Abt surprise pacesetter at Zandvoort
Saturday's free practice at Zandvoort posed more questions than answers ahead of this afternoon's qualifying session, as Christian Abt topped the times in his year-old Audi A4
That an '05-spec car set the pace isn't unusual - Mercedes' Alexandros Margaritis did the same at the Nurburgring last time out - but the fact there were four '05-spec cars and one '04-spec machine in the top seven places was rare indeed.
Abt's 1:33.492 was just 0.095 seconds faster than Mattias Ekstrom's 06-spec Audi, with Friday pace man Heinz-Harald Frentzen next up in his '06 Audi. A trio of 2005 Mercs followed in the order Daniel La Rosa, Margaritis and Jean Alesi, the latter having an exciting session with a major moment at the daunting 170 km/h Scheivlak bend before spinning on his next run at Mastersbocht.
Former Minardi F1 racer Nicolas Kiesa was a sensational seventh in his 2004-spec Audi, even outpacing the '06 car of title contender Tom Kristensen.
The works Mercedes team had another strange session, however, with recent form man Bruno Spengler down in 11th after a trip through the gravel at Tarzan, and series leader Bernd Schneider stuck in the pits with mechanical trouble. Teammates Jamie Green and Mika Hakkinen were only 14th and 15th.
Chinks in the Mercedes armour? Or a decoy to get under Audi's guard? We'll find out when qualifying kicks off at 13:37 CET.
Pos Driver Car Time 1. Christian Abt Audi A4 1:33.492 2. Mattias Ekstrom Audi A4 1:33.587 + 0.095 3. H.H. Frentzen Audi A4 1:33.671 + 0.179 4. Daniel La Rosa AMG Mercedes C-Klasse 1:33.680 + 0.188 5. A. Margaritis AMG Mercedes C-Klasse 1:33.698 + 0.206 6. Jean Alesi AMG Mercedes C-Klasse 1:33.745 + 0.253 7. Nicolas Kiesa Audi A4 1:33.810 + 0.318 8. Tom Kristensen Audi A4 1:33.857 + 0.365 9. Timo Scheider Audi A4 1:33.929 + 0.437 10. Martin Tomczyk Audi A4 1:33.957 + 0.465 11. Bruno Spengler AMG Mercedes C-Klasse 1:33.976 + 0.484 12. Stefan Mucke AMG Mercedes C-Klasse 1:34.076 + 0.584 13. Pierre Kaffer Audi A4 1:34.092 + 0.600 14. Jamie Green AMG Mercedes C-Klasse 1:34.228 + 0.736 15. Mika Hakkinen AMG Mercedes C-Klasse 1:34.289 + 0.797 16. Frank Stippler Audi A4 1:34.366 + 0.874 17. Vanina Ickx Audi A4 1:34.978 + 1.486 18. Mathias Lauda AMG Mercedes C-Klasse 1:35.107 + 1.615 19. Susie Stoddart AMG Mercedes C-Klasse 1:35.291 + 1.799 20. Bernd Schneider AMG Mercedes C-Klasse 3:54.396 + 2:20.904
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