• Audi drivers save tyres for Qualifying and the race
  • Tom Kristensen sets personal fastest lap during “long-run”
  • Christian Abt quickest in morning session
DTM 2006
Playboy Audi A4 DTM #12 (Audi Sport Team Phoenix), Christian Abt

Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen was the fastest Audi driver during practice for the third round of the DTM at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. In the Siemens Audi A4 DTM the Dane, driving for Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, posted his personal fastest lap in a so-called “long-run”, a race simulation, during the second test in the afternoon.

Towards the end of the second test on Friday afternoon, when the circuit was at its fastest, the Audi drivers elected not to push for a time in order to have more fresh tyres for Qualifying and the race. That’s why Kristensen, who sat at the top of the timing screens for the bulk of the session, was bumped down to seventh position in the final 15 minutes.

Christian Abt gambled even more: The man form the Allgäu recorded the fastest time in the Playboy Audi A4 DTM, run by Audi Sport Team Phoenix, in the morning session. In the afternoon he elected to go without new tyres to be able to work with them in Saturday’s Free Practice for the Qualifying sessions.

Whether the tyre gamble pays off remains to be seen in Saturday’s qualifying session. The ARD broadcasts the exciting “Shoot-out” for the top grid positions from 1:35 p.m. (German time) live.

Quotes after Friday’s tests

Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport):
“Today we concentrated solely on finding a basic set-up and completed a long-run, which went very well. We didn’t use any more new tyres in the final fifteen minutes when the fastest times were recorded. I think that we have a good base set-up for tomorrow.”

Tom Kristensen
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, Siemens Audi A4 DTM #7
8th place / 7th place, 1m 21.203s

“This was another good Friday. We were a short-head in front most of the time. The long-run was also pretty good. The circuit is better since the modifications. Everybody tends to hold their line more because of the Astroturf running alongside the kerb. Being quickest Audi on Friday doesn't mean much – seventh position either. We are well prepared.”

Heinz-Harald Frentzen
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, Veltins Audi A4 DTM #6
11th place / 8th place, 1m 21.287s

“To be honest I’m a little dissatisfied, things didn’t quite run as expected. We can find a little something for Qualifying, but we also have a lot of work to do to be quicker tomorrow.”

Christian Abt
Audi Sport Team Phoenix, Playboy Audi A4 DTM #12
1st place / 16th place, 1m 21.505s

“Everything was fine in the first test. We found a good Qualifying set-up. In the second test we did a long-run, although we made progress we are not completely satisfied. The quick times posted by Mercedes don’t worry me. I know just how heavy we were today.”

Pierre Kaffer
Audi Sport Team Phoenix, Castrol Audi A4 DTM #14
4th place / 10th place, 1m 21.521s

“Both tests went very well. We worked with Qualifying in mind and tried several different things. We also did a long-run. I'm optimistic for Saturday because we should be able to be quite good.”

Timo Scheider
Audi Sport Team Rosberg, Gebrauchtwagen plus Audi A4 DTM #16
9th place / 11th place, 1m 21.543s

“We were able to improve our performance over a single lap in the second session. We only used one set of new tyres, while other teams used an extra set, which is good for us in Qualifying. Our long-run was very constant and the pace was also pretty good, although I had two moments on my second lap.”

Frank Stippler
Audi Sport Team Rosberg, S line Audi A4 DTM #15
10th place / 12th place, 1m 21.567s

“The times are very close with new tyres – they are only separated by hundredths of seconds. I can still find time in myself since different lines are used here. On Saturday everything has to click into place, and then we could also improve.”

Mattias Ekström
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, Red Bull Audi A4 DTM #5
13th place / 13th place, 1m 21.898s

“We tested a lot of different things today, but when I see our competitors’ times we still also have a lot of work to do. We’ll do our homework now and see how things pan out on Saturday.”

Martin Tomczyk
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, Red Bull Audi A4 DTM #4
6th place / 15th place, 1m 22.141s

“It wasn‘t a good day for me, since we couldn’t get the car completely balanced. At the moment we don't know exactly where the problem is. We'll have to change this on Saturday.”

Vanina Ickx
Futurecom TME, Original Zubehör Audi A4 DTM #20
20th place / 19th place, 1m 22.817s

“Oschersleben is yet another new circuit for me. I was a little slow this morning because I was still finding my feet on the circuit and we didn't find the ideal final drive ratio immediately. However, we are heading in the right direction and tried several things which helped me improve. We also only used one new set of tyres.”

Olivier Tielemans
Futurecom TME, Futurecom Audi A4 DTM #19
19th place / 20th place, 1m 24.086s

“Things started off very well this morning. I made a mistake on my new tyres in the afternoon session, which is why my time wasn’t so good. However, we’ll get it back in Free Practice on Saturday. I’m confident because we were right on the pace with used tyres.”

Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): “Everything went according to plan. We concentrated on the race set-up. The long runs were good. We are satisfied with Friday.”

Ernst Moser (Team Director Audi Sport Team Phoenix): “We worked towards Qualifying in first practice and found a good set-up. In the second practice session we noticed that we are still rather unfortunately too far from the optimum.”

Arno Zensen (Team Director Audi Sport Team Rosberg): “Everything is running on schedule at the moment. Our two drivers set almost identical lap times. I’m intrigued to see where we qualify on Saturday.”