Drivers hope to avoid safety car

So far this season only one of the six races has run cleanly from start to finish, and the drivers are hoping for the first clean race since Oschersleben.

The timing of safety car periods this year has often had a big impact on the outcome of the races, and Audi's drivers were particularly vocal on the subject after they lost out at Mugello last time.

"I hope we have a fair race, with no accidents, and no safety cars," said championship leader Mattias Ekstrom.

"At the end of the race, the quickest guys that deserve to be at the front should be at the front. I think that is the aim of everyone at Audi."

Martin Tomczyk, who will start one place behind his teammate in third, backed up the claim.

"We hope that there is no such confusion again like there was at Mugello with the safety car," he said. "I think if we can do our pace and have a normal race, that would be fair and we will see who the fastest are."

But while the comments from the Audi drivers come after they lost out because of a safety car period at the last round, Mercedes driver Bruno Spengler admitted that he agreed with them.

"As these guys said, no confusion in the race would be good," said the Canadian. "I think on race pace we are there without a doubt, so we are going to give everything for this fight."