Audi admits weather forecast error

Several Audi drivers were eliminated in the first segment of qualifying after they opted to scrub wet tyres when the track was dry at the start, and rain then fell in the early minutes of the session.

Those already on track with slick tyres were able to get one hot lap in before the circuit became treacherous, but the Audi drivers did not have a chance to put their slicks to use.

While Mattias Ekstrom made it through the session by 0.013 seconds and went on to take pole, championship leader Tom Kristensen missed out along with Martin Tomczyk, Oliver Jarvis and Alexandre Premat.

"The first part did not run as we expected," said Ullrich. "We had information that it would stay dry for the first part, so some of our guys decided to scrub some rain tyres.

"All the ones that did, in the end missed out. The exception was Mattias, he somehow made it with a special effort.

"On the first lap already it was starting to rain, so the ones on slick tyres had the chance to do a lap. This cost Tom, Martin, Alexandre and Oliver the chance to get into the second part, which is very disappointing.

"To have the championship leader at the back is not what we wanted, but Mattias and Timo [Scheider] are in good positions, so we will try to make the best of it."

Audi's weather forecasters made similar errors last year, most notably at the Nurburgring, where it opted to start several frontrunning cars on slicks in the race just as rain started to fall.