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DTM leader is quickest Audi driver in qualifying Tom Kristensen in Super Pole as well Frank Stippler best driver of a 2004-spec A4 The leader of the standings, Mattias Ekström, is facing a difficult task in the DTM race at Istanbul Park, Turkey: as the best Audi driver, the Swede from Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline claimed fifth place on the starting grid in the Super Pole qualifying session. His immediate rival, Gary Paffett (Mercedes), will start from pole position on Sunday, with three brand colleagues creating a buffer between himself and Ekström. As the second-best Audi driver, Tom Kristensen will start from position ten. The Dane had been the quickest in Saturday morning’s free practice. His best time of 1m 47.248s would have been enough for third place in Super Pole. Yet a mistake in the first turn of the single timed lap cost Kristensen the chance of clinching a place on the first two rows of the grid. Best driver of a 2004-spec A4 entered by Audi Sport Team Joest was the German Frank Stippler, who finished 14th. Like on Friday, the top 16 cars in the qualifying came within a single second of each other. The penultimate race of the DTM season is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. local time (2 p.m. German time) on Sunday. ARD will broadcast live from Istanbul, starting at 1.45 p.m. Quotes after qualifying Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline #1) 5th place, Super Pole, 1m 47.553s “The qualifying was okay. I managed to make it into the top ten. In the Super pole I gave my best but that simply wasn’t quick enough. Tomorrow is another day, though. We’re going to prepare the car for the race as best we can. I’ve started from fifth place on several occasions this year – and finished on the podium every time.” Tom Kristensen (Audi Sport Team Abt #5) 10th place, Super Pole, 1m 48.070s “In the free practice and the qualifying sessions, things were going well. After seeing where Mattias was, I had to give everything in the Super Pole.

Martin Tomczyk drives best time of the day Mattias Ekström quickest in the rain Frank Stippler best driver of a 2004-spec car With two best times for Audi, the DTM event at the Nürburgring, which is expected to attract a crowd of over 100,000 to the Eifel circuit this weekend, began on Friday. On the dry track, Martin Tomczyk in the Audi A4 DTM entered by Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline clocked the day’s best time in the morning session. In the second test in the afternoon, rain showers created changing conditions, which his team-mate Mattias Ekström handled best– the times are not very conclusive though since being on the track at the right time was the crucial factor. A strong impression was made yet again by last year’s A4 DTM cars of Audi Sport Team Joest: Frank Stippler in his “home game” finished fourth in the morning and shone with the second-best time in difficult conditions in the afternoon, making the Audi driver the quickest one of a 2004-spec car. For the qualifying practice on Saturday (broadcast live on ARD starting a 2 p.m. local time) and the race on Sunday (starting at 2 p.m. local time), changing weather conditions, similar to today’s, have been predicted. Quotes after Friday’s tests Martin Tomczyk (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline #2) 1st place / 12th place, 1m 24.141s “The morning was very successful, I had a good feeling with old and new tyres. In the second session, we weren’t able to gain a lot more findings and therefore hope that it’ll be dry again tomorrow.“ Tom Kristensen (Audi Sport Team Abt #5) 3rd place / 13th place, 1m 24.207s “With the exception of snow, we tested our A4 in every type of weather today. This morning, when the track was dry, the car felt very good. If we have the same conditions tomorrow, we’re well prepared. In Sunday’s race the conditions will be the same for all the drivers anyway. In the second session, I didn’t drive another fast lap after the track had dried off.

