Audi boss blames poor teamwork

The Abt Sportsline Audi squad, which has not been beaten at the Dutch track since 2005, could not get any of its cars higher than eighth on the grid for Sunday's race, while the 2008-spec car of Oliver Jarvis took pole position.

Reigning champion Timo Scheider admitted that there were no special circumstances that had led to him getting knocked out of qualifying early on, and Ullrich believes that poor communication in the team has left it struggling for speed this weekend.

"Oliver did a great job, but I'm not so happy with the performance of the 2009 cars," said Ullrich. "We have to sit together and look at the reasons why it didn't work.

"Maybe the team-mates didn't help each other enough. I don't think this was deliberate, but more down to poor communication, so we have to work together now and make sure it doesn't happen again."

He also added that he was pleased to see Jarvis add to his ever-increasing reputation by grabbing the opportunity to take a surprise pole position.

"It was a great performance from Oliver. He's shown his speed in the older car many times before, so I'm glad that when he had a chance like this it was in his own hands and he took it."

Despite the troubles for Audi's top cars, Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug believes that they will still be a factor near the front in the race.

"It is a surprise, and we certainly did not expect to be on the front row," said Haug. "But I still think Audi can be strong with strategy tomorrow, so they will come back."