Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt / Audi A4 DTM #5)
3rd (+ 9.200s)
“Everybody speaks about the battle between the young guns and the old
hands – now the score is 1:0 for the young guns. I am also happy for Audi:
Finishing the first race as a factory team on the podium is a good
achievement. We must become a little faster, but I am sure that is
something we can achieve by doing our homework. The race was really
hard especially at the beginning. Everybody was fighting for positions.”
Tom Kristensen (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline / Audi A4 DTM #12)
4th (+ 11.798s)
“Unfortunately I lost the winglets on the left side of the rear when I was hit
early on in the race. The balance of the car was affected, I had problems
turning into right-hand corners – and there are a lot of them at
Hockenheim. I lifted twice not to take any risks on my team mate Martin
Tomczyk. The second time I had to let Mattias by. Compliments to my pit-
crew: Both pit-stops were great.”
Martin Tomczyk (Audi Sport Team Abt / Audi A4 DTM #6)
5th (+ 13,836s)
“I am very satisfied with my fifth place in spite of losing a place to Tom due
to the pit-stop strategy. I wanted to come to the pits earlier, but
unfortunately that did not work out because the radio didn’t work. Because
of this I dropped behind Tom.”
Emanuele Pirro (Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest / Audi A4 DTM #44)
7th (+ 43.364s)
“I achieved my targets: I finished the race and scored points although it did
not look like that after the start. First gear jumped out, therefore I dropped
way back. The car was great throughout the entire race, so I could work my
way up to seventh place.”
Frank Biela (Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest / Audi A4 DTM #45)
16th (- 1 lap)
“For me the race was as disappointing as qualifying. For the first-lap
collision nobody was actually to blame for. Of course it was a shame,
because today a point would have been possible. At least I could finish the
race and see what happens to the car over a race distance. I hope that will
help me next time.”
Christian Abt (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline / Audi A4 DTM #11)
Retired (accident damage)
“I was pushed from behind on the first lap and consequently touched the
car in front. The collision resulted in a puncture and strong vibrations – it
was impossible to continue the race. Of course I am disappointed,
because the first race is always particularly important.”
Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline)
“I am proud of my team; they worked hard over the last weeks. Particularly
here at Hockenheim many things were new which we had to get used to.
In spite of that, the cars were perfectly prepared, all pit stops worked
smoothly, and we collected our first trophy. This is a good basis on which
we will continue our work.”
Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest)
“A seventh place is not what we are used to from the previous years. But
faced with the fact that it was our first race in the new DTM and starting
from 13th and 14th on the grid, I am satisfied. The team did a great job; we
had clean pit-stops and good tactics that we adapted during the race.
Thanks to this we made up at least three places.”
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport)
“That was a good team effort for the start of the Audi season, despite not
being able to win. Presumably we were a little too conservative with the
entire car set-up, that’s why we could not totally match the speed at the top,
especially on fresh tyres. However, the basis is created. Compliments to
the whole Audi team that made this good debut possible.”
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