Practice 3: Aiello to the fore
Laurent Aiello returned to the top of the timesheets in the third and final one hour free practice session ahead of this afternoon's DTM qualifying session at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz. Aiello had trailed Mercedes star Bernd Schneider yesterday (Friday), was seemingly untroubled as he set a time of 1m40.069s in his Abt Audi TT-R
Aiello has taken victory in four out of five of this season's DTM races and already enjoys a sizeable championship lead, but will be eager to claim yet another victory to cement his status as champion elect.
Schneider himself could only manage fourth, some 0.4s off Aiello's time, and behind the young Audi pairing of Mattias Ekstrom and Martin Tomczyk. Schneider's AMG team-mate, former Ferrari F1 driver Jean Alesi, was 10th, nearly 0.5s off his triple-champion colleague.
Alain Menu was the lead Opel driver in fifth position, putting in a 1m40.290s late in the session in his Astra Coupe, giving the marque cause for optimism in their chase for a first victory of 2002.
Peter Dumbreck could only manage on 18th position in his Persson Motorsport Mercedes CLK, a 2001 model, and his record of not scoring any points in 2002 looks set to continue as he struggles with elderly equipment.
Former ITC champion and two-times Le Mans 24 Hours winner Manuel Reuter languished in 15th place overall, while 1993 BTCC champion Joachim Winkelhock was a solid ninth overall despite enduring a couple of brief off-track excursions.
The 45 minute qualifying session is scheduled to kick off at 12.05 BST.
Laurent Aiello (F) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m39.706s
Mattias Ekström (S) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m39.745s
Martin Tomczyk (D) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m39.919s
Bernd Schneider (D) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m40.096s
Alain Menu (CH) Euroteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 1m40.290s
Uwe Alzen (D) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m40.371s
Timo Scheider (D) Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 1m40.515s
Christijan Albers (NL) Rosberg Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m40.534s
Joachim Winkelhock (D) Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 1m40.545s
Jean Alesi (F) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m40.554s
Marcel Fässler (CH) AMG Mercedes-Bend CLK, 1m40.685s
Karl Wendlinger (CH) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m40.821s
Christian Abt (D) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m40.821s
Thomas Jäger (D) Persson Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m40.839s
Michael Bartels (D) Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 1m40.880s
Manuel Reuter (D) Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupe, 1m40.887s
Bernd Maylander (D) Manthey Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m40.839s
Peter Dumbreck (GB) Persson Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m41.204s
Patrick Huisman (NL) Manthey Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m41.209s
Yves Olivier (B) Euroteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 1m41.376s
Stefan Mücke (D) Rosberg Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m41.492s
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