New Audi A4 DTM debuts with best time at Hockenheim
Posted on Saturday, April 16, 2005 @ 22:04:04 BST by audioc
Successful start for the new Audi A4 DTM in the DTM season opener at Hockenheim: the Dane Tom Kristensen drove the fastest time by far during the two official tests on Friday. The fact that the DTM 2004 champions' car is still competitive was proved by Christian Abt, who clocked the sixth best time of the day. All Audi drivers completed different test programmes on Friday in order to collect as much data as possible. The qualifying practice on Saturday will start at 1.30 p.m., the super pole at 2.25 p.m. ARD will broadcast live from Hockenheim starting at 2 p.m.Kristensen the fastest on day one
In the second DTM test at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg, held on Friday afternoon, Tom Kristensen succeeded in setting the day's fastest lap time. Behind the wheel of his Audi A4 DTM, the Dane lapped the 4.574-kilometre GP circuit in 1:34.949 minutes, thus clearly beating the Super pole time (1:35.852 minutes) set by Martin Tomczyk in October 2004. On the way to securing second place, Mercedes-Benz driver Jean Alesi was more than half a second slower than Kristensen, with the French's brand-mate, Jamie Green, finishing third in his AMG-Mercedes C-Class.
According to plan, the second test session was red flagged with 20 minutes to go due to the simulation of red flagged race. This test that had been announced by Race Director Roland Bruynserade in the drivers briefing and was executed to point up the changes of DTM's sporting regulations. These new regulations require that all the cars have to line up at the 'Red Flag Line' - usually the start finish line - in the case of a race being red flagged. Afterwards, the Safety-Car will be positioned in front of the motionless field to lead it to the re-start. "The test worked really fine," Bruynserade beamed afterwards.
Quotes after Friday's tests
Tom Kristensen (Audi Sport Team Abt #5)
3rd place / 1st place, 1m 34.949s
"That our A4 is a good car we already knew before. Now, we have to adapt it to the Hockenheim circuit. We've tried out a lot of different things and are obviously on the right track. I'm now looking forward to working out our further programme together with my engineer for tomorrow. My best time today has been a good sign already."
Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline #1)
8th place / 4th place, 1m 35.578s
"Today has been the first day with our new Audi A4 at Hockenheim. Of course we tested prior to the season - but now it's about making our car really quick on the respective DTM circuits as well. The beginning this morning tended to be fair to middling, but in the afternoon we achieved decent results."
Christian Abt (Audi Sport Team Joest Racing #14)
4th place / 6th place, 1m 35.776s
"I'm very satisfied. We're part of the front of the field and have sorted everything out already - that's not always the case at this point in time. So far, everything's been working perfectly. Now, I'm hoping that everything will be going equally well for us tomorrow."
Frank Stippler (Audi Sport Team Joest Racing #19)
10th place / 18th place, 1m 36.318s
"For me, today's been the usual process of learning. Because I've got relatively little DTM experience, things need to sort themselves out first. Some steps went in the right direction, others didn't. At the moment, I can't really judge where I'm standing."
Rinaldo Capello (Audi Sport Team Joest Racing #18)
20th place / 13th place, 1m 36.404s
"I'm very happy. After I hadn't been able to drive a lot in the morning due to a problem with the brakes, things went really well in the afternoon. I covered one of the long runs with tyres which had more than a whole racing distance under their belt already. Nevertheless, my lap times were consistently fast."
Martin Tomczyk (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline #2)
6th place / 14th place, 1m 36.422s
"It's great that the season is starting again - finally. Of course I'd wished for a better start, but at least we got a lot of data from it. Now, we're going to evaluate this data and then try to implement it."
Pierre Kaffer (Audi Sport Team Joest Racing #15)
14th place / 19th place, 1m 36.738s
"I've got a good feeling. I know I can drive quite a bit faster. I completely fluffed the lap with the last set of tyres, but my long run was really good. That's why I'm very optimistic for tomorrow."
Allan McNish (Audi Sport Team Abt #6)
16th place / 20th place, 1m 36.918s
"As early as after my first two test sessions, I realise: life in the DTM will be pretty tough. The balance of my A4 was not perfect today but that's something we'll get right. In any event, the spectators can look forward to a great race because there are lots of overtaking opportunities here at Hockenheim."
Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): "I think that our first performance with the new Audi A4 DTM has been quite acceptable. At the beginning, we were a bit unsure, but in the meantime we've sorted ourselves out relatively well. We're going to continue to work and hope that we'll be right on target in Saturday's qualifying."
Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Team Joest): "At the moment, things are looking rather well for our used cars. Dindo and Pierre lost a relatively large amount of time due to a few minor problems, which we've been able to sort out. Still, they were quite quick on the track. So was Frank, who was beaten in the second test below his true potential. And Christian seems to feel particularly comfortable with us. He's really in a super mood."
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): "The best time is good for the whole Audi squad, but it's not all that important. The crucial factor is that after today's two test sessions we understand even better how the new car responds to changes. After the first test, we developed an individual working programme for the four new cars, which we pursued in a different direction with each of them in the afternoon. Now, we're going to merge all this data to make the best of it in the qualifying session. I think we've sorted out everything relatively well."
1st Test
Pos. Driver/team Laps Time Gap
1. Gary Paffett DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG-Mercedes AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 27 1:35.785
3. Tom Kristensen Audi Sport Team Abt Audi A4 DTM 21 1:35.929 00.144
4. Christian Abt Audi Sport Team Joest Racing Audi A4 DTM 20 1:36.040 00.255
6. Martin Tomczyk Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline Audi A4 DTM 20 1:36.070 00.285
8. Mattias Ekström Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline Audi A4 DTM 19 1:36.232 00.447
10. Frank Stippler Audi Sport Team Joest Audi A4 DTM 25 1:36.318 00.533
14. Pierre Kaffer Audi Sport Team Joest Racing Audi A4 DTM 28 1:36.777 00.992
16. Allan McNish Audi Sport Team Abt Audi A4 DTM 18 1:36.981 01.196
20. Rinaldo Capello Audi Sport Team Joest Audi A4 DTM 13 1:37.347 01.562
2nd Test
Pos. Driver/team Laps Time Gap
1. Tom Kristensen Audi Sport Team Abt Audi A4 DTM 31 1:34.949
4. Mattias Ekström Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline Audi A4 DTM 29 1:35.578 00.629
6. Christian Abt Audi Sport Team Joest Racing Audi A4 DTM 24 1:35.776 00.827
13. Rinaldo Capello Audi Sport Team Joest Audi A4 DTM 34 1:36.404 01.455
14. Martin Tomczyk Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline Audi A4 DTM 25 1:36.422 01.473
18. Frank Stippler Audi Sport Team Joest Audi A4 DTM 27 1:36.635 01.686
19. Pierre Kaffer Audi Sport Team Joest Racing Audi A4 DTM 24 1:36.738 01.789
20. Allan McNish Audi Sport Team Abt Audi A4 DTM 23 1:36.918 01.969