Ekstrom tops Zandvoort practice
Mattias Ekstrom topped the second DTM free practice session at Zandvoort after a blistering lap in the closing stages on Saturday morning
The Swede had been quiet for most of the session, but he emerged for a flying lap with five minutes remaining, and eclipsed Audi team-mate Timo Scheider's best effort by four tenths of a second.
Scheider and Miguel Molina completed an Audi top three, continuing the manufacturer's strong performance from Friday.
Ekstrom aside, the Mercedes drivers were able to mix it with the Audis this time. The session appeared to be turning into an Audi walkover, until Mercedes sent its drivers out to up their pace with half an hour to go.
The top Audi runners responded, before Paul di Resta, Gary Paffett and Bruno Spengler all got themselves back into the top six in the closing moments.
The top 10 was completed by 2008-spec cars, as the Audis of Markus Winkelhock, Alexandre Premat and Mike Rockenfeller headed Jamie Green.
Ex-Formula 1 drivers Ralf Schumacher and David Coulthard ended the session in 13th and 14th places respectively.
Schumacher had been mixing it with his HWA-Mercedes team-mates for most of the session, but he elected not to join them in doing a final run which left him down the field.
Coulthard spent most of the session in the middle of the timesheets, but he lost some track time after an off-track excursion through the grass.
Pos Driver Car Time Gap 1. Mattias Ekstrom Audi 1m31.665s 2. Timo Scheider Audi 1m32.094s + 0.429s 3. Miguel Molina Audi 1m32.176s + 0.511s 4. Paul di Resta Mercedes 1m32.180s + 0.515s 5. Bruno Spengler Mercedes 1m32.192s + 0.527s 6. Gary Paffett Mercedes 1m32.293s + 0.628s 7. Markus Winkelhock Audi 1m32.394s + 0.729s 8. Alexandre Premat Audi 1m32.399s + 0.734s 9. Mike Rockenfeller Audi 1m32.463s + 0.798s 10. Jamie Green Mercedes 1m32.510s + 0.845s 11. Oliver Jarvis Audi 1m32.514s + 0.849s 12. Maro Engel Mercedes 1m32.575s + 0.910s 13. Ralf Schumacher Mercedes 1m32.642s + 0.977s 14. David Coulthard Mercedes 1m32.949s + 1.284s 15. Susie Stoddart Mercedes 1m32.991s + 1.326s 16. Martin Tomczyk Audi 1m33.045s + 1.380s 17. Cong Fu Cheng Mercedes 1m33.196s + 1.531s 18. Katherine Legge Audi 1m33.311s + 1.646s
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