Ekstrom Claims Hockenheim Pole
Mattias Ekstrom has taken the first DTM super pole of the year with a tremendously smooth lap around the Hockenheimring
The Swede was the fifth man out in the session, using all of the track but driving well within himself to take the provisional top spot before waiting for the five fastest drivers from the open qualifying session to try and top him.
Jamie Green, in his debut race weekend with the series, ran a very smooth, conservative lap just prior to countryman Gary Paffett, who was very quick but a slight off was enough to lose pole position.
After the British pair Tom Kristensen was very ragged - he almost threw the car off riding the kerbs but held the car, and then lost more time pushing to regain what he lost in the incident. After Bernd Schneider finished his very ragged lap Ekstrom pumped his first with joy, knowing he would be on the front of the grid at tomorrow's season opener.
In the open session Mika Hakkinen was the most notable of the rookie drivers, but his lack of testing was clear as he finished the session in fifteenth position, just behind fellow newbie Allan McNish.
Canadian Bruno Spengler was very impressive in last year's Mercedes to claim a provisional fifth position, but off-season pace man Heinz-Harald Frentzen was very disappointing, with a time that will see the German on the back row of the grid.
DTM Qualifying, Hockenheimring
Pos Driver Make Laps Time Gap 1. Bernd Schneider AMG-Mercedes C-Class 6 1:34.648 2. Tom Kristensen Audi A4 DTM 7 1:34.817 +0.169 3. Gary Paffett AMG-Mercedes C-Class 7 1:34.996 +0.348 4. Jamie Green AMG-Mercedes C-Class 8 1:35.064 +0.416 5. Bruno Spengler AMG-Mercedes C-Class 8 1:35.156 +0.508 6. Mattias Ekstrom Audi A4 DTM 9 1:35.234 +0.586 7. Marcel Fassler Opel Vectra GTS V8 9 1:35.283 +0.635 8. Jean Alesi AMG-Mercedes C-Class 8 1:35.288 +0.640 9. Martin Tomczyk Audi A4 DTM 8 1:35.304 +0.656 10. Stefan Mucke AMG-Mercedes C-Class 9 1:35.434 +0.786 11. Laurent Aiello Opel Vectra GTS V8 8 1:35.435 +0.787 12. Christian Abt Audi A4 DTM 9 1:35.464 +0.816 13. Frank Stippler Audi A4 DTM 9 1:35.467 +0.819 14. Allan McNish Audi A4 DTM 9 1:35.625 +0.977 15. Mika Hakkinen AMG-Mercedes C-Class 6 1:35.697 +1.049 16. Alexandros Margaritis AMG-Mercedes C-Class 8 1:35.756 +1.108 17. Manuel Reuter Opel Vectra GTS V8 8 1:35.880 +1.232 18. Pierre Kaffer Audi A4 DTM 9 1:35.915 +1.267 19. Heinz-Harald Frentzen Opel Vectra GTS V8 9 1:35.967 +1.319 20. Rinaldo Capello Audi A4 DTM 8 1:36.020 +1.372
Super Pole
Pos Driver Make Time Gap 1. Mattias Ekstrom Audi A4 DTM 1:35.251 2. Gary Paffett AMG-Mercedes C-Class 1:35.283 +0.032 3. Jamie Green AMG-Mercedes C-Class 1:35.809 +0.558 4. Marcel Fassler Opel Vectra GTS V8 1:36.075 +0.824 5. Jean Alesi AMG-Mercedes C-Class 1:36.179 +0.928 6. Bruno Spengler AMG-Mercedes C-Class 1:36.191 +0.940 7. Martin Tomczyk Audi A4 DTM 1:36.222 +0.971 8. Bernd Schneider AMG-Mercedes C-Class 1:36.354 +1.103 9. Tom Kristensen Audi A4 DTM 1:36.489 +1.238 10. Stefan Mucke AMG-Mercedes C-Class 1:36.587 +1.336
About this article
| Series | DTM |
| Drivers | Mattias Ekström |
| Author | David Cameron |
The slow-burner threatening to unseat Audi's DTM king
It's taken him a while to emerge as a consistent title challenger, but in the final year of DTM's Class One rule set, Nico Muller has smoothed the rough edges and has double champion stablemate Rene Rast working harder than ever to keep up in the title race
How a DTM failure became an unlikely Nurburgring conqueror
Opel's fortunes in the DTM had taken a turn for the worst by 2003 - hardly the pedigree that suggested it could take on the toughest 24-hour race of them all. But that's exactly what it did
The season that revitalised a sleeping giant
On the 20th anniversary of the resumption of hostilities in the DTM, Autosport revisits a classic season that brought a staple of German motorsport back to life with a bang and set in motion the careers of some notable names
Does 2000 hold the answers to DTM's current crisis?
It's 20 years since the DTM roared back into life at a packed Hockenheim with a back-to-basics approach as the antidote to its high-tech past. Now it's on its knees again, so is it time to recall the lessons learned in 2000?
The last-chance saloon of Germany's forgotten tin-top champions
The Opel Vectra GTS was the last in the line of the marque's DTM challengers, but failed to hit the lofty heights of its predecessors when financial constraints hit
Ranking the 10 best Audi DTM drivers
Audi last week announced it would be exiting the DTM at the end of 2020, bringing the curtain down on 20 years of continuous participation since the series' reboot in 2000. Autosport's expert panel ranks its 10 best drivers from the period
How the DTM landed itself in crisis
Audi's announcement that it will withdraw from the DTM was the latest bodyblow for a series that has lost three manufacturers in as many years. Some major soul-searching will now be required to assess how it can survive
The FE cynic who had to accept change in his series
DTM boss Gerhard Berger was an ardent detractor of Formula E and was reluctant for his series to embrace greener engine technologies. But this cynic's tune has had to change to ensure the DTM's existence in the future of motorsport
