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Estoril, May 1, 2004


The new Audi A4 DTM has clinched its first pole position in DTM already in its second race. Mattias Ekström was the dominating driver at Estoril (Portugal) on Saturday. After setting the fastest time in the morning’s free practice and in Qualifying, the Swede was also fastest in the “Super Pole” single-car shoot-out. Martin Tomczyk (4th), Tom Kristensen (5th) and Christian Abt (10th) completed the strong performance of Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline which qualified all four cars within the top ten. Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro (both Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest) will start Sundays race (1 pm local time) from positions 15 and 16.

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Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt / Audi A4 DTM #5)
1st in “Super Pole“, 1m 34.039s
“My Audi A4 DTM was brilliant, I was just a little too cautious at the start of my Super Pole lap. After being fastest in free practice and qualifying, I tried to do the best possible job. It would have been unfair not to give the team the pole position after the good work they had done. That’s why I am really happy that it worked.“

Martin Tomczyk (Audi Sport Team Abt / Audi A4 DTM #6)
4th in “Super Pole“, 1m 34.621s
“Once again I recorded my fastest time of the weekend on the Super Pole lap. I lost time during Friday’s tests, so I had to do the qualifying setup this morning. I was not convinced it would work, but in the end I once more recorded a good time.”

Tom Kristensen (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline / Audi A4 DTM #12)
5th in “Super Pole“, 1m 34.677s
”Of course I’d expected more after yesterday’s best time. On Friday, the car was simply fantastic. I believe I wanted a little bit too much in qualifying. I had to control an oversteer on my Super Pole lap, which cost time.”

Christian Abt (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline / Audi A4 DTM #11)
10th in “Super Pole“, 1m 35.097s
“It was my aim to take part in the Super Pole which I achieved. In the first sector I was a little too cautious, I simply did not want to make any mistake. I must still work on my qualifying performance. Yesterday, I was fast with the race setup, therefore I look forward to tomorrow.“

Frank Biela (Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest / Audi A4 DTM #45)
15th, 1m 35.306s
“There are no ifs and buts in DTM: My result is simply bad, things have to get better. I did not correctly heat up the first set of tyres. With the second set, we tried different tyre pressure, which did not work. The third set was okay, but unfortunately I made a mistake.“

Emanuele Pirro (Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest / Audi A4 DTM #44)
16th, 1m 35.404s
“The weekend has been very disappointing for me so far. I simply can’t find any grip. I feel really sorry for the team that works so hard. I fear, at the moment we lack experience. We have still a lot of work to do.“

Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline)
“We had all four cars in the Super Pole, and took the first pole position of the year for Audi – this has been a great performance from our team. I am totally happy. Now we will also try to do a good race. We were very strong here from the beginning and have got a good race setup. Now we just need the necessary amount of luck.“

Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest)
“I am pleased for Audi, for our team, however, qualifying was disappointing. We simply do not manage to use the grip of the new tyres. We hoped to get at least one car into Super Pole. Unfortunately, now we stand there where we’ve been also at Hockenheim. And there everybody could see what can happen when you start so far from the back. Nevertheless we will attempt to make the best from this situation.“

Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport)
“I am very pleased for the Audi squad, as we managed to be at the front as eraly as the second race. In Qualifying we’ve seen once again how close things are in DTM. That’s why we are even more more satisfied with the result of the Qualifying and the Super Pole. Mattias was strong the whole day. He made it a bit exciting in the first sector, nevertheless he still managed to do a fabulous lap.“

Mattias Ekström
Christian Abt, Audi A4 DTM #11 (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline)
Mattias Ekström, Audi A4 DTM #5 (Audi Sport Team Abt)
Mattias Ekström, Audi A4 DTM #5 (Audi Sport Team Abt)
Emanuele Pirro, Audi A4 DTM #44 (Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest)
Tom Kristensen, Audi A4 DTM #12 (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline)
Race engineer Alex Stehlig, Mattias Ekström and Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich celebrate the pole position