Martin Tomczyk (Audi Sport Team Abt / Audi A4 DTM #6)
1st place “Super Pole“, 1m 20.752s
“Once again, I managed to drive my fastest lap of the whole weekend in
the super pole session, despite the fact that I lost some time in the final
sector, which is actually my favourite one. I’m highly satisfied, my Audi A4
was running perfectly here right from the beginning. I think that, by
achieving this result, I’ve made up for my mistake at the Nürburgring. Two
Audis at the very front, and Mattias in seventh place – I’m sure we can
expect a thrilling race tomorrow.“
Tom Kristensen (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline / Audi A4 DTM #12)
2nd place “Super Pole“, 1m 20.828s
“It’s great to be starting from the front row. Well done to Martin. My lap
wasn’t completely perfect, though. In the final sector, I hit the kerbs too
hard, which made the car jump. Still, my thanks to the boys in the team.
They did a super job, and have continuously improved the car for each
race. The fact that, starting this time, I’ll be seeing nothing but the light
means that we’re making progress. The race will be very tough, physically.
Outside temperatures are above 30 degrees, and inside the cockpit it
feels even twice as hot. My aim is to clinch a podium position, and I’m
hoping that Eki will be on the podium as well.“
Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt / Audi A4 DTM #5)
7th place “Super Pole“, 1m 21.004s
“Unfortunately, this wasn’t a good super pole lap for me. Right in the first
corner, I hit gravel, which cost me a lot of time. In the second sector, as
well, I hit dirt on the track. Except for this, the lap was nice and ‘clean’, but
these two small mistakes were enough to throw me back to seventh place
on the grid. This isn’t a dream result, but things could have been worse.“
Christian Abt (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline / Audi A4 DTM #11)
11th place, 1m 21.294s
“During my second outing, I noticed that my second lap was very good.
Prior to the last two corners, I was clearly quicker than the fastest time I’d
clocked so far. I thought this would be enough for the top ten, but obviously
I was thinking a bit too much: in the last corner I was too slow and then
lost two, three tenths more. That’s a pity.“
Emanuele Pirro (Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest / Audi A4 DTM #44)
13th place, 1m 21.370s
“We’re getting closer and closer to the top ten. Still, we just barely missed
the super pole for the second time in a row. We’re definitely making
progress, though. But now, where I can see the light at the end of tunnel,
I’m eager to move up further. Yet for some reason, we’re still lacking a bit
of speed. We need to keep putting some hard work into this.“
Frank Biela (Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest / Audi A4 DTM #45)
15th place, 1m 21.587s
“It looks like I’ve been locked into 15th place here for some reason. With
the last set of tyres I was doing a very good lap. Unfortunately, another car
in front of me flew off the track in the final corner. The turn was full of dirt,
and this meant my good time was gone. That was really too bad, because
the car was going quite well. Another step towards the front of the field
would have been nice, but just wasn’t meant to be.“
Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline)
“Congratulations to the whole squad: this was a gigantic exploit for us. Of
course I would have preferred to see Mattias with us up front. This is a
situation we haven’t had yet this year, and we must give some thought to
how we’ll handle this. But I’m sure we’ll think of something.“
Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest)
“This result isn’t at all what we would’ve liked to see. We’ve been stuck to
these places for the whole weekend. We’d been hoping to make it into the
top ten, because we were lacking merely a few hundredths of a second.
Perhaps, we’ll be able to score some points even from these positions.“
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport)
“Two Audi A4 cars on the front row – we’re very proud of that. It’s a pity that
Mattias made two small mistakes in his super pole lap, otherwise he’d be
on the front row as well. Nevertheless, I’m certain that we have a very good
starting base for tomorrow’s race. Our cars have a very good setup, I’m
confident.“
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