Oschersleben warm-up: blow for Reuter

Reuter, who trails Mercedes' Bernd Schneider by 51 points, was involved in a collision with Audi's Kris Nissen. The 1996 ITC champion's Opel V8 Coupe was badly damaged and will need a new front left corner fitting before this afternoon's double-header.

"When your best car has an accident in the warm-up it's terrible," said Opel sports boss Volker Strycek. "I don't like to talk about bad luck, but at the moment, Schneider can do anything and it works. We need to put a bit of pressure on him and see if it works - see if he makes mistakes."

Pole-sitter Schneider finished the session ninth fastest, but without problems. Marcel Tiemann's Mercedes topped the time sheets, ahead of Opel's Jo Winkelhock.

Darren Turner was a confidence-boosting fourth fastest after throttle problems in qualifying had prevented him from setting a representative lap time, leaving him 15th.

For the races, Opel boss Strycek has refused to rule out team orders. Uwe Alzen starts alongside Schneider and Strycek said: "The team orders are that Uwe has to beat Bernd. If he's not ahead, then he has to bring him under pressure. Depending on where Uwe is relative to Reuter, we'll make a decision at the time."

After the wet weather debacle and abandonment of the Lausitzring, the forecast for Oschersleben is for dry and warm conditions. However, the track is likely to be extremely treacherous, with dust and gravel proving a major headache in all the sessions run so far.



1 Marcel Tiemann, Mercedes, 1m25.851s
2 Jo Winkelhock, Opel, 1m25.942s
3 Marcel Fassler, Mercedes, 1m25.989s
4 Darren Turner, Mercedes, 1m26.089s
5 Klaus Ludwig, Mercedes, 1m26.172s
6 Michael Bartels, Opel, 1m26.216s
7 Thomas Jager, Mercedes, 1m26.224s
8 Peter Dumbreck, Mercedes, 1m26.265s
9 Bernd Schneider, Mercedes, 1m26.295s
10 Timo Scheider, Opel, 1m26.325s