Lausitzring DTM qualifying: Schneider again…

Schneider headed a Mercedes one-two-three, with Uwe Alzen and Eric Helary the best of the Opels in fourth and fifth.

Marcel Fassler lines up on the front row alongside Schneider, while Team Rosberg's Pedro Lamy continued the streak of form he'd shown at the Nurburgring two weeks ago by taking third on the grid.

"We've found a few things in the set-up," said Lamy, "and they all seem to work here. Now I just have to concentrate on getting round the first corner and see what happens after that."

Alzen complained of traffic on his fast lap, but still believed that a front row was beyond him. With rain forecast for tomorrow, and with Opel still reeling from a disastrous wet weather performance at the Nurburgring, Alzen was concerned that Mercedes' advantage would grow come the races.

"Mercedes definitely has an advantage in the wet," he said, "and it will be difficult to match them if the forecast for rain tomorrow is correct."

The session started with the track still wet from a heavy shower, but the times tumbled as the hour wore on. Timing when to go out was crucial, and the two drivers suffering the most from wrong guesses on the perfect window were Klaus Ludwig and Manuel Reuter, second and third in the points. Ludwig lines up 11th with Reuter's Opel 12th.

Audi enjoyed its most competitive qualifying session yet: Christian Abt lines up 15th for tomorrow's first race, ahead of the Opels of Michael Bartels and Christian Menzel - a major breakthrough.

James Thompson will be forced to start 20th and last on the grid after changing his engine before coming to the Lausitzring. Championship rules say that a driver must run the same engine for the whole season and should a change be necessary, that driver must start from the back for both races of the next meeting.

Race one at the Lausitzring starts at 1300 BST tomorrow (1400 local time).




1 Bernd Schneider, Mercedes, 1m42.072s
2 Marcel Fassler, Mercedes, 1m42.580s
3 Pedro Lamy, Mercedes, 1m42.597s
4 Uwe Alzen, Opel, 1m42.624s
5 Eric Helary, Opel, 1m42.655s
6 Peter Dumbreck, Mercedes, 1m42.664s
7 Stefano Modena, Opel, 1m42.825s
8 Thomas Jager, Mercedes, 1m42.841s
9 Timo Scheider, Opel, 1m42.941s
10 Darren Turner, Mercedes, 1m43.046s
11Klaus Ludwig, Mercedes, 1m43.075
12 Manuel Reuter, Opel, 1m43.143s
13 Jo Winkelhock, Opel, 1m43.198s
14 Marcel Tiemann, Mercedes, 1m43.210s
15 Christian Abt, Audi, 1m43.375s
16 Michael Bartels, Opel, 43.879
17 Christian Menzel, Opel, 1m43.917s
18 Laurent Aiello, Audi, 1m44.309s
19 Kris Nissen, Audi, 1m44.794s

N.B. James Thompson (Audi) will start from back of grid