Warm-up: Schneider pips Audis

Schneider's HWA-run D2 Mercedes CLK stopped the clocks at 1m41.337s - fiendishly quick, despite the full fuel load. But the Abt Audi TT-Rs of Christian Abt, Laurent Aiello and Mattias Ekstrom were close behind, with Abt just 0.005s off the silver Merc's pace.

Unfortunately for the yellow cars, that pace may not be fully-exploited in the afternoon's qualifying and pit stop races. In Saturday's wet but drying qualifying session, none of the Audi drivers risked a late run on slicks, putting them a disappointing ninth, 10th, 11th and 13th on the grid.

"It's the drivers who make the call," shrugged disappointed team boss Hans-Jurgen Abt in the wake of their mass 'bottling out'.

Points-leader Schneider, meanwhile, starts fourth for the sixth round of the 2001 DTM. Ahead of him will be Uwe Alzen, who was eighth in the warm-up, Marcel Fassler (10th) and Opel's top dog Alain Menu, who posted a 1m42.706s warm-up time - good enough for 15th overall.

Menu admitted that despite the improvements, a longer race run would still be a journey into the unknown, but remained confident of a good result.

"I haven't a clue what will happen to the tyres in the race," shrugged the reigning BTCC champion, "but this is a good circuit to defend your position, so I hope I finish at least as well as I qualified, if not better."

Behind Schneider and the three Audis, Patrick Huisman was fifth, with Christijan Albers sixth in his 2000-spec Merc. Schneider's team mate Peter Dumbreck was seventh, ahead of Alzen and Tomas Jager's '00 vintage CLK.

With three of its cars in the top 10 after qualifying, Opel is confident of putting up a strong showing in the races, and with the added bonus of the Audis trying their hardest to get to the sharp end, Eurospeedway's first DTM races could be classics. As long as the weather plays the game...

Last year, the corresponding fixture was abandoned after heavy rain flooded the track and forced race officials to pull in the field after a handful of aquaplaning laps behind the safety car. This time around, the weather forecast is for sunshine and a possible light shower. Keep fingers crossed.


Bernd Schneider, 2001 D2 Mercedes CLK, 1m41.337s
Christian Abt, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R 1m41.342s
Laurent Aiello, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, 1m41.407s
Mattias Ekstrom, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, 1m41.606s
Patrick Huisman, 2001 Eschmann-Manthey Mercedes CLK, 1m41.624s
Christijan Albers, 2000 Persson Mercedes CLK, 1m41.672s
Peter Dumbreck, 2001 D2 Mercedes CLK, 1m41.691s
Uwe Alzen, 2001 Warsteiner Mercedes CLK, 1m41.778s
Tomas Jager, 2000 Persson Mercedes CLK, 1m41.822s
Marcel Fassler, 2001 Warsteiner Mercedes CLK, 1m42.204s
Manuel Reuter, 2001 Phoenix Opel Astra Coupe, 1m42.217s
Bernd Maylander, 2001 Eschmann-Manthey Mercedes CLK, 1m42.505s
Michael Bartels, 2001 Holzer Opel Astra Coupe, 1m42.538s
Timo Scheider, 2001 Holzer Opel Astra Coupe, 1m42.681s
Alain Menu, 2001 Euroteam Opel Astra Coupe, 1m42.706s
Martin Tomczyk, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, 1m42.763s
Darren Turner, 2000 Rosberg Mercedes CLK, 1m42.893s
Joachim Winkelhock, 2001 Holzer Opel Astra Coupe, 1m43.258s
David Saelens, 2000 Rosberg Mercedes CLK, 1m43.371s
Hubert Haupt, 2000 Euroteam Opel Astra Coupe, 1m43.446s
Yves Olivier, 2000 Phoenix Opel Astra Coupe, 1m44.382s
Peter Mamerow, 2000 Mamerow Opel Astra Coupe, 1m45.825s
Gerd Ruch, 1994 Ford Mustang GT, 1m48.227s