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Hockenheim test: Schneider fastest

Bernd Schnieder signalled a note of intent in his quest to regain the DTM championship from Laurent Aiello and Audi, by setting the fastest time on the first day of testing at Hockenheim yesterday (Monday)

The test marked the public debut of the 2003-spec Abt-Audi TT-R, making it the first time that all three of the DTM's manufacturers have tested their new cars together.

Schneider's AMG Mercedes team-mate Jean Alesi set the second fastest time, although he was just 0.021s faster than Audi driver Mattias Ekstrom. Alain Menu was the lead Opel driver and set the fourth quickest time, and was himself just 0.041s slower than Ekstrom.

Reigning champion Aiello only managed to set the eighth fastest time at the test in the new Audi, which features several differences from its 2002 predecessor. The most notable of these is the car's exhaust pipes, which now emerge above the rear wheel arches rather than the side of the car, the first time such an arrangement has been featured on a DTM machine.

Bernd Schneider Mercedes 1m35.414s 79
Jean Alesi Mercedes 1m35.735s 75
Mattias Ekstrom Audi 1m35.756s 36
Alain Menu Opel 1m35.797s 46
Christijan Albers Mercedes 1m35.915s 84
Thomas Jager Mercedes 1m36.309s 75
Karl Wendlinger Audi 1m36.322s 48
Laurent Aiello Audi 1m36.587s 23
Christian Abt Audi 1m37.549s 13
Katsutomo Kaneishi Mercedes 1m37.760s 74
Manuel Reuter Opel 1m37.821s 19
Peter Terting Audi 1m39.301s 12
Martin Tomczyk Audi 1m46.295s 2

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