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Archive for September, 2006

DTM - Barcelona live!

Published September 24, 2006 in Audi, DTM, Racing, This blog and Volkswagen. 1 Comment

Lap 58 Final lap. Martin Tomczyk claims his first victory from Bernd Schneider and Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Ekström comes fourth from Spengler, Stippler, La Rosa, Margaritis, Kristensen and Abt.

Lap 56 Ekström attacks Spengler for fourth place and gets past.

Lap 54 Schneider briefly off the track, continues.

Lap 53 Tomczyk locks up under braking, continues.

Lap 50 La Rosa past Kristensen for eighth.

Lap 48 Order: Tomczyk is leading from Schneider, Frentzen, Spengler, Ekström, Stippler, Margaritis and Kristensen.

Lap 47 Kristensen locks up under braking and runs wide. Frentzen past Spengler.

Lap 46 Frentzen attacks Spengler. La Rosa into the pits, Ekström comes in for his penalty.

Lap 45 Drive-through penalty for Mattias Ekström for pushing another car. Frentzen, Alesi into the pits.

Lap 43 Mücke off the track, continues.

Lap 42 Lauda into the pits.

Lap 41 Stoddart into the pits.

Lap 39 Ekström past Schneider. Margaritis into the pits.

Lap 38 Ekström attacks Schneider, Tomczyk past Häkkinen. Häkkinen into the pits.

Lap 37 Ekström re-joins behind Schneider. Lauda into the pits.

Lap 36 Ekström, Mücke into the pits. Tomczyk gets past La Rosa.

Lap 35 La Rosa, Tomczyk, Alesi into the pits.

Lap 34 Schneider into the pits.

Lap 33 Alesi under investigation. Kristensen and Stippler into the pits. Ekström attacks Schneider and gets past.

Lap 32 Sixth-placed Kristensen spins, loses one place and continues.

Lap 31 Ekström into the pits. Häkkinen past Alesi as the Frenchman locks up under braking.

Lap 28 Häkkinen, Mücke, Abt into the pits

Lap 27 Frentzen into the pits

Lap 26 Spengler into the pits for his second stop

Lap 25 Stoddart into the pits

Lap 24 Kristensen into the pits

Lap 23 Tomczyk into the pits, Alesi comes in for his drive through

Lap 22 Schneider into the pits

Lap 21 Drive through penalty for Jean Alesi. Margaritis into the pits.

Lap 19 Ekström passes Tom Kristensen for third place. Stippler into the pits.

Lap 16 Tomczyk is leading Schneider by 2.6 seconds, then Kristensen in third from Ekström, Frentzen, Stippler, Margaritis, Alesi, La Rosa and Lauda.

Lap 13 Abt into the pits. Black and white flag (warning) for Tom Kristensen

Lap 12 Frentzen drops back to fifth, Spengler into the pits

Lap 10 Frentzen locks up under braking and runs wide, Schneider goes past into second place.

Lap 7 Alesi and Scheider collide, Scheider runs into Häkkinen. Scheider into the pits, heavy damage to the right side of the car, retires. Kiesa also under investigation. Spengler overtakes Lauda for ninth.

Lap 6 Racing resumes, no postion changes. Christian Abt under investigation. Schneider attacks Kristensen for third and gets past on the back stretch

Lap 3 Order: Tomczyk is leading from Frentzen, Kristensen, Schneider, Stippler, Häkkinen, Ekström, Scheider and Margaritis.

Lap 2 Safety car out

Lap 1 Christian Abt hits Nicolas Kiesa’s car. Kiesa runs into Ickx’s car and then hits Pierre Kaffer, who in turn runs into Green’s car. Spengler pushes Mücke around. Jamie Green, Nicolas Kiesa into the pits

Start Tomczyk takes the lead from Frentzen, Kristensen, Schneider. Frank Stippler has a good start and moves up to sixth

Technorati Tags: Audi, DTM, Barcelona, Mercedes-AMG, AMG

Tomczyk on top after Barcelona qualifying thriller

Published September 23, 2006 in Audi, DTM, Racing and Watched. 0 Comments

Martin Tomczyk (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline) will be starting from pole-position for tomorrow’s eighth round of the DTM at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona (start at 14.00 h, ARD live from 13.45 h onwards). A fascinating three-heat shoot out qualifying session on a wet track saw the 24-year old German come out on top with a fastest lap time of 1.13.900 minutes at the 2.949 kilometres long circuit. He outpaced Audi-team-mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen by 0.067 seconds while Tom Kristensen moved up into third place in the final minute of the session, completing the good team result for Audi. Best-placed Mercedes-Benz-driver is points leader Bernd Schneider in fourth position. With Kristensen and Schneider, the two main contenders in the battle for the title will be side-by-side on the second row of the starting grid.