Having clinched 13th place, Frank Stippler was the best driver of a 2004-spec Audi A4 DTM. The native of Cologne comments on the pitfalls of the 2.3-kilometre city circuit that appears to be simple, but isn’t. Is the Norisring as simple and easy as it appears at first glance ? Frank Stippler: “No, it certainly isn’t. Added to the two very narrow hairpins is the extreme bumpiness of the track, which at times differs from one metre to the other. The important thing here is to find the optimum surface for braking and accelerating, while taking advantage of the line of rubber that’s been put on the track.” What are the crucial places for you at the Norisring? Frank Stippler: “Clearly, it’s the two hairpins. Finding the right braking point, and thus cornering perfectly, is a balancing act. If you don’t manage this, you’ll take all the speed you’ve lost onto the straight with you. This can easily cost three tenths of a second.” Where do you see the best opportunities for overtaking? Frank Stippler: “Actually, the only opportunities I see are before the Grundig and the Dutzendteich corners. Yet this is where things will be particularly difficult for the drivers of the 2004-spec cars, because we do lack a bit of top speed for slipstream braking as we approach these turns. In the Schöller-S, there only seems to be an opportunity for overtaking if the guy in front of you makes a mistake.” The first corner after the start is a hairpin. Is this a dangerous turn? Frank Stippler: “The Grundig corner is like any other hairpin: four cars are approaching the turn alongside each other, yet there’s room for only one – or two at most – at a time. Handling this situation is a balancing act: of course you can never make up as many places at once as you can at the start. But if you damage your car bumping into someone else you really haven’t gained a thing.” The weather forecast is predicting temperatures above 30 degrees again. How important is heat in the race?

Audi squad delivers strong Qualifying performance Tom Kristensen and Mattias Ekström on second row at Brno Rinaldo Capello quickest driver of a 2004-spec car For the first time in the current DTM season, all four of the new Audi A4 DTM cars have qualified for the Super Pole session of the quickest ten. Tom Kristensen and title defender Mattias Ekström will start from the second row at Brno (Czech Republic) on Sunday. Former Formula 1 driver Allan McNish finished seventh, thus making it into the top ten for the first time in a DTM Qualifying session. Martin Tomczyk had the misfortune of being the first driver to contest the Super Pole when the track was still partially wet after a rain shower. The Bavarian will start from position ten. A solid team performance was not only shown by Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline with the new Audi A4 DTM cars but by Audi Sport Team Joest with their four cars from last year as well. Only two minutes before the end of the Qualifying session, Rinaldo Capello lost his chance of being among the top ten. As the best driver of a 2004-spec car, the Italian secured twelfth place on the starting grid. Christian Abt, Pierre Kaffer and Frank Stipler will start the race from positions 13, 15 and 16 respectively. ARD will broadcast the race live from Brno – where Audi last year clinched the DTM title early with a double victory - starting at 1:45 (local time). Quotes after Qualifying Tom Kristensen (Audi Sport Team Abt #5) 3rd place Super Pole, 1m 52.442s “I’m very satisfied with my Super Pole lap because it was almost my fastest lap during the entire weekend. Track conditions after the brief shower today were very difficult to judge. My thanks go to the team, who made the right decisions, and to my team-mates. We’re pushing each other, and that makes me, as well as the entire team, even stronger.”

Tom Kristensen on pole for the second time in a row Champion Mattias Ekström fifth on the grid Frank Stippler quickest driver of a 2004-spec A4 Audi fans at the Norisring broke out in loud cheers: Tom Kristensen in the Audi A4 DTM entered by Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline was the quickest in the Super pole qualifying lap on Saturday evening. The Le Mans record winner from Denmark clinched his second DTM pole position in a row. Leader of the standings Mattias Ekström was merely 0.096 seconds slower on his lap and will start to Audi’s “home game” from the third row on Sunday. At high summer temperatures of nearly 30 degrees in the shade the single timed laps of the top ten in the qualifying could have hardly been more thrilling. In the end, the quickest five were within one hundredth of a second. With an extremely small lead of 0.009 seconds, Tom Kristensen captured the top position on the starting grid. The quickest driver of a car from last year entered by Audi Sport Team Joest was Frank Stippler, who had finished in 13th place, barely missing the Super pole by as little as 0.163 seconds. Due to German Television´s broadcast of the Tour de France the DTM race at the Norisring will not be held until late Sunday afternoon. ARD will start to broadcast live at approximately 5:30 p.m. (local time). A total of 72 laps are on the agenda – particularly on account of the expected hot temperatures , the race will subject the drivers and vehicles to an unusually tough test. Quotes after Qualifying Tom Kristensen (Audi Sport Team Abt #5) 1st place, Super pole, 48.446s “We made a few more changes to my A4 DTM between yesterday and today, and they worked out perfectly. Things were going well for me as early as in the qualifying practice, and in the Super pole simply everything ‘fit’. When I saw that Mattias had made a small mistake braking in the first corner, I held myself back a little and braked two metres earlier.

