Quotes after qualifying at the Norisring

Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): “In Jamie (Green) we’ve got the man on the second row of the grid who’s won the Norisring race an amazing four times – and who’s just dying to give the Audi fans the first Norisring victory since 2002. He’ll have the chance to do that tomorrow. But not least due to the weather forecast we’re in for a particularly difficult and – probably turbulent – DTM race in which anything’s possible.”

Dieter Gass (Head of DTM): “I think that with this weather forecast (rain), this close field, plus the safety car periods to be expected – even in dry conditions – it will become an extremely thrilling race. Jamie (Green) came on strong again today and drove a very consistent qualifying session. Particularly in Q3, he did one fast lap after the other. The strategy of driving several consecutive laps in one session proved to be right. We all remember well that he’s fast in rain too. That’s just one of the reasons why I’m hoping for him to even advance a bit further tomorrow.”

Jamie Green (Hoffmann Group Audi RS 5 DTM), grid position 3
“Obviously, I’m very pleased with grid position three here at the Norisring. I think I did a decent job today – just like the team. The set-up of my RS 5 DTM was perfect. Although I wouldn’t like to be the ‘one-trick pony’ and always just be strong at the Norisring it’s nice to deliver a good performance for Audi right here. Of course the race is the most important part – and we’re in a good position in that respect. I’m confident.”

Mattias Ekström (Red Bull Audi RS 5 DTM), grid position 7
“Seventh place isn’t what I was shooting for. But I gave everything and the Mercedes drivers were simply faster. I’ll sleep over it, come back tomorrow and hope that the rain will change things in the race a bit.”

Adrien Tambay (Playboy Audi RS 5 DTM), grid position 9
“It’s another top-ten position, for the fourth time this year. The car was good and very consistent. That’s a good starting base for the race. We’ve got the chance to score quite a few points. But the race will be very long.”

Nico Müller (Audi Financial Services RS 5 DTM), grid position 10
“A positive result. We can begin to see that we’re moving forward and that the performance is there. My car was very good. Audi and Team Rosberg did a great job. In Q1, a few thousandths were lacking for first place. Q3 would have easily been possible today. But my second set of tires didn’t work, grip was lacking and I suddenly had problems on the brake. But from tenth place on the grid I can drive a good race tomorrow.”

Mike Rockenfeller (Schaeffler Audi RS 5 DTM), grid position 12
“I’m a bit disappointed about twelfth place because things were going well in free practice and now they weren’t anymore.  We changed something on the car and maybe that didn’t help. But we kept the set-up and I was quite happy with it. A lot can happen tomorrow – both towards the front and towards the rear.”

Miguel Molina (Audi Sport Audi RS 5 DTM), grid position 18
“As always, it was a difficult qualifying session. It was very close again. Our pace wasn’t so good. But tomorrow we’ll have a new chance. It seems like we’re going to have a wet race. We’re going to try and be strong.” 

Edoardo Mortara (Audi Sport Audi RS 5 DTM), grid position 20
“We were simply too slow today. Unfortunately, I had a few problems in free practice and wasn’t able to find the right set-up for qualifying. The conditions in the race tomorrow are supposed to be completely different. We’re hoping for a good start.”

Timo Scheider (AUTO TEST Audi RS 5 DTM), grid position 21
“It’s hard to find the right words. We tried two different set-ups and chose one of them. That was the right way to go and, as a result, we were the fastest in the middle sector. But in sectors one and three we were lacking the crucial tenths.”

Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): “Qualifying was very close again. It’s a shame it didn’t go better for us, but more wasn’t possible. We’re going to concentrate on the race now and hope that we’re going to do a good job of handling the weather.”

Ernst Moser (Team Director Audi Sport Team Phoenix): “An unexpectedly sobering result. This morning, in both free practice sessions, one of our drivers was always fast. That makes the qualifying session even more disappointing. Now we’ve got to take a look at why this was the case. From grid positions twelve and 21 it’ll be difficult to clinch a good result. But maybe we can make up for all this with good tactics and a good race speed.” 

Arno Zensen (Team Director Audi Sport Team Rosberg): “A great result. Congratulations to Nico (Müller) on having finished here in the top ten on his first run. And Jamie (Green), on taking third place, has lived up to his reputation of being ‘King of the Norisring.’  I’m happy with this result.”

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