With the fourth pole-position of his DTM career and his first of the season, Martin Tomczyk continues his upward trend that saw him already score two podium finishes at the Nürburgring and Zandvoort recently. “I didn’t really expect to be on pole. Of course, this is fantastic”, he beamed after qualifying. Audi’s lock-out of the front row of the starting grid was completed by Heinz-Harald Frentzen, whose second place was also his best qualifying result so far this year. Frank Stippler, who already topped the time sheets after free practice on Saturday morning, was best-placed driver with year-old machinery in seventh place with his Audi A4 DTM.

Local hero Carlos Sainz, world rally champion in 1990 and 1992, is present and will be driving VIP guests around the circuit in the Audi DTM race taxi.

Martin Tomczyk (1st place, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): “The fact that it worked out so well today had a lot to do with team work and tyre pressure. We already tested the different tyre pressures and obviously we have found the right one. There, you see what difference good team work can make! Now, we just have to bring it home tomorrow.”

Heinz-Harald Frentzen (2nd place, Audi Sport Team Abt): “Everything went fairly easy today. At the end, we tried to improve even more, but it didn’t work out, I couldn’t go any faster. One-two-three for Audi is okay.”

Tom Kristensen (3rd place, Audi Sport Team Abt): “Congratulations to Martin and Heinz-Harald. We know that it would rain, but we didn’t expect it to be that much. It was not easy to find the right time slot to go out and the right tyre pressure, but it worked well for us. A top three lock-out is fantastic for Audi!”

Audi motor sport director Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich: “I am very happy with this result. Especially when I think back to the race in Turkey last year. There, we just couldn’t get things right in the rain. Yesterday, we had a long meeting in order to find out why the cars didn’t work in the rain. Obviously, we have made the right decisions. That qualifying eventually turned out as it did, however, is mainly down to the drivers and when they keep on going like this, I am looking forward to more qualifyings in the rain.”

Former world rally champion Carlos Sainz: “I would like to thank Audi for giving me the opportunity to drive a DTM car here at Barcelona. It allows me to find out how a touring car accelerates and how it is behaving under braking. These are real, exciting race cars and driving one has been great fun. It is the first time for me that I am attending a DTM weekend and I really hope for the series to become established here in Spain. It is an outstanding touring car series and maybe, we can have a Spanish driver racing here next year.”

- dtm

Technorati Tags: Audi, A4, DTM, Carlos Sainz

Tomczyk on pole-position for Spanish premiere

Published September 23, 2006 in Audi, DTM, Racing and Watched. 0 Comments

Hells ya! Audi goes 1-2-3 and have 6 out of 10 cars in the tops spots. Great drive from Tomczyk and I’m glad to see Frentzen up there. If Audi was “tricky” and in hopes that Kristensen can hold off Schneider, they can hold back Schneider, let Kristensen move into first to gain all the points he can!

Spengler ended up in 18th and Green is back in 13th, not that Green can get off the line for sh**!

For the fourth time in his DTM career, Martin Tomczyk (Audi) is on pole-position. In qualifying for the eight DTM season round at the 2.949 kilometres long Circuit de Catalunya, the driver from the German city of Rosenheim set the fastest lap time from his fellow-Audi-drivers Heinz-Harald Frentzen in second and Tom Kristensen in third place. The spectators can look forward to an exciting battle for the lead in the championship standings: points leader Bernd Schneider (Mercedes-Benz) is line-up alongside Kristensen in fourth place on the grid. With Frank Stippler (Audi) in seventh place and Alexandros Margaritis (Mercedes-Benz) in eighth position, two drivers with year-old cars made it into the third and final qualifying heat. On the other hand, Bruno Spengler and Jamie Green failed to make it into the top eight.

