Saturday free practice: Audi x three

Swedish junior Mattias Ekstrom headed the Abt-Sportsline parade, his 1m41.194s lap coming out 0.098s quicker than Christian Abt and 0.172s to the good over Laurent Aiello.

The fourth and final TT-R was in the thick of things too, with Martin Tomczyk eighth on the sheets, just 0.651s off Ekstrom's pace.

Between Aiello and Tomczyk lay the four Mercedes CLKs fielded by the works HWA squad. Norisring-winner Uwe Alzen lined up fourth, ahead of points-leader Bernd Schneider, soon-to-be Sauber tester Marcel Fassler and Schneider's D2 team mate Peter Dumbreck.

"The track has a lot more grip than last year," explained Schneider. "The kerbs were also extended, which is also an improvement. I like the track and I am quite happy with my car."

Opel dropped back a little from the ultimate pace, but were still looking good to be able to mix it with the Audi and Mercedes hordes. With 20 minutes of the hour-long session to go, Michael Bartels's Holzer-run Astra V8 and the Phoenix car of Manuel Reuter were lodged in the top seven, until late efforts by Mercedes pushed them down to ninth and 12th.

Bartels, however, was just 0.031s from Dumbreck and only six thousandths from Tomczyk's time - enough ammunition to say that Opel can be a factor this weekend? The acid tests will not only be single-lap qualifying runs, but how the cars use their tyres over a multi-lap race stint.

"We have used the break between the Norisring and here to improve our race car at detail level," said Reuter. "Maybe the best way to explain it is that we now understand the Opel Coupe better and therefore have less problems finding the right set-up."

The returning Bernd Maylander continued to move closer to the pace, taking the 13th fastest time in his Eschmann Mercedes on his return from an enforced lay-off with a broken heel. Alain Menu was 15th for the Opel Euroteam squad, with Darren Turner 16th in his 2000-spec Rosberg Mercedes.



Mattias Ekstrom, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, 1m41.194s
Christian Abt, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R 1m41.292s
Laurent Aiello, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, 1m41.366s
Uwe Alzen, 2001 Warsteiner Mercedes CLK, 1m41.435s
Bernd Schneider, 2001 D2 Mercedes CLK, 1m41.444s
Marcel Fassler, 2001 Warsteiner Mercedes CLK, 1m41.796s
Peter Dumbreck, 2001 D2 Mercedes CLK, 1m41.820s
Martin Tomczyk, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, 1m41.845s
Michael Bartels, 2001 Holzer Opel Astra Coupe, 1m41.851s
Patrick Huisman, 2001 Eschmann-Manthey Mercedes CLK, 1m41.878s
Christijan Albers, 2000 Persson Mercedes CLK, 1m41.911s
Manuel Reuter, 2001 Phoenix Opel Astra Coupe, 1m41.940s
Bernd Maylander, 2001 Eschmann-Manthey Mercedes CLK, 1m42.100s
Tomas Jager, 2000 Persson Mercedes CLK, 1m42.205s
Alain Menu, 2001 Euroteam Opel Astra Coupe, 1m42.229s
Darren Turner, 2000 Rosberg Mercedes CLK, 1m42.305s
Timo Scheider, 2001 Holzer Opel Astra Coupe, 1m42.342s
Joachim Winkelhock, 2001 Holzer Opel Astra Coupe, 1m42.687s
David Saelens, 2000 Rosberg Mercedes CLK, 1m42.691s
Hubert Haupt, 2000 Euroteam Opel Astra Coupe, 1m43.s
Yves Olivier, 2000 Phoenix Opel Astra Coupe, 1m43.750s
Peter Mamerow, 2000 Mamerow Opel Astra Coupe, 1m44.815s