Saturday practice: Alesi tops times
Jean Alesi's spectacular kerb-crashing style through Zolder's trio of chicanes paid off with fastest time in the final free practice session before Saturday afternoon's single DTM qualifying session
The ex-Formula 1 star's AMG Mercedes CLK-DTM cut the timing beams in 1m28.007s, just edging the similar 2002-spec CLKs of Marcel Fassler and Alesi's team mate Bernd Schneider.
In cold conditions, with frequent spits of rain, the top 14 cars were covered by less than one second. Mattias Ekstrom and Laurent Aiello took fourth and fifth for Abt Audi, ahead of Uwe Alzen in the fourth of the 2002 CLK quartet.
After finishing on top of the time sheets in Friday practice, Opel's best time was Timo Scheider's seventh fastest for Team Holzer. The German youngster edged Martin Tomczyk's Audi in eighth, with the Opels of Alain Menu and local hero Yves Olivier completing the top 10.
Peter Dumbreck finished the session 14th quickest in his Persson-run 2001-spec CLK, while Austrian former F1 ace Karl Wendlinger played tail-gunner for the Audi attack in 16th.
Bernd Maylander, back in the fray after missing Hockenheim with a partially collapsed lung, edged back into things gently with 18th for the Manthey Mercedes squad.
The 45-minute qualifying session starts at 13:05 local time (12:05 BST).
Jean Alesi (F) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m28.007s
Marcel Fässler (CH) AMG Mercedes-Bend CLK, 1m28.052s
Bernd Schneider (D) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m28.103s
Mattias Ekström (S) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m28.136s
Laurent Aiello (F) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m28.183s
Uwe Alzen (D) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m28.228s
Timo Scheider (D) Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 1m28.250s
Martin Tomczyk (D) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m29.265s
Alain Menu (CH) Euroteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 1m28.416s
Yves Olivier (B) Eutoteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 1m28.558s
Christian Abt (D) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m28.597s
Michael Bartels (D) Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 1m28.616s
Thomas Jäger (D) Persson Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m28.935s
Peter Dumbreck (GB) Persson Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m28.939s
Joachim Winkelhock (D) Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 1m29.065s
Karl Wendlinger (A) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m29.246s
Stefan Mücke (D) Rosberg Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m29.312s
Bernd Maylander (D) Manthey Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m29.353s
Christijan Albers (NL) Rosberg Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m29.513s
Manuel Reuter (D) Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupe, 1m29.531s
Patrick Huisman (NL) Manthey Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m29.588s
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