September 19th, 2009
Tom Kristensen claims pole position in Barcelona
DTM
Montmel?. Qualifying for the eighth DTM season round at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona was much to the liking of the DTM fans. Until the final stages, the positions on top of the leaderboard changed almost by the second. In the fourth session of the shoot-out qualifying, Dane Tom Kristensen set the fastest time of 1.06.825 with his Audi A4 DTM and thus claimed pole position. ?Today, the car became better and better and my engineer has found exactly the right set-up. Everything was just spot-on. As a driver, you always concentrate on how the car handles and you try to optimise this. I am very happy about this pole position?, said the 42-year old, who will end his DTM career at the end of this season. For the record winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours, it was already his ninth pole position in the most popular international touring car series. With a total of 13 points in the overall standings, however, Kristensen is out of contention for the title.
Only 0.064 seconds down, Scot Paul Di Resta (Mercedes-Benz) claimed second place on the grid from German Martin Tomczyk (Audi). ?That was a real close qualifying. In the final session, I made a slight error, but all in all, I am very happy with my performance. We had a good pace and can now be optimistic for the race?, said Di Resta, who is in the best position for the race with a view on the championship situation. The three drivers who are in front of him in the points? standings qualified behind him. Briton Gary Paffett, third in the points? standings, will be starting from fifth place behind Canadian Bruno Spengler (both Mercedes-Benz). Lining up immediately behind him is the reigning champion and points? leader, Austrian-based German Timo Scheider (Audi). Swede Mattias Ekstr?m, currently second in the points? standings, will be battling for valuable points from seventh place on the grid. The best-placed driver of a year-old car was Ekstr?m?s fellow Audi driver, Frenchman Alexandre Pr?mat, who qualified eighth.
As Spengler?s car got stuck on the track on the cooling-down lap after the fourth and final heat, he is under investigation by the stewards of the meeting.
The race on Sunday is scheduled for 59 laps and a total distance of 175.643 kilometres. The start will be at 14.00 h (CET). ARD will be broadcasting live from 13.45 h.
