Catalunya: Audi Friday practice report

Strong start for Audi at Barcelona

o Day's best time for DTM leader Timo Scheider
o Audi A4 DTM in front in both tests on Friday
o Tom Kristensen quickest in the afternoon

Ingolstadt/Barcelona -- The Audi A4 DTM is again the car to be beaten at the DTM's Spanish round. At the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona the Audi drivers set the pace in both tests on Friday.

In the morning, the top three places went to the Audi squad, in the afternoon it was even the top four. Leader of the standings Timo Scheider was the only driver to stay below 1m 08s. His best time of 1m 07.935s set on the fifth lap of the morning session remained unrivalled in the second test as well.

"The morning was very good," said the Audi driver. "We did some basic set-up work. In the afternoon, we shifted our focus a bit towards long runs, with which I wasn't satisfied yet. But I'm confident that we'll work that out by tomorrow."

In the first test Tom Kristensen and Mattias Ekstrom occupied places two and three. In the afternoon Kristensen, at 1m 08.113s was the quickest driver, ahead of Ekstrom. LMS Champion Mike Rockenfeller and Oliver Jarvis on positions three and four suggested that at Barcelona the cars from last year will be serious contenders as well.

"The positions on Friday should never be overrated," said Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich. "The afternoon was primarily dedicated to long runs; in addition, grip on the track changed a lot. Of course it's a positive sign that we can set good times. We'll analyse the data now and try and make the best of it for tomorrow's qualifying."

In the past two years Audi secured the pole position at Barcelona -- however, both times in the rain. This time, the weather forecast has predicted sunshine for the qualifying.

The fight for grid positions will start at 1:28 p.m. (CEST) on Saturday. ARD will broadcast live from Barcelona on "Das Erste". Live coverage of the free practice from 09:30 to 10:30 a.m. can be viewed at www.dtm.tv. As usual, Audi.tv airs background reports.

-credit: audi.de