Preview: Schneider under attack

As in the past two seasons, Mercedes is joined in the series by Opel and Audi, the latter represented by top tuning house Abt Sportsline. Schneider is joined in the lead AMG squad by retired F1 hero Jean Alesi, who said: "I want to be competitive from the word go and fight for top places."

Only the four-car AMG squad, which also includes Uwe Alzen and Marcel Fassler, will have the benefit of new-shape 2002 CLKs. The rest, including Peter Dumbreck and Thomas Jager (Persson), Bernd Maylander (who will be replaced by Marcel Tiemann this weekend due to illness) and Patrick Huisman (Manthey), and Christijan Albers and Stefan Mucke (Rosberg) will have to make do with last year's machinery.

Opel has trimmed its attack to six cars, but the 2002 Astra Coupe should be a much more competitive prospect than its predecessor, which lacked both downforce and structural rigidity. Joachim Winkelhock, who joins Manuel Reuter at Team Phoenix, says this weekend's Hockenheim race gives him much cause for optimism: "Our race cars are significantly faster, the new Dunlop tyres are great and the new tarmac here gives more grip than the old."

Along with Phoenix, Holzer will field young gun Timo Scheider and ex-F1 driver Michael Bartels, while Euroteam runs former BTCC champ Alain Menu and Belgium's Yves Olivier.

In the absence of Opel's expected threat last year, Abt Sportsline took the fight to Mercedes. Laurent Aiello won two races, and the team strength has been upped to five cars with the inclusion of former Sauber F1 star Karl Wendlinger, who said: "It is my first goal to keep up with my team mates [Aiello, Christian Abt, Mattias Ekstrom and Martin Tomczyk] as soon as possible."

For an in-depth preview, including the thoughts of former champion Klaus Ludwig, see this week's AUTOSPORT magazine.


1 Bernd Schneider (D) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK
2 Jean Alesi (F) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK
3 Laurent Aiello (F) Abt-Audi TT-R
4 Karl Wendlinger (A) Abt-Audi TT-R
5 Uwe Alzen (D) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK
6 Marcel Fässler (CH) AMG Mercedes-Bend CLK
7 Manuel Reuter (D) Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupe
8 Joachim Winkelhock (D) Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupé
9 Mattias Ekström (S) Abt-Audi TT-R
10 Christian Abt (D) Abt-Audi TT-R
11 Thomas Jäger (D) Persson Mercedes-Benz CLK
12 Peter Dumbreck (GB) Persson Mercedes-Benz CLK
14 Timo Scheider (D) Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé
15 Michael Bartels (D) Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé
16 Bernd Mayländer (D) Manthey Mercedes-Benz CLK
17 Patrick Huisman (NL) Manthey Mercedes-Benz CLK
18 Alain Menu (CH) Euroteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé
19 Yves Olivier (B) Eutoteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé
23 Martin Tomczyk (D) Abt-Audi TT-R
24 Stefan Mücke (D) Rosberg Mercedes-Benz CLK
44 Christijan Albers (NL) Rosberg Mercedes-Benz CLK