Quotes after qualifying at Moscow
Schaeffler Audi RS 5 DTM #1 (Audi Sport Team Phoenix), Mike Rockenfeller

Youngster Nico Müller and title defender Mike Rockenfeller set the same time as the fastest Audi drivers in qualifying at Moscow Raceway. Quotes from the Audi camp.

Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): “If the race turns out as exciting as the qualifying session the Russian spectators can look forward to a real DTM thriller. The gaps today were truly minimal. We’re typically stronger in the race than in qualifying, that’s why I’m pretty confident that we’ll be able to repeat our victory from last year.”

Dieter Gass (Head of DTM): “It was extremely close here today. I wouldn’t have expected this on such a long track. But it again shows how balanced the DTM field is. We’ve got the fastest four cars within a tenth of a second. Unfortunately, not the ‘right’ car is in front, but one from the ‘wrong’ brand. But the race is tomorrow and we’re third, fourth and fifth – so we’re in a good position. We’re going to attack because we’re aiming to win our first race here this season.”

Nico Müller (Audi Financial Services RS 5 DTM), grid position 3
“Obviously, I’m happy. We already managed to start the day well in the first free practice session. In the second one, we made another step forwards. It’s a good feeling to put this on track in qualifying and to be among the top three at the press conference for the first time. The lap in Q3 wasn’t completely perfect; naturally you always aim to squeeze out the maximum. From that perspective, a big ‘thank you’ from me to the whole team because the car would probably have been good for pole today.”

Mike Rockenfeller (Schaeffler Audi RS 5 DTM), grid position 4
“It wasn’t a perfect qualifying day, but a very good one. We had good laps on each outing, so it was a performance of the kind we expect. That’s exactly what we didn’t manage in the past races. That’s why I’m pleased. It’s tough in the DTM. Today again showed how tight the situation is. Pole would have been possible with a mega lap, but grid position four is good too. Now we’ve got to make sure that we’ll have a good race pace and then perhaps advance some more.”

Adrien Tambay (Playboy Audi RS 5 DTM), grid position 5
“Grid position five is excellent. We had a difficult morning. I was struggling with the car. For the first time, I wasn’t completely happy. We made a lot of changes and then had a great qualifying session. I came close to my team-mates who had been seven tenths of a second faster than I in the morning. Now I’m hoping for a great race.”

Miguel Molina (Audi Sport Audi RS 5 DTM), grid position 8
“That was a bit of ‘ups and downs’ in qualifying. In the beginning, we were hunting for the pace a bit and in Q2 we had it and delivered a really good lap. In Q3, the tires weren’t optimal for the first lap. On the second flying lap, the time was okay but on the first one even more would have been possible on perfect tires.”

Jamie Green (Hoffmann Group Audi RS 5 DTM), grid position 9
“As always, the times were extremely close. Looking at my ninth place, I was a tenth of a second slower than Nico (Müller) in Q3 in position three. I missed Q3 by only 13 thousandths of a second. That was a bit frustrating, but the potential was there. Unfortunately, one of our laps was cancelled due to an infraction of the track limit in turn 1. That interfered with my rhythm and, due to the long lap, cost a lot of time.”

Mattias Ekström (Red Bull Audi RS 5 DTM), grid position 11
“Grid position eleven – nothing to be proud of. So tomorrow will be another day of hard work.”

Edoardo Mortara (Audi Sport Audi RS 5 DTM), grid position 12
“This wasn’t our best qualifying. But we already showed that we can be strong in the race. We’re hoping for things to go as well as they did in the past four races.”

Timo Scheider (AUTO TEST Audi RS 5 DTM), grid position 17
“After we changed the set-up for qualifying once more I was very positive on the first outing. But I either wanted too little or too much – in any case, it didn’t fit. The car was good but I didn’t manage to put the potential on track. Obviously, that’s disappointing but tomorrow I’m going to give my all for a good showing.”

Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): “It was a close qualifying. The track improved a lot towards the end. Now we’re hoping for a good race.”

Ernst Moser (Team Director Audi Sport Team Phoenix): “We were consistently running well here in the free practice sessions as well as in qualifying. Although we were lacking the last tenth in the end, we’re very pleased. The race speed is good and we can achieve a lot from the second row as well. We made some changes to Timo’s (Scheider) car for qualifying, which clearly made it better. But you’ve got to get all the sections together and he didn’t manage that. Now we’ve got to look at why that was the case. We made a huge step with the car and that’s why I’m also confident for him in the race.”

Arno Zensen (Team Director Audi Sport Team Rosberg): “It was a superb qualifying session for us with third place for Nico (Müller) and Mike (Rockenfeller) in fourth place after both set the same time. I’m a bit disappointed with ninth place for Jamie (Green). He didn’t handle turn one properly once. But even from ninth place a lot is still possible in the race. I’m pleased.”


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