Tom Kristensen on pole position at Le Mans
Le Mans. Danish driver Tom Kristensen will be starting from pole position in the tenth season round of the DTM at Le Mans in France. Driving his Audi A4 DTM, he claimed the top position on the starting grid with his Audi A4 DTM with a lap time of 1.30.149 minutes. At the ?Circuit Bugatti? he outpaced Jamie Green (Mercedes-Benz) and Mattias Ekstr?m (Audi), who were second and third. Following his first pole of the season at the N?rburgring, Kristensen claimed first place on the grid for the second time this year. In Le Mans, Kristensen seems to benefit not so much from his local knowledge at Le Mans, but rather from a positive general attitude towards this venue: the 41-year old won the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours eight times. ?The tight Bugatti circuit is totally different from the long circuit. I am happy to be on pole here with my Audi A4 DTM.?
The battle for the title also continued in qualifying: Scotsman Paul di Resta (Mercedes-Benz) in fourth place is only one place ahead of German Timo Scheider (Audi). On Sunday, Scheider is starting as a title candidate with a margin of seven points from di Resta, fifth on the grid. With a year-old Audi, Mike Rockenfeller ranked ninth. German Maro Engel was the best-placed driver with a year-old Mercedes-Benz, 13th in qualifying. After he had hit the tyre barriers with his AMG Mercedes C-Class in the second test on Friday and severely damaged his car, his Mercedes-Benz was made ready again in time for Saturday with a great team effort.
Le Mans is hosting a DTM round for the second time after 2006. The pole-sitter and eventual winner of that event, Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz) only qualified seventh on the grid this year. Ralf Schumacher (Mercedes-Benz) also didn?t have a good day. He was already out after the first qualifying heat and will be starting from 19th place.
DTM-fans will be eagerly looking forward to Sunday?s race (ARD live from 13.45 h). German driver Scheider could already become the new DTM champion: in the points? standings, the 29-year old is leading with 62 points from di Resta with (55) and Green (46). Prior to the two final rounds of the season, Scheider is seven points ahead of Scot di Resta. There are multiple ways for Scheider to claim an early title. In any case, when the Audi driver scores four points more than di Resta, he is the new champion.
The tenth DTM season round will run over 43 laps, the total race distance is 179.995 kilometres.
Tom Kristensen (1st grid position, Audi Sport Team Abt): ?Le Mans is quite a special track for me. But with the DTM, the only thing we have in common is the pit lane exit. The rest is totally different. Being on pole position here is very nice. For me, the season has had some highs and lows. It is very close out there. I am all the more happy with having found that little extra here. The weather forecast says that it might be raining. In that case, I hope that I will have the right tyres on. Last time, I didn?t.?
Jamie Green (2nd grid position, Salzgitter AMG Mercedes): ?I am quite happy with second place on the grid, especially as our car is a little bit heavier. In the course of the season, we have been making good progress, so that is why we are very competitive here, and also in the last few rounds. The start will be the key to a good race, which will definitely be very interesting.?
Mattias Ekstr?m (3rd grid position, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): ?I have been affected by a cold all weekend, but like all the others, I have tried to get the best out of my car and of myself. I did pretty well, but Tom did even better. Everybody will be looking to get the best possible result tomorrow. The start will be one of the decisive factors.?
Audi motorsport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich: ?I am happy that Tom has succeeded in claiming pole here. That had almost happened at Barcelona already. For us, it is the seventh pole of the season. That shows that our qualifying performance is very good. Tomorrow, it will be a tough job for everybody out there. Timo (Scheider) and Paul (di Resta) must see how their battle for the title will develop. I am looking forward to a great, tough but air race. We have a competitive car and motivated drivers.?
Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug: ?It was a good qualifying session in which 80 thousandths of a second eventually made the difference, that is the blink of an eye. Too bad that Paul (di Resta) didn?t make it into the front row. After the race at Zandvoort, some people already said that we were beaten, but that wasn?t right, our team is doing well. We have made very good progress within the regulations. I hope for a fair race tomorrow, but without the proverbial paint-trading.. Susie (Stoddart) has been doing a great job and only just missed out on making it into the second heat. I would like to emphasize that today. After all, she beat the likes of Gary Paffett and Ralf Schumacher.?
