18th, June 2011
Spengler for the third time - pole position at Lausitzring
DTM
Klettwitz. He is the one all the others are after, but he has strong nerves. Bruno Spengler, leader in the points’ standings, was fastest again in qualifying for the fourth DTM season round at Lausitzring and claimed pole position with his AMG Mercedes C-Class. The Canadian completed the lap at the 3.478 kilometres long track near Berlin in 1:19.119 minutes. After his first places on the starting grid for the Hockenheim season opener and at Zandvoort, it is already the third pole position of the season for the 27-year old and the tenth of his DTM career. “Today, I am particularly happy, because we were still having problems in free practice. We were able to improve in every qualifying heat. For me, it was great fun and I hope that we can win again on Sunday”, said Spengler, who won last year’s race at Lausitzring.
His fellow Mercedes-Benz driver Jamie Green will be starting from second place, also from the front row of the grid. The Briton was 0.405 seconds down on Spengler. After two rather poor qualifyings at Zandvoort and Spielberg with 16th and 18th place respectively, Swede Mattias Ekström succeeded in making it into the fourth and final qualifying heat again. With his Audi A4 DTM, the two times’ DTM champion of 2004 and 2007 ended up third, but was still unhappy: “I find it annoying that, in the end, we are always a little bit slower than Mercedes-Benz at Lausitzring. We will analyse that now. When we find the problem, we will have very good chances in the race tomorrow”, said Ekström, still confident.
Audi driver Martin Tomczyk, who won the race in Austria and is closest behind points’ leader Spengler in the drivers’ standings, will be starting the race from fourth place. Thus, Tomczyk is the best-placed driver with a 2008-spec car. Fifth and sixth on the grid are Gary Paffett (Mercedes-Benz) and Oliver Jarvis (Audi), both from Great Britain.
Danish driver Tom Kristensen (Audi) had a great DTM comeback with seventh place on the grid. The eight times’ Le Mans winner is standing in for Mike Rockenfeller, who had an accident in the Le Mans 24 Hours and refrained from starting in this DTM race as a precautionary measure.
Timo Scheider, the 2008 and 2009 DTM champion, still had problems finding the right balance in qualifying. “Somehow, things still aren’t going well for me this weekend”, said Scheider. The Audi driver will be starting from ninth place on Sunday at 14.00 h.
After good results so far this season, Ralf Schumacher (Mercedes-Benz) had a setback, who retired after the first of four shoot-out qualifying heats already and will be starting from 17th place. Schumacher: “It seems that the Lausitzring doesn’t suit me. Hopefully, it rains during the race. In that case, anything can happen.” Swiss lady racer Rahel Frey (Audi) completes the 18-strong field.
The fourth DTM round of the season will cover 52 laps and a total distance of 180.856 kilometres. The start is at 14.00 h. ARD will be broadcasting live from 13.45 h.
