Friday tests: Opel shines with Bartels
Opel has had plenty of false dawns in this year's DTM, but it led the way convincingly in both test sessions at Hockenheim today (Friday)
Manuel Reuter (Team Phoenix) was on top in this morning's wet session, but even when it dried out in the afternoon an Opel topped the times, with Michael Bartels leading the way for Team Holzer. The opposition was, as ever, close behind with Abt Sportsline's Martin Tomczyk (Audi) second fastest ahead of AMG Mercedes star Jean Alesi.
Timo Scheider, second this morning for Team Holzer, was fourth fastest this afternoon, ahead of Bernd Schneider (AMG Mercedes), who is looking to solidify his runner-up spot in the championship this weekend. His rival for the position, Abt's Mattias Ekstrom, was only 10th fastest.
Champion-elect Laurent Aiello (Audi) was seventh fastest, just pipped by Merc's Uwe Alzen by 0.033sec for a place in the top six. Britain's Peter Dumbreck was 18th in his year-old Mercedes, while DTM returnee Johnny Cecotto was last in his Euroteam Opel, but just 0.022sec behind Dumbreck's team-mate Thomas Jager.
Michael Bartels (D) Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 1m37.099s
Martin Tomczyk (D) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m37.237s
Jean Alesi (F) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m37.266s
Timo Scheider (D) Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 1m37.321s
Bernd Schneider (D) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m37.440s
Uwe Alzen (D) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m37.441s
Laurent Aiello (F) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m37.474s
Marcel Fässler (CH) AMG Mercedes-Bend CLK, 1m37.566s
Christian Abt (D) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m37.712s
Mattias Ekström (S) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m37.739s
Joachim Winkelhock (D) Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 1m37.790s
Manuel Reuter (D) Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupe, 1m37.850s
Alain Menu (CH) Euroteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 1m37.902s
Bernd Maylander (D) Manthey Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m38.015s
Christijan Albers (NL) Rosberg Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m38.092s
Patrick Huisman (NL) Manthey Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m38.122s
Karl Wendlinger (A) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m38.354s
Peter Dumbreck (GB) Persson Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m38.701s
Stefan Mücke (D) Rosberg Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m38.732s
Thomas Jäger (D) Persson Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m38.840s
Johnny Cecotto (YV) Eutoteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 1m38.862s
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