Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Aiello gutted by disastrous session

DTM star Laurent Aiello was left exasperated after a disastrous qualifying session at the Norisring today (Saturday) left him 19th on the grid for tomorrow's qualifying race, and admits his title hopes have taken a serious knock

The Frenchman is returning to Germany's premier tin-top series after skipping the previous race at Sachsenring to contest the Le Mans 24 Hours with Audi. His replacement for that event, Kris Nissen, was involved in a high-speed crash which destroyed Aiello's race car and forced the Abt Sportsline team to build a replacement machine in a matter of weeks.

But despite topping the times in Friday's first free practice session, when he used a second set of tyres to everyone else's one, the amiable former BTCC champ slumped towards the rear of the grid in qualifying.

"We just don't know what's wrong," he shrugged. "I'm losing time under braking, while I'm turning and under acceleration. And if you lose a bit at this place, then you lose a lot."

Aiello thinks the root of the problem could lie in the fact that his car hasn't had enough miles under its belt to be run-in properly.

"The car is brand new and it takes time to adjust and set-up, which is a situation that is not of my making," he said. "We've got a lot of work to do and need to run the car more. I don't think we're the quickest team here, but I do think I could have matched Christian [Abt, who will start fifth], because our cars appeared to be similar on pace this morning. I was certainly on the same springs as him.

"It's going to be a difficult race, starting from where I am, but it's always difficult around here. I think there's going to be big brake problems because of the heat. Anyway, it cannot possibly get worse for me."

Aiello admits that his championship chances have been severely affected by the events of the last few weeks.

"The championship has got to be very difficult now," he admitted. "OK, I could have been on the podium if I didn't break a roll-bar at Oschersleben, but this is going to be the one which makes big problems for us.

"What you've seen in qualifying, I think it's going to be even worse when it comes to the race. Maybe after the Nurburgring I was thinking the championship was a possibility, but I've now gone back to the pre-season aim, and will be happy to be on the podium at the end of the year," he added.

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Qualifying: Pole for Schneider
Next article 'We're back!' says Opel boss

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe