Spa, May 15, 2005
With rain pouring down, the Audi drivers managed to lock in a good
starting base for the DTM race at Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium). Four
Audi A4 DTM cars will start from the first three rows at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
The quickest driver in the Super Pole Qualifying of the top ten was the
current DTM champion Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline),
who claimed second place on the starting grid. Christian Abt and Pierre
Kaffer, with positions three and five, netted the best Qualifying results
achieved by Audi Sport Team Joest in the DTM to date. The two Germans
were the only drivers to qualify for the Super Pole with cars from last year.
Tom Kristensen secured sixth place on the grid in these extremely difficult
conditions. Allan McNish, Martin Tomczyk, Rinaldo Capello and Frank
Stippler will start the race from positions 13, 14, 18 and 20. ARD will
broadcast live on Sunday, starting at 1:45 p.m.
Quotes after Qualifying
Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline #1)
2nd place Super Pole, 2m 33.292s
"I’m very pleased to be starting from the first row for my first race at Spa.
I’m more than satisfied with my second place because if it rains the
prerequisites are never the same for everyone. I didn’t make any
mistakes in my Super Pole lap and never had the feeling of being too
slow. It was just a question of how much you’d risk in the fast corners.
And I didn’t want to risk too much.”
Christian Abt (Audi Sport Team Joest Racing #14)
3rd place Super Pole, 2m 33.991s
"Starting from third place is a small reward for the whole team which had
to work late into the night after yesterday’s fire to repair my car. In the rain
it was absolutely perfect today. Of course, on a dry track I’ll be lacking the
experience I’d have gained without the time loss on Friday.”
Pierre Kaffer (Audi Sport Team Joest Racing #15)
5th place Super Pole, 2m 34.304s
"This morning I was last in the Free Practice – fortunately, we found out
what was wrong with the car well in advance of the Qualifying. I have to
thank Audi Sport Team Joest for not giving up. In the Qualifying session,
my A4 was as good again as it had been during the tests before the
season. Nevertheless, keeping the car on the track practically required
my full attention. The conditions were highly critical, that’s why I’m hoping
for a dry race tomorrow.”
Tom Kristensen (Audi Sport Team Abt #5)
6th place Super Pole, 2m 34.870s
"My lap didn’t start very well: in the ‘bus stop’ chicane there was dirt on the
track, and in the first turn I slid onto the kerbs and couldn’t accelerate
properly. That cost time before reaching Eau Rouge. After a third place in
Qualifying, starting from sixth on the grid is not an ideal result. But in the
Super Pole I simply didn’t have the same grip as in Qualifying.”
Allan McNish (Audi Sport Team Abt #6)
13th place, 2m 34.454s
"The Qualifying was a disappointment for me after I had been consistently
quick in the Free Practice this morning. In my third Qualifying lap I had
water under my wheels, causing me to lose over a second. Afterwards,
there was simply too much water on the track, I just couldn’t drive any
faster, I had nothing but aquaplaning all of the time.”
Martin Tomczyk (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline #2)
14th place, 2m 34.788s
"To put it simply, I was just too careful when I started my Qualifying
practice. I didn’t expect the rain to be getting any worse. But it did, and
that’s why nothing was working any more. That was clearly my mistake, I
should have been pushing more from the very beginning.”
Rinaldo Capello (Audi Sport Team Joest #18)
18th place, 2m 36.366s
"In my first two laps, I caught up other cars, then my windscreen suddenly
started fogging up. I had to go to the pits to have it cleaned. When I
returned to the track, the conditions were simply too poor to let me
improve my performance.”
Frank Stippler (Audi Sport Team Joest #19)
20th place, 2m 37.164s
"In Qualifying, just about everything went wrong. At in the beginning, I had
to go to the pits because I was hardly able to see anything. Then yellow
flags were shown three times. Also, I think that the tyres we were using
were too new. They just didn’t achieve the level of grip I was familiar with
from the Free Practice.”
Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): "That
was pretty much of a gamble today. Under these circumstances, things
went well for Audi. Mattias is on the first starting row, Tom on the third –
this makes us optimistic for Sunday. Despite the cold weather, the fans
can look forward to a ‘hot’ race on a great track.”
Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Team Joest): "A big
compliment to Christian and Pierre, who drove fantastic laps, but to the
whole crew as well: they managed to fix Christian’s car, which did get
damaged quite a bit in yesterday’s fire. Also, we found the defect in
Pierre’s car in time to correct it for the Qualifying. Now, we’re in a position
that allows us to help Mattias and Tom in the race as well as scoring as
many points as possible ourselves. ‘Dindo’ (Capello) and Frank had a bit
of bad luck, but in view of the tight first turn maybe it’s not all that bad not
to be in the middle of the field here.”
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): "Four Audi cars among
the first six – that’s a strong performance from the entire squad and a very
good starting position for the race. The Scandinavian drivers with rally
experience obviously are best able to handle such conditions. But even
Christian Abt’s third place on the grid in last year’s car is a super result.
Now, we’re anxious to see what weather conditions will be awaiting us for
the race.”
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