A good position: Scheider claims pole position
Fawkham. Timo Scheider (Audi) claimed pole position in qualifying for the eighth round of the DTM at Brands Hatch. At the shortest circuit on the 2008 race calendar of only 1.929 kilometres, the 29-year old outpaced Brit Paul di Resta (Mercedes-Benz) and Canadian Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz), who ended up second and third respectively. With his lap time of 42..084 seconds with the Audi A4 DTM, Scheider was nine hundredths of a second faster than second-placed di Resta. ?Because of the many yellow flags and the traffic on the track, driving a fast lap wasn?t easy, but fortunately, it worked out?, said a delighted Scheider.
Qualifying had barely started as Gary Paffett (Mercedes-Benz) came off the track and hit the tyre barrier. The session was stopped for his car to be recovered and repaired. Automatically, all drivers went on to the second qualifying heat. 28-year old Katherine Legge (Audi) retired early from the second qualifying heat after a driving error, just like Alexandre Pr?mat (Audi).
With Britons Oliver Jarvis and Gary Paffett, two drivers with year-old cars made it into the final heat of the shoot-out qualifying. On Sunday, Jarvis will be starting from sixth place while Paffett will be starting from eighth place behind last year?s champion Mattias Ekstr?m. In the final heat, Ekstr?m had to cope with gearbox problems that prevented him from a possible better result. For Scheider, it is the fourth pole position of the season. Behind Scheider, di Resta and Spengler, Ekstr?m?s fellow Audi driver Martin Tomczyk ended up fourth. Jamie Green, who is only four points down on Scheider in the points? standings, occupied fifth place with his AMG Mercedes C-Class. For last year?s winner from Brands Hatch, DTM record champion Bernd Schneider, qualifying was rather disappointing. He failed to make it for the session of the eight fastest and will be starting ninth. For former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher, it didn?t go too well at the track with the long heritage south-east of London. In qualifying, he ended up 17th.
Prior to Sunday?s 82 lap race, Scheider is leading the the DTM points? standings with 44 points from Green (40) and Ekstr?m (38). The ARD will be broadcasting live from Great Britain from 13.45 h. A special highlight for the visitors at the circuit: Formula 1 star Lewis Hamilton will be visiting the DTM, on the support package of which he won the 2005 Formula 3 Euro Series championship title. There will be interviews and autograph sessions with the Briton and to the delight of the fans, he will be doing some demonstration laps with his Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 car.
Timo Scheider (1st grid position, Audi Sport Team Abt): ?Being on pole position again just is a nice feeling. Because of the many yellow flags and the traffic on the track, driving a fast lap wasn?t easy. On my fastest lap, I had one sideways moment, but it was still enough for pole. A result like that on Sunday would be perfect.?
Paul di Resta (2nd grid position, AMG Mercedes): ?I am happy with second place on the grid. Especially as we were having some problems in testing on Friday. Being that far up ahead for my home race is nice. I am looking forward to the support from the British fans.?
Bruno Spengler (3rd grid position, Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG Mercedes): ?Third place is all right. Especially taking into account that this circuit is not one of my favourite tracks. In free practice, we had a few problems. In qualifying, I did a good fast lap and that is what counts. On Sunday, I am sure it will be a closely-fought and exciting race.?
Audi motorsport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich: ?A great performance by Timo. We all know, how close it is in the DTM, so I expected a hard fight at the front. I am also happy with our team performance, although I feel sorry for Mattias Ekstr?m, who had gearbox problems in the second session. As a result, he had to do without third gear in the deciding third heat. A handicap that you just can?t make up for here. But when we are in front tomorrow as well, I am very happy.?
Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug: ?I am very happy with the result. Even though we didn?t make it all the way to the front, we still have two cars in the top three and three cars in the top five. For Sunday, the forecast is heavy rain, so the race could be a totally different affair compared to qualifying we saw today. We are in a good position to start from. Gary Paffett also showed a strong performance, still making it into the top eight after going off early in the session.. I am happy that Lewis Hamilton will be doing some demonstration laps with his McLaren-Mercedes for the fans tomorrow. Lewis is an avid DTM fan and hardly ever misses out on a race.?
