Di Resta: Mercedes yet to show pace

The Scottish driver, who has been promoted to a 2008-spec car for his second year in the series, is happy with the way his pre-season programme has gone, despite Audis topping most of the test days in the last month.

"Testing all went quite well," di Resta told autosport.com. "Ultimately, I don't think we showed our true pace but I think we're certainly not looking bad.

"We had a programme to do and we got through it. The new car feels good, and we just ran through set-up changes."

The 2006 F3 Euro Series champion had an impressive DTM debut in a 2005-spec Mercedes at Hockenheim last year, and he is hoping to repeat the impact he made one year ago.

"After last year, hopefully we can go in with a bang at Hockenheim again," he added. "I've got all I need to do the job now, I just need to get myself sorted and do the best I can."

Reigning champion Mattias Ekstrom echoed di Resta's views that the testing times from Mugello and Oschersleben offer little indication of how the season will pan out.

"The tests are valuable to us as a team, but they are of little value to compare with the others," the Swede told autosport.com. "There is a very small difference (between laptimes) in qualifying, so it's difficult to know."