Warm up: Huisman reigns in the rain

The tall Lowlander lapped in 58.584s in his Eschmann-Manthey-run Mercedes CLK, outpacing fellow countryman Christijan Albers by two-tenths of a second. Marcel Fassler made it a Merc 1-2-3, while Joachim Winkelhock kept up his solid record of fourth place on the timesheets for Opel.

Winkelhock also kept up his run of spins and visits to escape roads as he tested out his Astra Coupe's level of grip in the wet. He recorded at least four off-track excursions, but certainly wasn't the only driver to lose control in the slippery conditions.

Peter Dumbreck was fifth quickest in his AMG Merc, ahead of the Rosberg example of David Saelens. Christian Abt was top Audi in seventh, as series leader Bernd Schneider could only manage 10th, which was one place ahead of title rival Laurent Aiello who must be praying it stays wet this afternoon from his start slot of 19th.

Autosport.com's latest meteorological tip is that the weather will clear up this afternoon, although the sky is currently threatening more rain. Come rain or shine, the qualifying race kicks off at 13.02 local time (12.02 BST) and the main event starts at 13.41 (12.41 BST).




Patrick Huisman, 2001 Eschmann-Manthey Mercedes CLK, 58.584s
Christijan Albers, 2000 Persson Mercedes CLK, 58.789s
Marcel Fassler, 2001 Warsteiner Mercedes CLK, 58.915s
Joachim Winkelhock, 2001 Holzer Opel Astra Coupe, 58.987s
Peter Dumbreck, 2001 D2 Mercedes CLK, 58.989s
David Saelens, 2000 Rosberg Mercedes CLK, 59.108s
Christian Abt, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R 59.196s
Uwe Alzen, 2001 Warsteiner Mercedes CLK, 59.258s
Timo Scheider, 2001 Holzer Opel Astra Coupe, 59.316s
Bernd Schneider, 2001 D2 Mercedes CLK, 59.329s
Laurent Aiello, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, 59.364s
Darren Turner, 2000 Rosberg Mercedes CLK, 59.497s
Tomas Jager, 2000 Persson Mercedes CLK, 59.612s
Martin Tomczyk, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, 59.614s
Hubert Haupt, 2000 Euroteam Opel Astra Coupe, 59.699s
Manuel Reuter, 2001 Phoenix Opel Astra Coupe, 59.744s
Michael Bartels, 2001 Holzer Opel Astra Coupe, 59.861s
Marcel Tiemann, 2001 Eschmann-Manthey Mercedes CLK, 1m00.075s
Mattias Ekstrom, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, 1m00.314s
Yves Olivier, 2000 Phoenix Opel Astra Coupe, 1m00.353s
Alain Menu, 2001 Euroteam Opel Astra Coupe, 1m00.819s
Peter Mamerow, 2000 Mamerow Opel Astra Coupe, 1m03.446s