DTM
Norisring: Friday practices report
Spengler sets first fastest time at Norisring In the first test at the Norisring, the 20 DTM drivers got a taste of what they can expect during the next two days: a hot weekend. In bright sunshine and with temperatures above 30 degrees, Bruno ...
Published: Jul 29, 2006, 4:02 PM
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Spengler sets first fastest time at Norisring
In the first test at the Norisring, the 20 DTM drivers got a taste of what they can expect during the next two days: a hot weekend. In bright sunshine and with temperatures above 30 degrees, Bruno Spengler set the first fastest time. The Franco-Canadian lapped the 2.3 kilometres short street circuit in the city of Nuremberg in 49.730 seconds with his AMG-Mercedes C-Class. Jean Alesi was second with the fastest C-Class from last year, 0.067 seconds down. In third position, Brands Hatch-winner Mattias Ekström set the best time with an Audi A4 DTM with 49.880 seconds.
Behind the two championship leaders, Bernd Schneider (AMG-Mercedes C-Class) and Tom Kristensen (Audi A4 DTM) in fourth and fifth place, Jeroen Bleekemolen was an excellent sixt with his 2004-spec Audi. The Dutchman completed a total of 56 laps, which made him the most prolific diver on Friday morning.
As could be expected, it was already extremely close during the first test. From Bruno Spengler to Susie Stoddart with the 2004-spec AMG-Mercedes C-Class, there were 18 drivers within one second after the test. Only the two rookies Mathias Lauda and Vanina Ickx were more than a second down on the front runners after 90 minutes of testing. The first eleven drivers were even separated by less than half a second. The second DTM test at the Norisring is starting at 14.00 h and will also last 90 minutes.
Ekström fastest in the afternoon
The sun is burning over Nuremberg and Mattias Ekström is striving towards another success. After setting the third fastest time in the first test, the Swede stayed cool on Friday afternoon with temperatures over 35 degrees and set the fastest time of 49.228 seconds with his Red Bull Audi A4 DTM. With the DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG-Mercedes C-Class, Bruno Spengler was only 0.023 seconds slower than "Eki" and set the second fastest time. In the second test, the competition was even closer than in the morning: at the end of the session, 18th placed Daniel La Rosa was only 0.587 seconds down on Ekström's fastest time.
Just like in the first test, Jean Alesi caused a small surprise in the second session on Friday afternoon. In the morning, the Frenchman had been second fastest. In the second 90 minutes' session, he took his 2005-spec AMG-Mercedes C-Class to the third fastest time behind Ekström and Spengler. With Alex Margaritis in fifth place, Stefan Mücke in seventh and Timo Scheider in ninth place, three more drivers with year-old cars made it into the top ten. Jeroen Bleekemolen, back in the DTM since the last race at Brands Hatch, scored another good result with the 2004-spec Audi A4 DTM from the Futurecom TME team after finishing sixth in the morning: in the second session, the Dutchman was twelfth.
In the second test, Susie Stoddart failed to complete one timed lap. After the first test, a leak occurred on the oil tank of her AMG-Mercedes C-Class. This happened after the young Scottish lady racer had run over a screw at the track that was blown up by the crank shaft and went through the oil tank. The Mücke team had to take the engine out in order to get the tank repaired.
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