Paffett Lands Pole Blow on Ekstrom

Paffett, who trails Ekstrom by one point in their title battle, leads a Mercedes 1-2-3-4 in Turkey, with Ekstrom down in fifth. Worst still for the Swede, the next best Audi is Tom Kristensen, down in 10th after producing a terrible Super Pole lap.

Paffett will start ahead of Merc colleagues Bernd Schneider, Bruno Spengler - in a year-old Mercedes - and fellow Brit Jamie Green. Paffett said: "I saw Bernd did a good time, so I had to push hard. The harder I pushed, the faster the car went. It was close though; five hundredths of a second isn't much!"

Ekstrom said: "I'm disappointed but, to be honest, there was not much more time for me to find. I can still fight from there. I need to pass the three Mercs in front of me at the start and then sit behind Gary and wait for a mistake."

To that, Paffett responded: "He'll have to wait a very long time."

Manuel Reuter is the top Opel in sixth, ahead of ex-F1 stars Mika Hakkinen and Jean Alesi of Mercedes. Marcel Fassler (Opel) and Kristensen round out the top 10.

Super Pole:

Pos  Driver           Car                    Time
 1.  Gary Paffett     AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:47.101
 2.  Bernd Schneider  AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:47.156 + 00.055
 3.  Bruno Spengler   AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:47.280 + 00.179
 4.  Jamie Green      AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:47.330 + 00.229
 5.  Mattias Ekstrom  Audi A4 DTM            1:47.553 + 00.452
 6.  Manuel Reuter    Opel Vectra GTS V8     1:47.604 + 00.503
 7.  Mika Hakkinen    AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:47.641 + 00.540
 8.  Jean Alesi       AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:47.654 + 00.553
 9.  Marcel Fassler   Opel Vectra GTS V8     1:47.936 + 00.835
10.  Tom Kristensen   Audi A4 DTM            1:48.070 + 00.969

Qualifying:

Pos  Driver           Car                    Time
 1.  Bruno Spengler   AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:47.208
 2.  Gary Paffett     AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:47.337 + 00.129
 3.  Tom Kristensen   Audi A4 DTM            1:47.411 + 00.203
 4.  Mika Hakkinen    AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:47.431 + 00.223
 5.  Bernd Schneider  AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:47.439 + 00.231
 6.  Mattias Ekstrom  Audi A4 DTM            1:47.467 + 00.259
 7.  Marcel Fassler   Opel Vectra GTS V8     1:47.530 + 00.322
 8.  Jamie Green      AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:47.564 + 00.356
 9.  Manuel Reuter    Opel Vectra GTS V8     1:47.743 + 00.535
10.  Jean Alesi       AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:47.769 + 00.561
11.  Laurent Aiello   Opel Vectra GTS V8     1:47.814 + 00.606
12.  H.H. Frentzen    Opel Vectra GTS V8     1:47.830 + 00.622
13.  Martin Tomczyk   Audi A4 DTM            1:47.848 + 00.640
14.  Frank Stippler   Audi A4 DTM            1:48.001 + 00.793
15.  Allan McNish     Audi A4 DTM            1:48.181 + 00.973
16.  Rinaldo Capello  Audi A4 DTM            1:48.186 + 00.978
17.  A. Margaritis    AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:48.302 + 01.094
18.  Christian Abt    Audi A4 DTM            1:48.341 + 01.133
19.  Stefan Mucke     AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:48.377 + 01.169
20.  Pierre Kaffer    Audi A4 DTM            1:48.392 + 01.184

Starting Grid:

Pos  Driver           Car
 1.  Gary Paffett     AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse
 2.  Bernd Schneider  AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse
 3.  Bruno Spengler   AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse
 4.  Jamie Green      AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse
 5.  Mattias Ekstrom  Audi A4 DTM
 6.  Manuel Reuter    Opel Vectra GTS V8
 7.  Mika Hakkinen    AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse
 8.  Jean Alesi       AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse
 9.  Marcel Fassler   Opel Vectra GTS V8
10.  Tom Kristensen   Audi A4 DTM
11.  Laurent Aiello   Opel Vectra GTS V8
12.  H.H. Frentzen    Opel Vectra GTS V8
13.  Martin Tomczyk   Audi A4 DTM
14.  Frank Stippler   Audi A4 DTM
15.  Allan McNish     Audi A4 DTM
16.  Rinaldo Capello  Audi A4 DTM
17.  A. Margaritis    AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse
18.  Christian Abt    Audi A4 DTM
19.  Stefan Mucke     AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse
20.  Pierre Kaffer    Audi A4 DTM