Quotes after qualifying at Oschersleben
Mattias Ekström, Red Bull Audi A5 DTM #3 (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline).

Four Audi A5 DTM cars are starting into the DTM race at Oschersleben from the four front rows of the grid. Quotes after qualifying.

Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): “After qualifying at Zandvoort was really brilliant it’s obviously disappointing to experience the worst qualifying session of the season here. We’ve again got four Audi cars in the top ten but only on positions five to eight. This doesn’t match our expectations. I think that tomorrow in the race we’ll be in a better position than in qualifying and am hoping for us to convert this into a better race result.”

Mattias Ekström (Red Bull Audi A5 DTM), grid position 5
“Qualifying was pretty tough. I never had the feeling of running well. Fifth place is okay. Obviously, not having made it into Q4 is a bit disappointing. But more was not possible today. In the race, I’m going to give everything and fight like a lion to advance.”

Edoardo Mortara (Playboy Audi A5 DTM), grid position 6
“In qualifying, the car was better than it was this morning and yesterday. We had made a few changes since the free practice. We were competitive in Q1 and Q2 and were thus able to save a set of tires. In Q3, I made a mistake on my fastest lap. Tomorrow, we’ll see what we can achieve from this situation in the race.”

Mike Rockenfeller (Schaeffler Audi A5 DTM), grid position 7
“Seventh place is a disappointing grid position. I knew that it would be difficult. The time should have been enough for fifth place if I’d managed the lap well. More than that, though, wasn’t possible. Now we’ve got to see to doing a better job tomorrow.”

Miguel Molina (Red Bull Audi A5 DTM), grid position 8
“This qualifying session was one of my best ones this season. I’m happy to have made it into Q3. We’ve got a good starting base for the race.”

Filipe Albuquerque (TV Movie Audi A5 DTM), grid position 14
“My qualifying wasn’t good. I knew that it would be difficult but had expected more than this. 14th place is disappointing for me. I would have liked making it into Q3 and the top ten. At Oschersleben, it’s very difficult to make up positions in the race from 14th on the grid.”

Timo Scheider (AUTO TEST Audi A5 DTM), grid position 15
“A strange qualifying session. The car was better than in free practice. But we knew that it would be tough because we were losing time in the first sector the whole weekend and weren’t able to significantly improve this sector in qualifying either. On the one hand, that’s disappointing. But tomorrow in the race we’ll try and convert this into a better result than at Zandvoort.”

Adrien Tambay (Audi ultra A5 DTM), grid position 17
“I was eliminated in Q1 for the first time. That was a bit disappointing. On the first set of tires I was running well. On the second set, I made a mistake and missed Q2 by a very narrow margin. But tomorrow is a new day. I’m hoping for a great race with a good strategy.”

Rahel Frey (E-POSTBRIEF Audi A5 DTM), grid position 18
“I was happy with my Audi in qualifying. I gave my best. I very barely missed Q2. Still, it was my second-best qualifying session this season.”

Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): “Obviously, we’re not happy with position five. We’d been hoping to make it into Q4 and in the end weren’t lacking much to do so. Now, we want to try and achieve a good result for Audi over the whole distance.”

Ernst Moser (Team Director Audi Sport Team Phoenix): “Like all other qualifying sessions this year, this one today was truly a thriller all the way up to the last minute. It’s a shame that because of a lacking tenth we didn’t manage to put an Audi into the top four. I’m quite happy with my team. We wanted to make it into the third qualifying segment at all cost and managed to do this with both cars. Grid positions seven and eight are a starting base for the race that makes us hopeful. Now we’ve got to see to getting our race speed right in the warm-up. Then we’ll attack.”

Arno Zensen (Team Director Audi Sport Team Rosberg): “You could see that the situation today was incredibly tight and quick, too. This morning we didn’t think that we’d be able to drive a deep 1m 21. Now, Edo (Mortara) even managed 1m 20.9s. In Filipe’s (Albuquerque) case, we’d certainly been hoping for more than 14th place but we’re happy with Edo (Mortara) on grid position six. That means there’s quite a bit possible tomorrow.”

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