Friday free practice: Balance at last?

At the end of Friday's pair of free practice sessions for the DTM's second foray to Germany's Eurospeedway Lausitz facility, the top three slots were shared by the three competing marques, with Audi's Laurent Aiello edging Bernd Schneider's Mercedes and the Opel of Manuel Reuter.

It's been a long time in the mix, but Aiello, Schneider and Reuter were the three marque's respective pre-season favourites for title glory and, better late rather than never, at last appeared at the top of a timesheet together.

If - and one is loathe to tempt fate here - Reuter and the other seven Opel drivers keep up this form for the remaining five races, it will be more of a pride-saving exercise than a realistic tilt at the title, but it should provide for some exciting racing.

The shoots of recovery had been seen at the Sachsenring and the DTM's Norisring showpiece, but the Eurospeedway's mix of twisting infield road course and the oval's high-speed final banked turn and start-finish straight are perhaps the best pointer so far to the Astra V8s' true form.

Aiello's morning time of 1m41.264s was good enough to keep the top spot after the two 90-minute sessions. Schneider's HWA-run CLK stopped the clocks with a 1m41.527s, with Reuter completing the 'big three' with a 1m41.673s lap as both found time in the afternoon's second session.

Behind them, the rest of the top 10 boded well for some genuine mixing of the marques this weekend. Mattias Ekstrom's Audi and the Mercs of Peter Dumbreck and Tomas Jager completed the top six, with Opel Euroteam's Alain Menu in seventh, ahead of the remaining two Audis and Marcel Fassler's CLK.

Mercedes' walking wounded returned to the fray: Bernd Maylander, who broke his heel in a fall at Oschersleben, worked himself up to speed gently, with 20th overall, while David Saelens ended the day 18th after his Silverstone Formula 3000 shunt last month left him with back injuries.

But with Opel getting it together, it now remains for the east German weather to play ball. For last year's debut event, the track was deluged with rain throughout race day, leading to the cancellation of both races. This time around, with an earlier slot, the forecast is only for showers.

Why the earlier slot? Because the inaugural FedEx CART Championship race takes place on the track's oval on September 15, the weekend of last year's water-logged debacle. Ah well, good luck to the Champ Cars...


Laurent Aiello, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, 1m41.162s
Bernd Schneider, 2001 D2 Mercedes CLK, 1m41.527s
Manuel Reuter, 2001 Phoenix Opel Astra Coupe, 1m41.673s
Mattias Ekstrom, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, 1m41.737s
Peter Dumbreck, 2001 D2 Mercedes CLK, 1m41.777s
Tomas Jager, 2000 Persson Mercedes CLK, 1m41.935s
Alain Menu, 2001 Euroteam Opel Astra Coupe, 1m42.074s
Christian Abt, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R 1m42.088s
Martin Tomczyk, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, 1m42.112s
Marcel Fassler, 2001 Warsteiner Mercedes CLK, 1m42.174s
Timo Scheider, 2001 Holzer Opel Astra Coupe, 1m42.205s
Patrick Huisman, 2001 Eschmann-Manthey Mercedes CLK, 1m42.366s
Michael Bartels, 2001 Holzer Opel Astra Coupe, 1m42.369s
Uwe Alzen, 2001 Warsteiner Mercedes CLK, 1m42.417s
Christijan Albers, 2000 Persson Mercedes CLK, 1m42.492s
Joachim Winkelhock, 2001 Holzer Opel Astra Coupe, 1m42.698s
Darren Turner, 2000 Rosberg Mercedes CLK, 1m42.756s
David Saelens, 2000 Rosberg Mercedes CLK, 1m43.064s
Yves Olivier, 2000 Phoenix Opel Astra Coupe, 1m43.491s
Bernd Maylander, 2001 Eschmann-Manthey Mercedes CLK, 1m43.637s
Hubert Haupt, 2000 Euroteam Opel Astra Coupe, 1m43.705s
Peter Mamerow, 2000 Mamerow Opel Astra Coupe, 1m46.670s