Qualifying: Aiello heads Audi charge

Only Opel's Manuel Reuter, with a last minute attempt, managed to break up the Audi party, netting fourth in his Astra Coupe. "This lap time shows we have the performance," said Reuter.

The fastest Mercedes was AMG's Bernd Schneider, who could only manage the seventh fastest time after making mistakes on his final two runs.

Aiello lapped the Hockenheim short circuit in 57.528s, 0.172s faster than young German team-mate Martin Tomczyk. Recent recruit Karl Wendlinger will start third in his Red Bull-liveried Audi. Christian Abt and Mattias Ekstrom completed Abt's dream day with fifth and sixth fastest times.

"I didn't expect this," said team boss Hans-Jurgen Abt. "We worked very hard over the winter to get a result like this, but to actually do it is very motivating for us."

Aiello said: "We have a lot of knowledge about this car, we have the right set-up and now we have got the result."

Schneider was over half a second away from pole position and will start seventh, ahead of Opel's Timo Scheider, Marcel Fassler (Mercedes) and Alain Menu (Opel).

"I'm very disappointed with my own performance," said Schneider. "I was unhappy until the last two corners, which I screwed up."

Scotland's Peter Dumbreck produced a last-lap flyer to grab 11th place in his 2001 Persson Mercedes, working wonders to qualify ahead of the 2002 AMG Mercs of Uwe Alzen (13th) and Jean Alesi (14th).

Patrick Huisman, the qualification race winner in the final round at Hockenheim, will start tomorrow's race from last in his year-old CLK.


Laurent Aiello (F) Abt-Audi TT-R, 57.528s
Martin Tomczyk (D) Abt-Audi TT-R, 57.700s
Karl Wendlinger (A) Abt-Audi TT-R, 57.845s
Manuel Reuter (D) Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupe, 57.903s
Christian Abt (D) Abt-Audi TT-R, 58.033s
Mattias Ekström (S) Abt-Audi TT-R, 58.046s
Bernd Schneider (D) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 58.083s
Timo Scheider (D) Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 58.106s
Marcel Fässler (CH) AMG Mercedes-Bend CLK, 58.235s
Alain Menu (CH) Euroteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 58.322s
Peter Dumbreck (GB) Persson Mercedes-Benz CLK, 58.410s
Joachim Winkelhock (D) Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 58.426s
Uwe Alzen (D) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 58.487s
Jean Alesi (F) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 58.523s
Thomas Jäger (D) Persson Mercedes-Benz CLK, 58.556s
Michael Bartels (D) Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 58.593s
Christijan Albers (NL) Rosberg Mercedes-Benz CLK, 58.721s
Yves Olivier (B) Eutoteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 58.737s
Stefan Mücke (D) Rosberg Mercedes-Benz CLK, 58.748s
Marcel Tiemann (D) Manthey Mercedes-Benz CLK, 58.816s
Patrick Huisman (NL) Manthey Mercedes-Benz CLK, 58.950s