Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt / Audi A4 DTM #5)
2nd place (+ 0.652s)
“The Audi A4 was clearly the best car in the field today. That’s why my
second place is a bit disappointing for me. I lost my lead due to a slower
car, which actually had nothing to do with the battle at the front of the field.
But we’re going to prepare ourselves for this type of tactics. After finishing
third at Hockenheim and second at Estoril, my goal for the next race at
Adria is absolutely clear.“
Martin Tomczyk (Audi Sport Team Abt / Audi A4 DTM #6)
3rd place (+ 3.898s)
“I’m very happy about my first podium position in the DTM. Everything was
simply running like clockwork: my A4 was perfect, the two pit stops first
class, and I drove a flawless race myself. I hope that this result has been
the breakthrough for me to continue the series with equal success.”
Tom Kristensen (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline / Audi A4 DTM #12)
4th place (+ 5.101s)
“I had a mega start. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to benefit from it. I was
driving on the outside and my front wheel was touched slightly, forcing me
to drive across the grass. My first two sets of tyres didn’t perform all that
well, while the last set was perfect, and I was able to catch up with the front
of the field. I want to thank my team and Audi: the A4 is a really good car.”
Christian Abt (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline / Audi A4 DTM #11)
10th place (+ 46.048s)
“I made no mistakes in the race and a place among the top five would’ve
been possible. Unfortunately, I went into the pit lane prematurely, because
we had some communications problems. I received a radio message that
was obviously not meant for me – we need to investigate why this
happened.“
Emanuele Pirro (Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest / Audi A4 DTM #44)
11th place (+ 46.981s)
“I had a good start and things were going well. Unfortunately, there was a
misunderstanding between myself and my team before the first pit stop.
As a result, I went into the pit lane one lap earlier than I should have and
had to drive through the lane. The team definitely deserves better places
than the ones we took in the qualifying session and the race at Estoril. On
a positive note, aside from all this, my race was very good.“
Frank Biela (Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest / Audi A4 DTM #45)
15th place (+ 1m 00.090s)
“I was pushed from behind on the first lap. But this is not meant as an
excuse for my race result. At the moment, I’m simply lacking speed, and I
need to find out why.“
Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline)
“For my team, the result of today’s race is simply smashing: all four drivers
are among the top ten, and two of them, Mattias and Martin, even clinched
podium positions. I feel sorry for Christian, though. Hadn’t it been for his
unfortunate pit stop, he’d surely have been fighting at the front of the field.
I’m proud about Abt Sportsline now leading the DTM teams’ standings.
That’s a great reward for all the hard work the boys have put in.”
Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest)
“Without the misunderstanding between Emanuele and ourselves, which
was caused by an extremely poor radio connection, we could have again
scored points today. That this didn’t happen hurts, especially since in the
race Emanuelle was driving as quickly as the front runners. And, as far as
Frank is concerned, we’ll certainly get to where Emanuele was today.
Despite this result, we’re definitely seeing a positive trend.”
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport)
“It was a thrilling race, which has clearly shown the cohesive strength of
the team. We have achieved our primary goal of being able to win races in
the DTM. Mattias drove a truly fantastic race and could have won. From my
perspective, the crucial situation wasn’t completely ‘clean’, but such
incidents do occur from time to time in motorsport, and you simply have to
live with them. For me, it’s important that we, ourselves, remain fair.
Congratulations also to Martin Tomczyk on his first podium finish in the
DTM.“
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