Returnee Premat not in pain

The Frenchman had been out of action with a cracked lumbar vertebra since the season-opener at Hockenheim, so Friday's free practice sessions at Lausitz were his first opportunity to check his fitness in a racing car.

"I'm fine, and my back is fine," Premat told autosport.com. "I have no pain at all so I'm very happy."

The former GP2 racer added that he is expecting a tough weekend for Audi at Lausitz, despite his 2006-specification A4 running relatively light in comparison to most of its competitors.

"We are light, but I think the Mercedes are quick here," he added. "They seem to have very good traction, so it will be hard for us."

Bruno Spengler has been the pacesetter so far in practice this weekend in one of the 2007-spec Mercedes, while Audi have struggled to get many of their cars near the top of the timesheets.

"The results of practice don't look too good for us," said Audi's head of motorsport Wolfgang Ullrich.

"As expected, we are struggling with the 2007-spec cars due to the weight, but Mattias Ekstrom has found a decent set-up for the car so we will try and apply that to the other cars."