Before this duel is staged between Audi driver Mattias Ekström and Gary Paffett on Sunday, Christian Abt has had a reason to celebrate since the last race at Istanbul: the driver from Kempten (Bavaria) will finish the season as the best driver of a 2004-spec car. The “champion in a car from last year” comments on the 4.574-kilometre Hockenheimring. How would you describe the Hockenheimring? Christian Abt: “The Hockenheimring offers a thrilling mix of quick sectors, such as the long Parabolica, and the slow Motodrom. From a technical perspective, the circuit is very demanding, which means that you definitely need a perfect set-up to be among the front runners.” How much of the atmosphere in the sold-out Motodrom do you actually perceive as a driver inside the cockpit ? Christian Abt: “Unfortunately, you can’t hear all the air horns and the cheering during the race because it’s simply too loud inside the cockpit. Yet while I slowly drive onto the grid, seeing all the flags, banners and the smoke guns fired by the fan clubs, that’s something very special for me every time. There’s no other race track in the world that puts you in closer touch with the fans.” What are the crucial places for you at Hockenheim? Christian Abt: “Actually the whole Motodrom is a crucial place. Here, it’s important to handle even the first turn perfectly. Because if you make a mistake here, this tight combination of corners will make you carry it with you all the way through to the start-finish straight.” Where do you see the best opportunities for overtaking? Christian Abt: “There are good opportunities in the Sachs corner in the Motodrom, where you can try to pass on the inside. Also, at the end of the Parabolica you can brake as you approach the hairpin. Yet to do that, you need a good top speed or the guy in front of you making a mistake.” The first corner after the start is a tight right-hander. Is this a dangerous turn?

Le Mans record winner fifth after strong race in the rain Title defender Mattias Ekström without points after collision Frank Stippler best driver of a 2004-spec A4 The decision in the DTM will not be made until the finale at Hockenheim on 23 October: in the DTM race at Istanbul, Turkey, title defender Mattias Ekström in the Audi A4 DTM of Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline for the first time this season finished without scoring points, following a collision on the opening lap. Best Audi driver in the rain race was his team-mate Tom Kristensen, who pushed forwards from tenth to fifth place in difficult conditions. In the manufacturers’ standings, Audi dropped back to second place. On the wet track, Mattias Ekström had made a lightning start, pushing forwards from fifth to third place even before the first turn. At the end of the first lap, though, he was hit by a rival. From that moment, the Swede had to struggle with handling problems, which became increasingly serious during the course of the race. After ranking in an uncontested sixth place in the first third of the race, Ekström dropped back to twelfth in the final phase. Best driver of a 2004-spec A4 entered by Audi Sport Team Joest was Frank Stippler, who came 13th. After one of his usual good starts, the German had finished the first lap in tenth place and thus had justified hopes of scoring points. On the second and third sets of tyres, though, the Audi driver was struggling with a car that was difficult to drive. Pierre Kaffer (spin), Christian Abt (collision) and Dindo Capello (electronics) retired. Martin Tomczyk had to park his Audi A4 DTM one lap before race end because the air intake was clogged by grass. Allan McNish crossed the finish line in 15th place. Quotes after the race Tom Kristensen (Audi Sport Team Abt #5) 5th place, + 30.889s “This was a race in very difficult conditions with lots of aquaplaning and poor visibility in the early phase. Our strategy and the pit stops were very good.

Date of birth: February 15, 1979 Place of birth: Edinburgh (GB) Residence: Auchterarder (GB) Marital status: married Height/Weight: 1.85 m/73 kg Motorsport debut: 1996 Career highlights 2000 1st in Ford Fiesta Championship Great Britain 2003 2nd in Seat Cupra Championship Great Britain 2004 4th in Seat Cupra Championship Great Britain 2006 4th in British Touring Car Championship 2007 3rd in British Touring Car Championship 2008 7th in British Touring Car Championship 2010 3rd in British Touring Car Championship 2011 2nd in British Touring Car Championship 2012 1st in British Touring Car Championship 2013 2nd in British Touring Car Championship 2014 3rd in British Touring Car Championship 2015 1st in British Touring Car Championship 2016 1st in British Touring Car Championship 2017 4th in British Touring Car Championship; TCR International 2018 WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup, one win (Audi RS 3 LMS) www.gordonshedden.com twitter.com/gordonshedden instagram.com/flash_52