Opel piles on the miles; Olivier to Phoenix?

Last year's runner-up Manuel Reuter completed over 400 miles in the first of the 2001 Astra V8 Coupes run by Team Phoenix, while Team Holzer-run Joachim Winkelhock almost matched that in the second of the new cars.

"We tried many adjustments, and so got many answers," said Reuter, who is expected to use the third 2001 chassis as his race car this year.

Hubert Haupt made his DTM return with Euroteam at Barcelona, sharing a 2000-spec car with his new team mate for 2001, Alain Menu. Also on track was Steffen Schulz in his Holzer-run 2000 car and privateer Peter Mamerow.

Reuter's team mate at Opel Team Phoenix could be Belgian Yves Olivier, who is chasing the final drive in its 2000-spec machine. The 26-year-old, who raced in German F3 from 1996-'99 and F3000 last year, has signed a letter of intent with the team: "I'd been talking to them [Opel] for months and I intended to go to Euroteam before Alain Menu signed there," he said.

Michael Bartels, who partnered Reuter at Phoenix last year, has not given up hope of staying in the DTM. The former Lotus F1 driver hopes to find the budget to race with Irmscher, which ran Christian Menzel last season.