The qualifying at a glance
Air temperature: 20,6 °C
Track temperature: 21,3 °C

13.37 hrs Qualifying starts, Pierre Kaffer is the first driver to go out on the track
13.40 hrs Alex Margaritis is fastest with 1.14.949, then Heinz-Harald Frentzen takes first place with 1.14.847
13.43 hrs Bernd Schneider sets the fastest time with 1.14.691
13.44 hrs Mika Häkkinen improves to second place with a lap tike of 1.14.841
13.46 hrs Bernd Schneider improves his own best time: 1.14.512
13.47 hrs Heinz-Harald Frentzen moves up into second place with 1.14.417, Jamie Green is now third with 1.14.791
13.50 hrs Ickx spins, continues
13.51 hrs End of the session. Nicolas Kiesa, Christian Abt, Daniel La Rosa, Stefan Mücke, Bruno Spengler and Susie Stoddart fail to make the cut.
13.52 hrs Bernd Schneider is fastest in the session, followed by Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Tom Kristensen, Timo Scheider, Martin Tomczyk, Jamie Green, Alex Margaritis, Mattias Ekström, Mika Häkkinen, Pierre Kaffer, Mathias Lauda, Frank Stippler, Vanina Ickx, Jean Ales
13.58 hrs Start of the next heat, Bernd Schneider is the first driver out.
14.01 hrs Martin Tomczyk is fastest with 1.14.469
14.02 hrs Heinz-Harald Frentzen is now on top with a lap time of 1.13.946
14.06 hrs Frank Stippler takes second place with 1.14.407
14.08 hrs End of the session. Frentzen is fastest from Kristensen, who moves up into second at the final minute. They are followed by Tomczyk, Häkkinen, Schneider, Stippler, Ekström and Margaritis.
14.15 hrs Start of the final session. Martin Tomczyk is the first driver to go out.
14.18 hrs Martin Tomczyk is fastest from Mattias Ekström and Bernd Schneider
14.20 hrs Five Audis in front, but then Bernd Schneider sets the third fastest time. Martin Tomczyk remains leading from Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
14.22 hrs End of the session. Martin Tomczyk claims the fourth pole-position of his DTM career from Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Tom Kristensen, who moves up into third in the final second. Bernd Schneider is fourth from Häkkinen, Ekström, Stippler and Margaritis.
14.23 hrs A spectacular qualifying session saw Martin Tomczyk claim his first DTM pole of this season and the fourth of his DTM career, followed by fellow-Audi-drivers Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Tim Kristensen. Points leader Bernd Schneider is best-placed Mercedes-Benz driver on fourth place.

- dtm

Technorati Tags: Audi, A4, DTM, Circuit de Catalunya, Tomczyk, Frentzen, Kristensen

Stippler causes surprise in free practice

Published September 23, 2006 in Audi, DTM, Racing, This blog and Watched. 0 Comments

Free practice of the DTM at the Circuit de Catalunya on Saturday morning brought a slight surprise: Frank Stippler set the fastest time with his Audi A4 DTM. With a lap time of 1.14.266 minutes, the driver from Bad Münstereifel outpaced his fellow Audi-driver Mattias Ekström by 0.095 seconds. Third-placed Heinz-Harald Frentzen, 0.222 seconds down, completed the Audi trio at the front. Two times’ race winner Bruno Spengler was the fastest driver with an AMG-Mercedes C-Class in fourth place. His team-mate, points leader Bernd Schneider, ended up fifth.

“In free practice, things were already going quite well and I am happy that we had this opportunity to shine“, said Frank Stippler. “My team has done a tremendous job as my Audi was really good on the road. Now, our goal is to keep this performance in qualifying.” After a rather meagre season so far, seven races and no points to date, Stippler is hoping for his first success. “It has still to be seen whether we still are this good in qualifying later on. But I think that generally, our chances are better in the rain.”

Free practice of the DTM took place in difficult conditions on Saturday morning. Heavy rain showers in Catalonia made the job for the 20 DTM drivers a lottery. These uncertain conditions caused other surprises than just Stippler’s fastest time. For instance, the drivers with 2004-spec cars were strong in the mid-field. Fastest of them was Nicolas Kiesa with the Audi A4 DTM in twelfth place. Behind him, local hero Mathias Lauda was 13th with his AMG-Mercedes C-Class, Vanina Ickx was a creditable 16th with the second Futurecom TME-Audi.

Technorati Tags: Audi, A4, DTM, Barcelona, Circuit de Catalunya