German car manufacturer Audi placed seven A4s in the top 10 at the end of the first free practice session for the DTM race held on Zandvoort’s circuit in the Netherlands.
Alexandre Prémat, driving a 2008-spec Audi A4, set the fastest of all with a time of 1:33.272.
Mike Rockenfeller, also driving a 2008-spec car, was second ahead of Mattias Ekström, all members of the Audi squad.
The highest placed Mercedes was the 2008-spec C-Class of Maro Engel in fourth place.
The older, 2008 cars are given a weight advantage of 25 kilos over the 2009 machines, resulting in an advantage of 2.4%. That explains why the 2008 car are going so well on this track.
Point standings’ leader, Canadian Bruno Spengler completed 30 laps of the Zandvoort circuit in his 2009 Mercedes to be classified 13th overall, 1.480 seconds slower than Prémat.
His main championship rivals, with the exception of Ekström, also endured a difficult day. Gary Paffett (McLaren F1 test driver) was 10th, Paul di Resta (Force India F1 reserve driver) was 11th and Jamie Green was 14th, all driving for Mercedes.
Alexandre Prémat, driving a 2008-spec Audi A4, set the fastest of all with a time of 1:33.272.
Mike Rockenfeller, also driving a 2008-spec car, was second ahead of Mattias Ekström, all members of the Audi squad.
The highest placed Mercedes was the 2008-spec C-Class of Maro Engel in fourth place.
The older, 2008 cars are given a weight advantage of 25 kilos over the 2009 machines, resulting in an advantage of 2.4%. That explains why the 2008 car are going so well on this track.
Point standings’ leader, Canadian Bruno Spengler completed 30 laps of the Zandvoort circuit in his 2009 Mercedes to be classified 13th overall, 1.480 seconds slower than Prémat.
His main championship rivals, with the exception of Ekström, also endured a difficult day. Gary Paffett (McLaren F1 test driver) was 10th, Paul di Resta (Force India F1 reserve driver) was 11th and Jamie Green was 14th, all driving for Mercedes.