Oct 4, 2008
After qualifying, Audi factory driver Tom Kristensen, the record winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with eight wins under his belt, is also at the very front of the DTM grid in France. At the "Circuit Bugatti", the Dane in the Audi A4 DTM secured the pole position in front of Jamie Green (Mercedes) with a lead of eight hundredths of a second. The next position is occupied by Audi team-mate Mattias Ekström. The leader of the standings, Timo Scheider, achieved fifth place on the grid in his Audi A4 DTM, and will thus be going into the race directly behind his immediate championship rival Paul di Resta (Mercedes).
Audi has every reason to be delighted: for as much as the seventh time in the current season a new Audi A4 DTM will be starting from the pole position, for the second time it will be Tom Kristensen, who was last sitting on pole at the Nürburgring. For him, this is a particularly fitting "place of success": after eight victories at the 24-Hour Race at the same venue – most recently in June 2008 with Audi – the Dane is regarded as "Mister Le Mans". With his lap of 1m 30.149s, Kristensen established a new track record, approximately three tenths below the previous time clocked in 2006, although the circuit has since been extended by five metres. For Kristensen, it was the seventh pole position in his DTM career.
One row behind him, from position three, Mattias Ekström will start in another Audi A4 DTM to the DTM’s penultimate race of the season on Sunday. After position one at Zandvort and two at Hockenheim, this marks the Swede’s third-best qualifying result this year.
In the title fight a particularly thrilling constellation has emerged: Timo Scheider, who leads the standings with a seven-point advantage, achieved fifth place on the grid as the third-best Audi driver at Le Mans. He is separated by merely 166 thousandths of a second from the fourth-placed driver on the grid, Paul di Resta, who is his immediate rival for the title. Martin Tomczyk in the fourth Audi A4 DTM of Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, who had been heading the time sheets as late as in the second qualifying section, ultimately finished in eighth place.
For the ninth time this season, the best result of a year-old car goes to Ingolstadt: as before at Barcelona, Mike Rockenfeller from Audi Sport Team Rosberg was the best driver of a "used car". The German finished ninth. He is followed on the grid by three other drivers of an Audi A4 DTM, Oliver Jarvis, Alexandre Prémat and Markus Winkelhock.
In addition to the fight for victory and the duel for the title, fans can expect track conditions that are likely to add further suspense: for race Sunday, rain has been forecast at Le Mans. The race, previously extended from 40 to 43 laps, will be broadcast live from France by ARD on "Das Erste" starting at 1:45 (CEST). As usual, background reports and highlights will be offered by Audi.tv on the Internet.
The starting grid at Le Mans
1 Tom Kristensen (Audi A4 DTM) 1m 30.149s
2 Jamie Green (Mercedes) 1m 30.229s
3 Mattias Ekström (Red Bull Audi A4 DTM) 1m 30.245s
4 Paul di Resta (Mercedes) 1m 30.379s
5 Timo Scheider (GW:plus/Top Service Audi A4 DTM) 1m 30.545s
6 Bernd Schneider (Mercedes) 1m 30.619s
7 Bruno Spengler (Mercedes) 1m 30.765s
8 Martin Tomczyk (Red Bull Audi A4 DTM) 1m 31.181s
9 Mike Rockenfeller (S line Audi A4 DTM) 1m 31.030s
10 Oliver Jarvis (Best Buddies Audi A4 DTM) 1m 31.170s
11 Alexandre Prémat (Audi Bank/Shell Helix Audi A4 DTM) 1m 31.422s
12 Markus Winkelhock (Playboy Audi A4 DTM) 1m 31.438s
13 Maro Engel (Mercedes) 1m 31.473s
14 Christijan Albers (Audi A4 DTM) 1m 31.585s
15 Susie Stoddart (Mercedes) 1m 32.029s
16 Gary Paffett (Mercedes) 1m 32.276s
17 Katherine Legge (Audi A4 DTM) 1m 32.410s
18 Mathias Lauda (Mercedes) 1m 32.722s
19 Ralf Schumacher (Mercedes) 1m 33.221s
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