- Bruno Spengler ahead of Paul Di Resta and Jamie Green in positions five to seven respectively
- Ralf Schumacher qualified 13th in his second DTM race
Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class), Paul Di Resta (AMG Mercedes C-Class) and Jamie Green (Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class) will start Sunday�s second round of the 2008 DTM in Oschersleben from grid positions five, six and seven respectively. In Saturday�s qualifying, Spengler was the fastest C-Class driver with a 1m21.718, four thousandths of a second behind the second row. Di Resta was on a 1m21.740 whilst Green set a 1m21.757; all three drivers were within 39 thousandths of a second.
Bernd Schneider (Genuine Parts AMG Mercedes C-Class) qualified 10th with a 1m22.025. Last year�s winner Gary Paffett put the stern AMG Mercedes C-Class in 12th place with a1m22.692 ahead of Ralf Schumacher (Trilux AMG Mercedes C-Class) with a 1m23.166. Schumacher who had improved to a 1m22.407 in the second part of qualifying was with this time almost half of a tenth faster than Mika Hakkinen�s pole position time one year ago.
Concerning the statistics:
Since Norisring in 2007, Mercedes-Benz has not achieved pole position and won four out of the seven championship races so far. The C-Class drivers won seven out of the ten races since Oschersleben one year ago.
Qualifying, part 1:
Jamie Green came home with a 1m21.671 in second place as the fastest C-Class driver. Ralf Schumacher (Trilux AMG Mercedes C-Class) qualified 14th with a 1m22.618 and moved up to the second part in his second DTM qualifying so far. 58 thousandths of a second behind him was Maro Engel (JungeSterne AMG Mercedes C-Class) with a 1m22.666 in 15th position ahead of Mathias Lauda (Pixum AMG Mercedes C-Class) with a 1m22.913. Susie Stoddart (TV Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Class) ended up 18th with a 1m23.087; both missed the next part.
Qualifying, part 2:
Following an accident of Alexandre Premat (Audi A4 DTM) 1m23 from the end of the second part, the session was red-flagged. According to the rules, all remaining 13 drivers were allowed to move up to the third part which was extended to 10m35.
What drivers and motorsportchief say:
- Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class 2008), fifth (1:21.718): "Fifth place is not what I had expected after the first two parts of qualifying, when our results were better and I was two and a half tenths behind the best time in third place. Unfortunately I was not able to achieve the same times in the final session. However, the race tomorrow is long and everything can happen."
- Paul Di Resta (AMG Mercedes C-Class 2008), sixth (1:21.740): "I am disappointed, because I had expected a better result. Unfortunately I made several mistakes today and was not able to achieve a better result. I will push hard in the race and when everything works out well a podium finish should be possible."
- Jamie Green (Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class 2008), seventh (1:21.757): "In the third session I was not as fast as in the previous sessions � my time in the second part of qualifying was better. On my out lap before my fastest lap I got stuck behind another car and was not able to warm up my tyres as well as usual."
- Bernd Schneider (Genuine Parts AMG Mercedes C-Class 2008), 10th (1:22.025): "It�s a shame that I was not able to move up the grid today, because the lap times were all very close together. On my fastest lap I hit a damp spot at the third sector, the car came sideways for a moment and I lost valuable time."
- Gary Paffett (stern AMG Mercedes C-Class 2007), 12th (1:22.692): "12th on the grid is still ok. On my fastest lap my brakes locked, therefore I was not able to improve my time."
- Ralf Schumacher (Trilux AMG Mercedes C-Class 2007), 13th (1:23.166): "My second DTM race and I made it to the second round of qualifying � so I am really happy. It�s a pity that I had used all my new tyres in the end; otherwise a better result would have been possible. After today�s qualifying I can hardly await the race."
- Maro Engel (JungeSterne AMG Mercedes C-Class 2007), 15th (1:22.666): "Unfortunately, I didn�t manage to improve compared to Hockenheim. In addition, I was not able to put my best sector times together for a fast lap. However, I am still confident for the race."
- Mathias Lauda (Pixum AMG Mercedes C-Class 2007), 16th (1:22.913): "I am not happy. Yesterday and this morning I suffered from problems with the steering and the undertray, therefore I wasn�t able to complete many laps. Under these circumstances, the time is still ok; however, 16th position on the grid is not an ideal result."
- Susie Stoddart (TV-Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Class 2007), 18th (1:23.087): "The car was fine and I gave it my all, but I was just not fast enough."
- Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: "The second part of qualifying looked still quite pleasant, the gap to the top was two and a half tenths. Q3 showed gaps which were more than twice that size, the drivers complained about loss of grip particularly in the last sector. We have four cars in the top ten and want to do better tomorrow than today."