German driver Timo Scheider of the works Audi team set on Friday the best lap time in the first practice session of the DTM race held in Zandvoort in the Netherlands.
On his fastest lap of the 4.307 kilometres long track, the 2008 and 2009 DTM champion was 0.474 seconds faster than his fellow Audi driver Martin Tomczyk in second place. Mattias Ekström and Edoardo Mortara completed the Audi quartet in third and fourt place respectively.
The Audi Armada was followed by no less than five Mercedes-Benz drivers led by ex-Formula 1 driver David Coulthard. With his fastest lap time of 1:33.416 minutes, the Scot came 0.708 short of Scheider’s overall fastest time, but he was only 0.007 seconds down on fourth place. With Christian Vietoris and local hero Renger van der Zande, two further drivers of a 2008-spec AMG Mercedes C-Class were also among the front runners.
Jamie Green classified the fastest 2009-spec AMG Mercedes C-Class in eighth place ahead of Gary Paffett. Oliver Jarvis with the Audi A4 DTM ended up tenth in the 90 minutes’ free practice session while the winner of the season opener, Canadian Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz) was classified eleventh.
“Today, we worked bascially on the set-up for the race," he told Auto123.com. "Audi seems to have prepared their cars for the qualifying session, and that does explain their good rankings today. This session doesn’t mean anything… We worked on our own testing program without any troubles”.
DTM, Round 2, Zandvoort, Friday free practice
Pos Driver Team/Car Time
1. Timo Scheider Abt Audi 1m32.708s
2. Martin Tomczyk Phoenix Audi 1m33.182s
3. Mattias Ekström Abt Audi 1m33.298s
4. Edoardo Mortara Rosberg Audi 1m33.409s
5. David Coulthard Mucke Mercedes 1m33.416s
6. Christian Vietoris Persson Mercedes 1m33.505s
7. Renger van der Zande Persson Mercedes 1m33.656s
8. Jamie Green HWA Mercedes 1m33.732s
9. Gary Paffett HWA Mercedes 1m33.864s
10. Oliver Jarvis Abt Audi 1m33.916s
11. Bruno Spengler HWA Mercedes 1m33.919s
12. Mike Rockenfeller Abt Audi 1m34.040s
13. Filipe Albuquerque Rosberg Audi 1m34.048s
14. Maro Engel Mucke Mercedes 1m34.311s
15. Miguel Molina Abt Audi 1m34.371s
16. Susie Stoddart Persson Mercedes 1m34.524s
17. Ralf Schumacher HWA Mercedes 1m34.555s
18. Rahel Frey Phoenix Audi 1m35.471s
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| Martin Tomczyk, Audi A4 (Photo: dtm.com) |
On his fastest lap of the 4.307 kilometres long track, the 2008 and 2009 DTM champion was 0.474 seconds faster than his fellow Audi driver Martin Tomczyk in second place. Mattias Ekström and Edoardo Mortara completed the Audi quartet in third and fourt place respectively.
The Audi Armada was followed by no less than five Mercedes-Benz drivers led by ex-Formula 1 driver David Coulthard. With his fastest lap time of 1:33.416 minutes, the Scot came 0.708 short of Scheider’s overall fastest time, but he was only 0.007 seconds down on fourth place. With Christian Vietoris and local hero Renger van der Zande, two further drivers of a 2008-spec AMG Mercedes C-Class were also among the front runners.
Jamie Green classified the fastest 2009-spec AMG Mercedes C-Class in eighth place ahead of Gary Paffett. Oliver Jarvis with the Audi A4 DTM ended up tenth in the 90 minutes’ free practice session while the winner of the season opener, Canadian Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz) was classified eleventh.
“Today, we worked bascially on the set-up for the race," he told Auto123.com. "Audi seems to have prepared their cars for the qualifying session, and that does explain their good rankings today. This session doesn’t mean anything… We worked on our own testing program without any troubles”.
DTM, Round 2, Zandvoort, Friday free practice
Pos Driver Team/Car Time
1. Timo Scheider Abt Audi 1m32.708s
2. Martin Tomczyk Phoenix Audi 1m33.182s
3. Mattias Ekström Abt Audi 1m33.298s
4. Edoardo Mortara Rosberg Audi 1m33.409s
5. David Coulthard Mucke Mercedes 1m33.416s
6. Christian Vietoris Persson Mercedes 1m33.505s
7. Renger van der Zande Persson Mercedes 1m33.656s
8. Jamie Green HWA Mercedes 1m33.732s
9. Gary Paffett HWA Mercedes 1m33.864s
10. Oliver Jarvis Abt Audi 1m33.916s
11. Bruno Spengler HWA Mercedes 1m33.919s
12. Mike Rockenfeller Abt Audi 1m34.040s
13. Filipe Albuquerque Rosberg Audi 1m34.048s
14. Maro Engel Mucke Mercedes 1m34.311s
15. Miguel Molina Abt Audi 1m34.371s
16. Susie Stoddart Persson Mercedes 1m34.524s
17. Ralf Schumacher HWA Mercedes 1m34.555s
18. Rahel Frey Phoenix Audi 1m35.471s