When it comes to testing, the situation always seems to be the same: throughout the day, changes on the time sheets are rare. Everybody completes his testing programme while trying at the same time to not reveal his true competitiveness. Then, in the closing stages of the test session, the car is shod with a fresh set of tyres, the driver completes one or two fast laps – and with a little luck, he secures a top position on the time sheets. Tom Kristensen’s domination on day two of the test, however, was undisputed. The seven-time Le Mans winner, who had also been the quickest on Tuesday, again set the fastest lap time of the day.
On the quickest of the 128 laps Kristensen completed on Wednesday, the Dane crossed the line in 1:22.808 minutes – some 0.2 seconds faster than on Tuesday. The second fastest of the day was Kristensen’s fellow Audi driver Timo Scheider. Yet, with 0.452 seconds, Kristensen’s lead over the German was a rather clear one. At the same time, Alexandros Margaritis in his 2006-spec AMG-Mercedes C-Class finished third, thus proving to be the quickest Mercedes-Benz driver.
Audi’s new signing Alexandre Prémat, who joined the test action on Wednesday, finished fourth, ahead of Daniel la Rosa, with a Mercedes-Benz quartet – DTM Record Champion Bernd Schneider, Paul di Resta, Bruno Spengler and Jamie Green – taking positions six, seven, eight and nine respectively. Lucas Luhr completed the top ten.
DTM returnee Gary Paffett finished eleventh on his first day in the official DTM tests held at Oschersleben, while Susie Stoddart prevailed in the season’s first battle of the racing ladies: the Scot came twelfth, with Audi A4 DTM driver Vanina Ickx finishing 15th. Mattias Ekström completed just five laps. The Swede executed just the roll-out, at the wheel of his new racer for the 2007 season but on Thursday, he will join the test action in anger.
- DTM
Technorati Tags: Audi, Audi A4, Audi DTM, DTM, Motorsportarena Oschersleben, Tom Kristensen, Timo Scheider
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