Warm-up: Opel springs big surprise
After a 2001 season of plenty of effort but precious little to show for it, Opel's 2002 attack bared its teeth in style in the warm-up at Hockenheim this morning (Sunday)
Opel Team Phoenix's Manuel Reuter led the way, his 57.899s lap being fractionally quicker than the time he achieved in qualifying which was good enough for fourth on the grid for today's Qualification race. Joining the party was young Timo Scheider (Holzer), who lapped less than a tenth slower.
The Abt Sportsline Audis, dominant thus far this weekend, took third and fourth with poleman Laurent Aiello and Christian Abt. Joachim Winkelhock was fifth quickest, but lived up to his nickname of 'Smokin' Jo' when he 'lit up the bags' after a spin at the Sachs Kurve - much to the delight of the thousands of Opel fans already present in the grandstands.
The fastest Mercedes was also a surprise, as Marcel Tiemann - subbing for the incapacitated Bernd Maylander - was seventh quickest in his year-old Manthey Mercedes, just ahead of the first AMG Merc of Marcel Fassler.
Retired F1 star Jean Alesi lit the fuse for his first DTM raceday by ploughing into the tyrewall at the newly-reprofiled Turn 3, while AMG Mercedes team leader Bernd Schneider was sent off the track with a steering or suspension problem at Turn 2, forcing him to park up, get out - and kick his right-front wheel.
Others also visited the scenery, with Karl Wendlinger setting the ball rolling early on by depositing his Audi TT-R in the Sachs Kurve tyrewall. His off was quickly followed by Patrick Huisman, who has been battling against severe understeer all weekend, when he spun his Mercedes into the Opel Kurve gravel trap.
The Qualification race, which sets the grid for the main event, starts at 14.30 local time (13.30 BST).
Manuel Reuter (D) Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupe, 57.899s
Timo Scheider (D) Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 57.939s
Laurent Aiello (F) Abt-Audi TT-R, 58.229s
Christian Abt (D) Abt-Audi TT-R, 58.389s
Joachim Winkelhock (D) Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 58.449s
Mattias Ekström (S) Abt-Audi TT-R, 58.586s
Marcel Tiemann (D) Manthey Mercedes-Benz CLK, 58.651s
Marcel Fässler (CH) AMG Mercedes-Bend CLK, 58.668s
Patrick Huisman (NL) Manthey Mercedes-Benz CLK, 58.742s
Martin Tomczyk (D) Abt-Audi TT-R, 58.743s
Uwe Alzen (D) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 58.875s
Michael Bartels (D) Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 58.997s
Peter Dumbreck (GB) Persson Mercedes-Benz CLK, 59.025s
Alain Menu (CH) Euroteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 59.211s
Christijan Albers (NL) Rosberg Mercedes-Benz CLK, 59.309s
Karl Wendlinger (A) Abt-Audi TT-R, 59.333s
Bernd Schneider (D) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 59.347s
Stefan Mücke (D) Rosberg Mercedes-Benz CLK, 59.481s
Thomas Jäger (D) Persson Mercedes-Benz CLK, 59.501s
Yves Olivier (B) Eutoteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 59.697s
Jean Alesi (F) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m00.096s
Share Or Save This Story
WRC Rally Portugal: Solberg leads as Hyundai closes on Toyota
How the WRC is looking to conquer its next frontier
Why Red Bull and McLaren sat down after surprising comments about Lambiase's role
How Leclerc’s hardest critic is always himself
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments