Warm-up: Rain adds extra dimension
The heavens have opened at EuroSpeedway Lausitz, heralding a very sodden warm-up ahead of today's sixth round of the DTM
After a night of electrical storms, the track was soaked when the 21 cars took to the track this morning, and incessant drizzle has ensured it stayed that way. After a reasonably incident-free weekend so far, the rain caused a number of spins and off-track excursions, the most notable of these being Opel's Michael Bartels, who required a tow out of a gravel trap. He did so, returned to the pits, went back on track and...spun into the gravel again.
His colleague Joachim Winkelhock was as entertaining as ever, the former BTCC champion exploring a number of gravel traps and run-off areas. Even runaway series leader Laurent Aiello was not immune from making the odd error, visiting the popular Turn One escape road and its slalom course of tyrewalls.
But the rain did not put the Frenchman totally off his stride, however, and he topped the times with a 2m01.637s lap, well clear of surprise second fastest driver Yves Olivier of Opel. The Belgian easily eclipsed the second Abt Sportsline Audi of Mattias Ekstrom, with Uwe Alzen leading the Mercedes charge in fourth, ahead of Opel duo Manuel Reuter and Alain Menu.
Former F1 star Jean Alesi was seventh fastest, a matter of hundredths clear of AMG Mercedes team-mate Bernd Schneider.
Although the skies have brightened, the rain continues to fall - although hopefully not as much as during the 2000 Lausitz event, which caused the meeting to be cancelled. Weather permitting, the qualifying race starts at 12.55 local time (11.55 BST) and the main event begins at 13.30 (12.30 BST).
Laurent Aiello (F) Abt-Audi TT-R, 2m01.637s
Yves Olivier (B) Euroteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 2m02.324s
Mattias Ekström (S) Abt-Audi TT-R, 2m02.662s
Uwe Alzen (D) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 2m03.263s
Manuel Reuter (D) Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupe, 2m03.518s
Alain Menu (CH) Euroteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 2m04.025s
Jean Alesi (F) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 2m04.166s
Bernd Schneider (D) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 2m04.138s
Marcel Fässler (CH) AMG Mercedes-Bend CLK, 2m04.283s
Martin Tomczyk (D) Abt-Audi TT-R, 2m04.390s
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