Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt / Audi A4 DTM #5)
4th place, + 19.185s
“My first pit stop wasn’t perfect, and on top of that I stalled the engine.
Aside from this, the race went without any problem. The car was perfect,
and the performance of my brakes was consistently good through to the
end. I’m completely satisfied with my fourth place here. After my qualifying
result, we hadn’t expected to fall behind Christijan Albers by merely three
points at the Norisring. And you can bet that we’ll be putting a lot of heat on
him again at the Nuerburgring.”
Martin Tomczyk (Audi Sport Team Abt / Audi A4 DTM #6)
5th place, + 29.950s
“I’d like to really thank my team: the pit stops, particularly the second one,
were first-class and helped me move forward. The first two sets of tyres
weren’t all that good. The final stint, though, was perfect, and I was able to
keep up with the pace of the front runners, merely having to take the car
across the finish line. I’m super happy that I was able to clinch fifth place.“
Tom Kristensen (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline / Audi A4 DTM #12)
6th place, + 45.414s
“I’d rather not comment on the collision with Christian. Aside from that, my
race was really good and, once more, I’ve learnt a lot about the DTM. I gave
my level best and overtook every car that was directly in front of me. The pit
stops, too, were super. Anything much better than fifth place would hardly
have been possible today, so I’m quite happy with my sixth place.”
Emanuele Pirro (Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest / Audi A4 DTM #44)
9th place, - 1 lap
“It’s too bad that I just barely missed scoring a point. I was simply not
quick enough today. What’s more, I made a mistake driving away after the
first pit stop, and that probably cost me a point.“
Frank Biela (Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest / Audi A4 DTM #45)
11th place, - 1 lap
“The start was okay, but the first lap was bad. Due to retirements and
accidents I managed to move up to eleventh place, but I’m not really proud
of this. Neither was I quick enough in the race. As we’ll be testing next
week, perhaps I’ll find the reason for today’s performance then.”
Christian Abt (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline / Audi A4 DTM #11)
14th place, - 8 laps
“The A4 was very good, with perfect balance. My engineer did a super job.
We’ll have to analyse why my engine stalled during both pit stops, though.
In the end, something broke in the drive train, otherwise I’d have scored
points. The collision with Tom was really unfortunate.“
Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline)
“Compliments to the whole team! Our strategy was right, we made the
best of our potential. We even came very close to having all four cars score
points. Being merely three points behind in the Championship leader, we
can look towards the next race with confidence.“
Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest)
“Our strategy of scheduling our first pit stop at a very late stage may have
been a bit unusual, but proved to be exactly right for the Norisring. All the
more regrettable is the fact that we missed scoring a point by a hair’s
breadth. The team had worked very hard here and would certainly have
deserved points.“
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport)
“We’re driving with relatively strong downforce in the DTM and are still
convinced that this is the right choice when looking at the season as a
whole. We know that our aerodynamics are not perfect for the Norisring,
though, that’s why we can be satisfied with today’s result. We’ve made the
best of this race and managed not to lose too much ground in the
Championship.”
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