DTM

Nurburgring: Friday practices report

Audi, Opel and Mercedes-Benz secure top three places The second foray of the DTM on Friday afternoon on the Nuerburgring developed into a veritable exchange of blows between Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Opel. The lead kept changing, the times got ever ...

Published: Jul 30, 2004, 9:01 PM

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Audi, Opel and Mercedes-Benz secure top three places

The second foray of the DTM on Friday afternoon on the Nuerburgring developed into a veritable exchange of blows between Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Opel. The lead kept changing, the times got ever closer. Ultimately, it was similar to the morning session where Swede Mattias Ekström cemented his top slot.

He clinched a fabulous time of 1:24.963 minutes on the 3.629 kilometre-long circuit on the Nuerburgring for a lead of nearly five 100ths of a second ahead of Opel driver Peter Dumbreck (1:24.924 minutes). The winner of the exhibition race in Shanghai, Mercedes-Benz driver Gary Paffett (1:25.045 minutes), drove into third place.

The variety of makes continues through the ranks. Marcel Fässler (Opel Vectra GTS V8) came fourth ahead of Bernd Schneider (AMG-Mercedes C-class) and the Audi trio consisting of Christian Abt, Emanuele Pirro and Tom Kristensen.

Mattias Ekström (Audi):

"Everything has been going absolutely according to plan up to now. We worked through our to do list faultlessly irrespective of the two top times, which of course should always be savoured with a pinch of salt on Friday. Tomorrow is all about converting this performance into a place in the front start row."

Peter Dumbreck (Opel):

"Of course I'm absolutely pleased with this result. We worked hard and resolutely. The result shows that we're going in the right direction." Gary Paffett (Mercedes-Benz): "I'm pleased with third place. Contrary to the first training, we improved a great deal in the afternoon. But some changes will be necessary for tomorrow's qualifying."

-dtm-

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