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Aiello title hopes hit by fuel scandal

DTM points leader Laurent Aiello, who only needs seven points to win the championship at Zandvoort in Holland today (Sunday) has had his pole position taken away due to a fuel irregularity which was discovered after qualifying and revealed overnight

Aiello's Abt Audi will not take part in the qualification race at Zandvoort, and will start the main event from the back of the grid. His Abt Sportsline team has admitted blame for the tainted fuel sample, and says traces of fuel from a test at EuroSpeedway Lausitz caused the anomaly.

"During the test at EuroSpeedway Lausitz we have been using fuel from the station over there," said Abt's technical boss Albert Deuring. "Apparently, little amounts that were left over have now mixed with the race fuel and thus caused the difference from the specification used in Zandvoort."

Team boss Hans-Jurgen Abt said: "Although we didn't get ourselves any advantage [from the different fuel] we accept the decision of the stewards."

Ironically, Abt claims that the racing fuel used for the Zandvoort DTM weekend is of a higher octane than the traces discovered in Aiello's tank.

Mercedes' Marcel Fassler, who won the previous round at the A1-Ring in Austria, will now start from pole position, with AMG colleague and title aspirant Bernd Schneider in sixth. Schneider needs to outscore Aiello by seven points to take the championship to the wire at Hockenheim next weekend.

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