Kristensen on Pole Despite Storm
Tom Kristensen made a last minute charge at East Germany's Oschersleben circuit to grab pole position for tomorrow's DTM race, in unusual weather circumstances
The circuit was hit by a tropical storm a couple of hours before qualifying was set to begin, and parts of the track held knee-high standing water, forcing the organisers to postpone the qualifying session until water could be removed from the track.
After intensive work around the circuit, the session was cut short to 30 minutes, with Super Pole cancelled. The 20-car field had 30 minutes to establish tomorrow's grid, with some parts of the circuit still heavily wet.
But with a graceful period of no rain, times quickly tumbled down, and while the first man on track - Mercedes' Bernd Schneider - set a time in the 1:38s, by the end of the session Dane Kristensen was able to grab pole with a time of 1:20.218.
The difficult conditions caught out former F1 drivers Mika Hakkinen and Heinz Harald Frenzten - each had a turbulent off-track excursion through the muddy grass, which damaged their qualifying attempts, if not their cars.
Finn Hakkinen ended with the slowest time, the floor of his car too damaged to go out again in time and improve his fastest lap. Frentzen was somewhat better off - he qualified 14th.
Kristensen will start alongside Audi Sport teammate Martin Tomczyk, ahead of an all-British second row featuring Gary Paffett in third and Jamie Green in fourth. DTM reigning champion Mattias Ekstrom will start in fifth.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Tom Kristensen Audi Sport Team Abt 1:20.218 8 2. Martin Tomczyk Audi Sport Team Abt 1:20.989 + 0.771 8 3. Gary Paffett DaimlerChrysler Bank 1:21.004 + 0.786 8 4. Jamie Green Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes 1:21.053 + 0.835 8 5. Mattias Ekstrom Audi Sport Team Abt 1:21.058 + 0.840 9 6. Laurent Aiello Team OPC 1:21.229 + 1.011 8 7. Bruno Spengler Junge Gebrauchte 1:21.373 + 1.155 9 8. Allan McNish Audi Sport Team Abt 1:21.374 + 1.156 9 9. Frank Stippler Audi Sport Team Joest 1:21.397 + 1.179 8 10. Bernd Schneider Vodafone AMG-Mercedes 1:21.453 + 1.235 9 11. Rinaldo Capello Audi Sport Team Joest 1:21.458 + 1.240 9 12. Marcel Fassler GMAC Team OPC 1:21.961 + 1.743 9 13. Stefan Mucke Mucke Motorsport 1:21.963 + 1.745 9 14. H.H. Frentzen Stern Team OPC 1:22.170 + 1.952 8 15. Pierre Kaffer Audi Sport Team Joest 1:22.307 + 2.089 9 16. A. Margaritis Mucke Motorsport 1:22.387 + 2.169 9 17. Christian Abt Audi Sport Team Joest 1:22.482 + 2.264 9 18. Manuel Reuter Team OPC 1:22.551 + 2.333 9 19. Jean Alesi AMG-Mercedes 1:22.575 + 2.357 8 20. Mika Hakkinen Sport Edition AMG 1:24.938 + 4.720 4
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