DTM

Lausitz: Mercedes qualifying report

Three of a Kind: Gary Paffett on Pole Position Ahead of Jamie Green and Mika HÃ¤kkinen Five AMG-Mercedes C-Class cars qualify among the top-six Gary Paffett (DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG-Mercedes) will start Sunday's second round of the 2005 DTM at ...

Published: Apr 30, 2005, 8:40 PM

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Three of a Kind: Gary Paffett on Pole Position Ahead of Jamie Green and Mika Häkkinen

Five AMG-Mercedes C-Class cars qualify among the top-six

Gary Paffett (DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG-Mercedes) will start Sunday's second round of the 2005 DTM at the Lausitzring from pole position. Fighting for the Super Pole, last year's runner-up achieved a time of 1:15.808 and was the only driver under 1:16min.

Despite an additional weight of ten kilograms each, a consequence of the Mercedes-Benz victory at Hockenheim two weeks ago, two more 2005 AMG-Mercedes C-Class cars qualified second and third respectively: Jamie Green (Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes) with a 1:16.015 ahead of double Formula One World Champion Mika Häkkinen (Sport Edition AMG-Mercedes) with a 1:16.106. It is Gary Paffett's second DTM pole position.

Like in Hockenheim, six Mercedes-Benz drivers were among the top-ten in the single-lap qualifying. Behind defending champion Mattias Ekström (Audi A4 DTM/1:16.244), Bernd Schneider (Vodafone AMG-Mercedes) qualified fifth with a 1:16.358. Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz Second Hand Cars) was sixth fastest and best driver of a last year's car with a 1:16.441. Stefan Mücke (Mücke Motorsport AMG-Mercedes) was tenth after setting a time of 1:16.638.

In the exciting qualifying, Mika Häkkinen was second with a time of 1:16.071 and was seven thousandths of a second behind Ekström. Gary Paffett (1:16.163), Bernd Schneider (1:16.318), Bruno Spengler (1:16.342), Jamie Green (1:16.404) and Stefan Mücke (1:16.688) followed in the next five positions.

Jean Alesi (AMG-Mercedes) was 11th with a 1:16.776 and missed the single-lap qualifying by eight thousandths. Alexandros Margaritis (Mücke Motorsport AMG-Mercedes) came home 19th with a 1:17.308. The first 15 cars representing all three brands were within nine tenths of a second.

Gary Paffett (DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG-Mercedes), pole position (1:15.808):

"I had to push as hard as I could, but it paid off. I'm really happy about my second DTM pole position and I felt very comfortable in the car which allowed me to attack consistently. Although I didn't have a single best time in any sector I achieved pole position."

Jamie Green (Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes), second (1:16.015):

"I made a small mistake in the fourth corner, but the remainder of the lap was fine and I managed to improve by four tenths of a second compared to qualifying. At Hockenheim, I made two slight mistakes, however, I hope I have learnt from that and will have a better result tomorrow."

Mika Häkkinen (Sport Edition AMG-Mercedes), third (1:16.106):

"It surprises me that I'm among the top-three already in my second DTM qualifying, but I'm really satisfied about this great result. My target had been to qualify for the single-lap qualifying. My lap was good; however, there have been a couple of situations where I could have done better."

"I thank the entire team for their great job. Congratulations to Gary on his fantastic performance. I'm looking forward to an exciting DTM race and an enthusiastic crowd."

Bernd Schneider (Vodafone AMG-Mercedes), fifth (1:16.358):

"Apart from two small mistakes my lap wasn't really bad, but the DTM is so competitive that this is enough to miss the front row. Congratulations to my team mates, it will hopefully be an exciting race tomorrow."

Bruno Spengler (Junge Gebrauchte von Mercedes), sixth (1:16.441):

"I'm glad to be again sixth and the fastest driver with a 2004 car. My lap was faultless. Now I hope that the race will have a better outcome for me than in Hockenheim."

Stefan Mücke (Mücke Motorsport AMG-Mercedes), 10th (1:16.638):

"It was a good result to be among the top-ten for the single-lap qualifying, however, after seventh position in qualifying I had hoped to be further up the grid. I made a mistake in the right-hand corner after the new part of the track and lost time."

Jean Alesi (AMG-Mercedes), 11th (1:16.776):

"I'm quite disappointed, because I didn't manage to optimise my set-up for the Super Pole lap. We will now analyse the data and work for a better result in tomorrow's race."

Alexandros Margaritis (Mücke Motorsport AMG-Mercedes), 19th (1:17.308):

"My sector times show that I could have been four tenths of a second faster. Unfortunately, I made small mistakes on my second and third laps which cost me valuable time."

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport:

"Congratulations to Gary Paffett, Jamie Green and Mika Häkkinen, this is a first-class result. The entire team headed by Gerhard Ungar and Hans-Jürgen Mattheis did an excellent job with five cars among the top-six."

"Our cars had a very good set-up and the ballast weight did not play an important role here. The ten kilograms have an effect of a little more than one tenth of a second per lap. It was surprising that Gary and Jamie were faster in the single-lap qualifying than in the qualifying before."

"The performance of Bruno Spengler being sixth in a last-year's car is also remarkable. This shows that the DTM offers good opportunities to young talents to move up."

"The 2005 DTM is really competitive; this morning there were ten cars within less than four tenths of a second and the first seven cars within 0.146sec; in the qualifying the 17th driver was 0.339sec behind the tenth."

-mercedes-

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