Kristensen on pole for finale

[fasteddy]

By Glenn Freeman Saturday, October 13th 2007, 12:25 GMT


Tom Kristensen led an Audi 1-2-3 in qualifying for the DTM season finale at Hockenheim.

The Dane completed the least laps of all the drivers in the final segment of qualifying, but his initial effort of 1:32.862 was enough to secure pole by one tenth of a second from Timo Scheider.

Mattias Ekstrom was the first of the title-chasing drivers in third place, while his championship rivals Martin Tomczyk and Bruno Spengler will share the third row.

Jamie Green had to settle for fourth place after being the pacesetter in the first segment of qualifying, but the Barcelona race winner was still the best of the Mercedes drivers.

Behind Spengler, Bernd Schneider will start seventh, while Gary Paffett is the top driver of older machinery in eighth.

The final slot in the third segment of qualifying had gone to Daniel la Rosa, but the German has a 10-place grid penalty this weekend for his collision with Ekstrom at Barcelona, which dropped him to 18th.

Mika Hakkinen was the other driver to be penalised from the Spanish race, and the Finn, who qualified 14th, will start last.

Pos  Driver                 Car       Time
 1.  Tom Kristensen         Audi      1:32.862
 2.  Timo Scheider          Audi      1:32.939  + 0.077
 3.  Mattias Ekstr?m        Audi      1:32.950  + 0.088
 4.  Jamie Green            Mercedes  1:33.028  + 0.166
 5.  Martin Tomczyk         Audi      1:33.191  + 0.329
 6.  Bruno Spengler         Mercedes  1:33.273  + 0.411
 7.  Bernd Schneider        Mercedes  1:33.939  + 1.077
 8.  Gary Paffett           Mercedes  1:34.080  + 1.218
 9.  Alexandros Margaritis  Mercedes  1:34.081  + 1.219
10.  Alexandre Premat       Audi      1:34.196  + 1.334
11.  Mike Rockenfeller      Audi      1:34.218  + 1.356
12.  Markus Winkelhock      Audi      1:34.446  + 1.584
13.  Christian Abt          Audi      1:34.538  + 1.676
14.  Paul Di Resta          Mercedes  1:34.587  + 1.725
15.  Lucas Luhr             Audi      1:34.640  + 1.778
16.  Mathias Lauda          Mercedes  1:34.685  + 1.823
17.  Susie Stoddart         Mercedes  1:34.723  + 1.861
18.  Daniel La Rosa         Mercedes  1:34.192  + 1.330
19.  Vanina Ickx            Audi      1:35.910  + 3.048
20.  Mika Hakkinen          Mercedes  1:34.478  + 1.616

[fasteddy]

Scheider ready to help teammates

By Glenn Freeman Saturday, October 13th 2007, 14:26 GMT


Timo Scheider has admitted that he will try to help Audi secure the DTM drivers' title on Sunday, despite starting ahead of the title contenders.

Scheider will line up alongside Tom Kristensen on an all-Audi front row, but neither of the top two are in a position to win the championship in the final race of the year.

Mattias Ekstrom and Martin Tomczyk are fighting with Mercedes driver Bruno Spengler for the title, and Scheider is aware that he will probably have to support the best interests of the team at some point in the race.

"It has to be that way," Scheider said after qualifying. "But we need to get a good start, and get through the first lap.

"Hopefully the first lap will be clean, and then we can start thinking about what we can do."

The DTM veteran pointed out that it was difficult for Audi to come up with a plan before the race, as a lot of things could change once the finale gets underway.

"In the DTM it is difficult to plan anything like that," he added. "We have to prepare our own race and then see what happens."

Scheider, who is the third-most experienced driver in the DTM since the series was reborn in 2000, has never finished on the podium. Earlier this season at Zandvoort he moved over just before the finish line to hand third place to Ekstrom.