The Hockenheim DTM race is this weekend. I've enclosed the unofficial testing times from today (04/18). It looks like the Opels are going to be a lot more competitive this year.

I think Alesi may give Bernd Scheider a run for his money in the AMG team.

Cheers, BT


Hockenheim test times (unofficial)
1 Timo Scheider (D) Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 58.43s
2 Joachim Winkelhock (D) Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 58.59s
3 Jean Alesi (F) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 58.74s
4 Marcel Fässler (CH) AMG Mercedes-Bend CLK, 58.80s
5 Bernd Schneider (D) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 58.98s
6 Martin Tomczyk (D) Abt-Audi TT-R, 59.13s
7 Karl Wendlinger (A) Abt-Audi TT-R, 59.17s
8 Uwe Alzen (D) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 59.17s
9 Michael Bartels (D) Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 59.23s
10 Christian Abt (D) Abt-Audi TT-R, 59.27s
11 Mattias Ekström (S) Abt-Audi TT-R, 59.32s
12 Christijan Albers (NL) Rosberg Mercedes-Benz CLK, 59.49s
13 Peter Dumbreck (GB) Persson Mercedes-Benz CLK, 59.52s
14 Alain Menu (CH) Euroteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 59.58s
15 Thomas Jäger (D) Persson Mercedes-Benz CLK, 59.67s
16 Marcel Tiemann (D) Manthey Mercedes-Benz CLK, 59.82s
17 Patrick Huisman (NL) Manthey Mercedes-Benz CLK, 59.90s
18 Stefan Mücke (D) Rosberg Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m00.00s
19 Yves Olivier (B) Eutoteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 1m00.78s
- Laurent Aiello (F) Abt-Audi TT-R, no time
- Manuel Reuter (D) Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupe, no time

 

Ahhh, a Swede in 11:th. This guy (Mattias Ekström) is by the way married to Tina Thörner (who has won the Paris-Dakar rally together with Jutta Kleinschmitt).

Unfortunatley he drives one of the "wrong" brands.

 

My favorite Swedish driver is Stefan Johansson. I met him at an ALMS race in 2000 - he's super cool. Former McLaren driver, who had a scary moment at Hockenheim in 1987 - he hit a deer at about 190 mph on one of the straights (both deer and car disintegrated).

Trevlig dag!

BT

 

Tack detsamma!

So Stefan "Lill-Löwis" Johansson was a McLaren driver. I always thought he drove for Ferrari. I learn something new every day!

 

I think i saw a video of that hitting a deer but didn't realize he was going 190mph Very sad.

 

DtS-

You should be a happy. In today's official practice your boy Ekström was quickest. If you compare the times most of the CLKs have gone about 3-4 tenths quicker, while some of the Audis are over a second quicker than yesterday. None of the Opels improved from yesterday, hopefully they can find some speed for qualifying and the race.

BT

Oddly enough, notice that Alesi's car is sponsored by AMG instead of Vodafone (only Schneider's car will be silver this year).



Hockenheim test times (times are from the morning session - it rained in the afternoon)
1 Mattias Ekström (S) Abt-Audi TT-R, 58.108s
2 Laurent Aiello (F) Abt-Audi TT-R, 58.140s
3 Jean Alesi (F) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 58.421s
4 Christian Abt (D) Abt-Audi TT-R, 58.508s
5 Bernd Schneider (D) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 58.523s
6 Marcel Fässler (CH) AMG Mercedes-Bend CLK, 58.558s
7 Karl Wendlinger (A) Abt-Audi TT-R, 58.590s
8 Uwe Alzen (D) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 58.591s
9 Joachim Winkelhock (D) Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 58.626s
10 Manuel Reuter (D) Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupe, 58.731s
11 Timo Scheider (D) Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 58.875s
12 Alain Menu (CH) Euroteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 58.959s
13 Stefan Mücke (D) Rosberg Mercedes-Benz CLK, 59.023s
14 Thomas Jäger (D) Persson Mercedes-Benz CLK, 59.059s
15 Marcel Tiemann (D) Manthey Mercedes-Benz CLK, 59.140s
16 Martin Tomczyk (D) Abt-Audi TT-R, 59.158s
17 Patrick Huisman (NL) Manthey Mercedes-Benz CLK, 59.298s
18 Michael Bartels (D) Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 59.393s
19 Peter Dumbreck (GB) Persson Mercedes-Benz CLK, 59.423s
20 Christijan Albers (NL) Rosberg Mercedes-Benz CLK, 59.442s
21 Yves Olivier (B) Eutoteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 59.556s

 

Well, it was a double win for Audi at Hockenheim - all four of them were faster than MB in the qualifying session and qualifying race. At least Alesi (3rd) and Schneider (4th) were able to sneak into the points in the main event. Hopefully the new car will be better sorted for the next race the first weekend of may.

BT

I've included the points paying results below.


Qualifying race
Fastes lap: Laurent Aiello, 0:58.147 in lap 5

Pos. Driver Time Laps
1 Martin Tomczyk (D)
Abt Sportsline junior 12:47.545 13
2 Laurent Aiello (F)
Team Abt Sportsline + 01.889 13
3 Mattias Ekström (S)
Team Abt Sportsline + 04.937 13


Race
Fastes lap: Christian Abt, 57.879 in lap 16

Pos. Driver Time Laps
1 Laurent Aiello (F)
Team Abt Sportsline 39:06.877 39
2 Mattias Ekström (S)
Team Abt Sportsline + 02.734 39
3 Jean Alesi (F)
AMG Mercedes + 10.063 39
4 Bernd Schneider (D)
Vodafone AMG Mercedes + 15.448 39
5 Timo Scheider (D)
Opel Team Holzer + 17.618 39
6 Karl Wendlinger (A)
Team Abt Sportsline + 20.113 39

 

Hmm, the only good thing with the results is that Mattias Ekström did a pretty good race. This is good, 'cause now they will probably broadcast the race on swedish TV. If he had performed badly, this wouldn't be the case....

But what happend with the Mercedeses?

 

This car lookss too good too eat! lol!

 

Thought you AMG boys would like that one. Here are some side views of that beauty.

Cheers, BT

 

Thanks trench!

Car simply looks awsome!