Qualifying race: Alzen leads Mercs

Starting from pole, Alzen headed Warsteiner AMG team mate Marcel Fassler into the first turn. The Swiss received a tap under braking from his fellow countryman Alain Menu (Euroteam Opel Astra), but Menu came off second best as he spun off into the pit lane exit.

A hectic first lap saw collisions and spins for Yves Olivier (Opel), Patrick Huisman (Mercedes), David Saelens (Mercedes), Michael Bartels (Opel) and Martin Tomczyk (Audi).

At the front of the pack, Alzen led Fassler by 0.4secs at the conclusion of the opening lap, with Bernd Schneider in third backed up by his D2 Merc team mate Peter Dumbreck in fourth. The Scot was under attack from Mattias Ekstrom's Audi on the opening lap, the Swede briefly nosing ahead at Turn Four only to run wide on the exit and allow Dumbreck back up to fourth.

Two laps later, that battle was decided when Ekstrom hit the concrete wall of the banked oval on the exit of Turn Three, breaking the right-rear suspension of his TT-R. That allowed Dumbreck to catch his AMG Merc pals, who now circulated nose-to-tail in the order Alzen, Fassler, Schneider and Dumbreck.

The real fun was further back, as it was Thomas Jager's duty for Mercedes to fend off the Abt Sportsline Audi attack of Christian Abt and Laurent Aiello. Jager had somehow slipped ahead of Abt on the second lap, but Christian repaid the compliment by biffing the Persson Mercedes on to the grass at Turn Six.

If Jager thought that was rough it was nothing compared to Aiello's passing manoeuvre - the Frenchman simply punted the German into a spin at Turn One on the penultimate lap. Jager just managed to recover in time to hold on to seventh, ahead of Bernd Maylander (Mercedes), Timo Scheider (Opel) and the battling Darren Turner (Mercedes) and recovering Menu.

Mercedes might have ruled the roost in the sprint, but the late race pace of the Audis was a second a lap quicker than their rivals. For the main event, Abt and Aiello will start right behind the AMG machines - expect sparks to fly.


Uwe Alzen, 2001 Warsteiner Mercedes CLK, 13m54.509s
Marcel Fassler, 2001 Warsteiner Mercedes CLK, +0.7s
Bernd Schneider, 2001 D2 Mercedes CLK, +1.4s
Peter Dumbreck, 2001 D2 Mercedes CLK, +2.3s
Christian Abt, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R +4.4s
Laurent Aiello, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, +7.6s
Tomas Jager, 2000 Persson Mercedes CLK, +11.9s
Bernd Maylander, 2001 Eschmann-Manthey Mercedes CLK, +12.8s
Timo Scheider, 2001 Holzer Opel Astra Coupe, +13.3s
Darren Turner, 2000 Rosberg Mercedes CLK, +14.9s
Alain Menu, 2001 Euroteam Opel Astra Coupe, +15.7s
Christijan Albers, 2000 Persson Mercedes CLK, +18.1s
Manuel Reuter, 2001 Phoenix Opel Astra Coupe, +21.3s
Michael Bartels, 2001 Holzer Opel Astra Coupe, +24.0s
Hubert Haupt, 2000 Euroteam Opel Astra Coupe, +25.1s
David Saelens, 2000 Rosberg Mercedes CLK, +25.9s
Yves Olivier, 2000 Phoenix Opel Astra Coupe, +27.6s
Peter Mamerow, 2000 Mamerow Opel Astra Coupe, +35.4s
Mattias Ekstrom, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, +4 laps
Joachim Winkelhock, 2001 Holzer Opel Astra Coupe, +5 laps
Patrick Huisman, 2001 Eschmann-Manthey Mercedes CLK, +7 laps
Martin Tomczyk, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, +7 laps