias Ekström charges to pole position in the Eifel
DTM
Nürburg. Finally, waiting is over for the DTM fans. With qualifying for the fifth round of the season at the Nürburgring, the DTM starts into the second half of the season following the summer break. Swedish Audi driver Mattias Ekström presented himself in an excellent shape. In the final heat of the shoot-out qualifying, the DTM champion of the years 2004 and 2007 was the fastest driver, completing a lap at the 3.629 kilometres long track in 1:23.817 minutes. As a result, he will be starting from pole position on Sunday at 14:00 h (ARD live from 13:45 h). “I have to say that driving is sheer joy when you have such a great car. I achieved a perfect lap and when you get a perfect lap together, you can be quite proud. When you are the fastest on top of that, it is just great. I am not worried by the fact that there are so many Mercedes behind me. Anyone driving here is driving his own race”, said Ekström, who will be starting from pole position into a DTM race for the 16th time in his career.
Points’ leader Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz) will be starting second. The Canadian was 0.395 seconds down. “Second place is not that bad. Mattias just had the better performance. Tomorrow, I will be starting from the inside, so from the dirty side. I will have to attempt overtaking Mattias in the first corner. The race on Sunday will be long and I am really looking forward to it. Of course, the goal is to cross the finish line ahead of Mattias”, the 27-year old said after qualifying. Spengler’s fellow Mercedes-Benz driver Jamie Green was the best-placed driver with a 2008-spec car in third position. With British drivers Paul Di Resta and Gary Paffett, two more Mercedes-Benz drivers are following in fourth and fifth place.
Following his pole position for the fourth season round at the Norisring, sixth-placed Ralf Schumacher was happy with his second-best DTM qualifying result. “Pole position in Nuremberg was an unexpected high. But we have made a step forward. I want to keep my grid position in the race by virtue of a good start.” Miguel Molina (Audi) was also very happy. In his fifth DTM race, the Spaniard again put his Audi A4 DTM in seventh place on the grid, having already done so at Valencia.
Not happy with his eighth place in qualifying, but nevertheless optimistic for the race is reigning DTM champion, Audi driver Timo Scheider. “On average, we have always made up five to seven places in the races. So when we assume the best situation, I would be second”, the 31-year old said. With his AMG Mercedes C-Class, David Coulthard was tenth in qualifying.
