Qualifying race: Aiello strokes home

Aiello (Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R) led the race from start to finish from pole, and never looked threatened. He won by 4.7secs, ahead of Mercedes' Uwe Alzen, who started fourth but zoomed past both Bernd Schneider (Mercedes) and Christian Abt (Audi) at the first corner.

Abt seemed preoccupied with keeping Schneider at bay and didn't realise until it was too late that Alzen had sneaked up on his outside into the Castrol chicane.

Abt then spent the rest of the race with one eye on Schneider in his mirrors, but the reigning champ didn't get close enough to attempt a serious passing move. In fact, Abt caught Alzen in the latter stages of the race, which bodes well for the Audi squad's fortunes in the longer main event.

Bernd Maylander (Mercedes) took fifth, ahead of Mattias Ekstrom (Audi) and Marcel Fassler (Mercedes).

Both British drivers, Peter Dumbreck and Darren Turner, were early retirements. Dumbreck had just passed Martin Tomczyk for seventh when his Mercedes expired in a cloud of smoke on the exit of the Veedol chicane. Turner went out on lap seven with accident damage from a first lap incident which saw Thomas Jager spin out after contact with Alain Menu, who also retired.

Temperatures have now topped 32-degrees, so expect some more drivers to get hot under the collar before the day is over. The main race starts at 14.34 local time (13.34 BST).



Laurent Aiello, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, 10 laps
Uwe Alzen, 2001 Warsteiner Mercedes CLK, +4.7s
Christian Abt, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, +5.7s
Bernd Schneider, 2001 D2 Mercedes CLK, +6.0s
Bernd Maylander, 2001 Eschmann-Manthey Mercedes CLK, +7.5s
Mattias Ekstrom, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, +8.0s
Marcel Fassler, 2001 Warsteiner Mercedes CLK, +8.9s
Christijan Albers, 2000 Persson Mercedes CLK, +9.0s
Patrick Huisman, 2001 Eschmann-Manthey Mercedes CLK, +9.5s
Martin Tomczyk, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, +10.1s
Timo Scheider, 2001 Holzer Opel Astra Coupe, +10.6s
Manuel Reuter, 2001 Phoenix Opel Astra Coupe, +11.0s
David Saelens, 2000 Rosberg Mercedes CLK, +15.5s
Michael Bartels, 2001 Holzer Opel Astra Coupe, +18.6s
Yves Olivier, 2000 Phoenix Opel Astra Coupe, +19.4s
Joachim Winkelhock, 2001 Holzer Opel Astra Coupe, +24.0s
Hubert Haupt, 2000 Euroteam Opel Astra Coupe, +25.3s
Peter Mamerow, 2000 Mamerow Opel Astra Coupe, +30.9s
Darren Turner, 2000 Rosberg Mercedes CLK, 7 laps
Peter Dumbreck, 2001 D2 Mercedes CLK, 1 lap
Thomas Jager, 2000 Persson Mercedes CLK, 1 lap
Alain Menu, 2001 Euroteam Opel Astra Coupe, 1 lap