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BMW, Audi face race against time to get cars ready for Lausitz

BMW and Audi face a race against time to get their full contingent of cars ready for this weekend's second round of the DTM at Lausitz, according to leading figures from both manufacturers

The Lausitz round takes place just seven days after the Hockenheim season-opener, at which Mercedes filled three of the first four places and cars from the rival manufacturers were involved in a number of collisions.

Schnitzer drivers Bruno Spengler and Dirk Werner were both hit by Ralf Schumacher's Mercedes early on, with the Canadian retiring with the damage, while further collisions with rivals ended champion Martin Tomczyk's race and caused Joey Hand to fall to the back of the field.

BMW motorsport director Jens Marquardt said that his organisation will work day and night to get the six M3 machines ready in time.

"Our teams all worked hard in Hockenheim, and they will have their hands full to repair the damaged cars in time for the first practice session ahead of the next race," Marquardt said. "There is no time to catch a breather.

"But the whole team is motivated as they can all see that we are heading in the right direction. The overall package is working well and the performance is promising."

Abt Sportsline team director Hans-Jurgen Abt, who saw only his lead driver Mattias Ekstrom emerge unscathed from the weekend, and lost both Adrien Tambay and Timo Scheider to damage-induced retirements, echoed Marquardt's sentiments.

"The race at Lausitz is a very special one for us, as we've only got three days for preparing the cars," said Abt. "To top it off, we were the victims of several attacks at Hockenheim and have now got a lot of repair work to do.

"But we're traveling to the next race as the best Audi team and with Mattias ranking in third place of the standings. We're going to do everything we can to strike back as quickly as possible."

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