Abt prepares to come out fighting

Star drivers Laurent Aiello (the reigning DTM champion), Christian Abt, Mattias Ekstrom and Martin Tomczyk shared driving duties in Italy, as the Abt squad attempts to get to the bottom of its problems with the TT-R.

"Of course, the strict regulations of the DTM limit possibilities during the course of the season," said team boss Hans-Jurgen Abt. "But we have found some details that we will now deal with as quickly as possible. Not just the drivers and the cars, but also the team is very well prepared for Donington. In order to make work in the pit lane even more perfect in realistic conditions, the pit stop crews were present at Vallelunga as well."

Abt believes this weekend's Donington race will provide the perfect platform as his team bids to overturn Mercedes-Benz's advantage. The three-pointed star has won every race so far this season.

"We have already seen that anything can happen at Donington," said Abt, referring to Opel's pole position and Jean Alesi's win last year. "This weekend, however, we want to do it better and get a decent starting position in the first place. And then we will attack."

Swedish young gun Ekstrom echoed his hopes: "I really like the circuit at Donington. It is really fast and fluent. Last year, we messed it up in qualifying. That is one thing we will be doing better this weekend for sure. And I am also curious to see how our efforts in testing will pay off. I think it will be a hot race for the spectators - and for our rivals."