Sachsenring qualifying race: Aiello heads Menu

The Audi driver made a perfect start and quickly established a comfortable lead over Alain Menu, who managed to fend off Bernd Schneider's advances into the first corner to hold second place. Aiello continued to stretch his lead by a few tenths each lap, while Menu had his hands full fending off the Mercedes behind him.

Martin Tomczyk made a start at least the equal of Aiello's to leap into fourth before the first coner and although he was unable to challenge Schneider for a podium he had no trouble in keeping ahead of Jo Winkelhock's Astra. Yves Olivier undid most of his good work from qualifying by getting far too much wheelspin at the start and he dropped back from fourth to sixth, where he remained to the flag.

As expected, most of the overtaking took place at the first corner of the first lap. Audi team-mates Karl Wendlinger and Mattias Ekstrom clashed, dropping Ekstrom into the midfield and Wendlinger to dead last. The former F1 man became the only retirement of the race when he pulled into the pits on lap six with power steering failure and he'll miss the main race. Opel's Manuel Reuter also lost time at the first corner, but although he recovered from his spin he lost any chance of a points finish.


Laurent Aiello (F) Abt-Audi TT-R
Alain Menu (CH) Euroteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé +3.0s
Bernd Schneider (D) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK +4.0s
Martin Tomczyk (D) Abt-Audi TT-R +6.1s
Joachim Winkelhock (D) Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupé +7.9s
Yves Olivier (B) Eutoteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé +9.7s
Timo Scheider (D) Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé +10.5
Christian Abt (F) Abt-Audi TT-R +10.8
,Marcel Fässler (CH) AMG Mercedes-Bend CL +11.1s
Michael Bartels (D) Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé +11.6s