2008 DTM season starts with Audi setting best time
- Martin Tomczyk quickest of the day at Hockenheim
- Seven Audi A4 DTM cars at the front of the field
- Changing weather on Friday
For title defender Audi, the first day of the 2008 DTM season could hardly have gone any better: on Friday Martin Tomczyk in the racing début of the new Audi A4 set the best time (1m 34.543s), leaving a wide margin between himself and the rest of the field.
At the end of the first day that started with a one-hour delay due to fog no less than seven Audi A4 DTM cars were at the front of the field. In the second test that took place in rain, Audi drivers again dominated the top ten.
Exactly one year ago, Audi had laid the foundation for the DTM title win by clinching a one-two victory. This season Audi competes with the racing version of the new A4, which left a strong impression at Hockenheim on Friday, both on the dry track as well as in rain. “I really like the car,“ commented an extremely satisfied Martin Tomczyk. “So far, things have been going really well for all of us, we didn’t have any problems whatsoever today. But we shouldn’t delude ourselves: Mercedes will probably have a few cards up their sleeve for tomorrow’s qualifying. But we know where we stand and how fast our car can be. Friday has been a very productive day for us.”
A great début in the DTM was made by Oliver Jarvis: at age 24, Audi’s youngest factory driver, Jarvis set the third-best time behind Martin Tomczyk and Timo Scheider and was thus the quickest driver of a car from last year. For Katherine Legge, on the other hand, the tests did not run as smoothly: in the first session there was a problem with the throttle valves of her car, in the afternoon a brake calliper had to be exchanged.
“Although the first session was dry, grip was very poor; in the afternoon it started raining and the rain got heavier and heavier,” Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich summed up the day. “Although we managed to do some work on the dry-weather and rain setup, we didn’t really get any substantial information. Now we’re consolidating all the data and will try and make the best of it for tomorrow.”
For the qualifying practice on Saturday, which will be broadcast live on “Das Erste” starting at 1:30 p.m. (local time), dry weather has been forecast. To the delight of the fans, sunshine has been predicted for the day of the race. Advance ticket sales alone amounted to over 44,000.