DTM news

Scheider takes pole at Hockenheim

Timo Scheider made the first mark of the new DTM season. In qualifying for the season opener at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg, the Audi driver set a fastest lap time of 1.32.655 minutes at the 4,574 kilometres long track and thus secured himself the first DTM pole position of the season.

"A perfect lap, a perfect car, a perfect day", the 29-year old said. His team-mate, reigning DTM champion Mattias Ekström (S), will be starting from second place and also on the front row for the 37 lap race with a distance of 169.239 kilometres. Third place was taken by the runner-up of last year's DTM, Bruno Spengler (CDN, Mercedes-Benz). For Scheider, it is the third pole position of his DTM career. For his employer Audi, it is the 37th.

After torrential rain had its effect on the test sessions on Friday, sunshine and mild temperatures brought excellent conditions on Saturday for the first qualifying session of the season. The 19 drivers staged an exciting qualifying for the spectators. The performance of DTM novice Ralf Schumacher was watched with particular interest. The former F1 driver didn't let them wait for long and was the first driver out on the track with his AMG Mercedes C-Class from last year. By only 88 thousandths of a second, Schumacher just missed out on making it into the second heat of the shoot-out qualifying session and will be starting 15th for his maiden DTM race. "In the DTM, it is very close. I am not unhappy and I have learned a lot", Schumacher said.

Scotsman Paul di Resta (Mercedes-Benz), only 21 years old, was fourth fastest driver across the finish line, followed by Dane Tom Kristensen with his Audi A4 DTM and Mercedes-Benz driver Jamie Green (GB). DTM novice Oliver Jarvis had a great debut. The 24-year old Briton made it into all three qualifying heats and will be starting eighth on Sunday with his Audi A4 DTM behind fellow Audi-driver Martin Tomczyk as the best-placed driver of a year-old car.

With his AMG Mercedes C-Class, DTM record champion Bernd Schneider failed to make it into the final qualifying heat. The 43-year old will be starting ninth for the first DTM round of the season. After two and a half seasons in Formula 1, the runner-up of the 2003 DTM, Christijan Albers (NL), made it into 14th place upon his return in the DTM. The two ladies in the field, Susie Stoddart (Mercedes-Benz) and Katherine Legge (Audi) will be starting from 17th and 19th place respectively. 

Timo Scheider commented on his pole: "A perfect lap, a perfect car, a perfect day. It was a breathtaking qualifying. In fact, my third pole came as a little bit of a surprise for me as well. I owe quite a lot to my mechanics as they have provided me with an excellent car."

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