Timo Scheider is quickest again New Audi A4 DTM sets the pace Eight Audi drivers among the top ten

Audi dominated the test day at the sixth round of the DTM at Zandvoort. Four Audi A4 DTM cars were running in front on the dune circuit in dry conditions, both in the morning and in the afternoon sessions. In the end, Timo Scheider’s advantage in the quickest Audi was almost four tenths of a second, ahead of Gary Paffett as the best Mercedes driver."Things are starting out well again, an experience we’re almost used to at Zandvoort," said the leader of the standings, Timo Scheider, who had been the front runner at this venue in all practice sessions up to the qualifying last year as well. In the first test, the German in the Audi A4 DTM lapped the circuit in 1m 34.170s, in the second test, he improved to 1m 33.909s. "That’s great because it’s the circuit I’ve been looking forward to more than to any other one," the quickest driver of the day commented. "Although that doesn’t mean much we did reel off a long distance in the first practice session. That worked out quite well. In the second test, we were able to concentrate on the setup for the qualifying and immediately headed in the right direction."Behind Scheider, two of his colleagues from Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, Martin Tomczyk and Mattias Ekström, followed within 138 thousandths of a second. "With stable weather conditions, Friday made it possible for us to do the work we’d planned on," said Audi Head of Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich. "Having eight cars in the top ten is a good sign, but it shouldn’t be overrated. We did some good basic work and simulated a racing distance very well with Tom Kristensen. We’ve accomplished a solid preparation for the weekend."With remarkable performances, the drivers of cars from older model years attracted attention: Oliver Jarvis in the year-old Audi A4 DTM from Audi Sport Team Phoenix was the fourth-best in both sessions – in the end, he was merely lacking two tenths of a second to the front runners. Local hero Christijan Albers in the two-year-old Audi A4 DTM managed setting the eighth-best time twice on the 4.307-kilometre circuit. Mike Rockenfeller in sixth place, Tom Kristensen in seventh and Alexandre Prémat in ninth completed Audi’s good team performance in the top ten positions. Katherine Legge finished in 15th place in the end – exactly one thousandth of a second behind record champion Bernd Schneider.On Saturday, the Audi drivers will have another chance to set up their 460-hp racing cars in the free practice sessions before the qualifying comes up at an unusual time. ARD will broadcast the qualifying live on Saturday starting at 5:43 p.m. (local time) on "das Erste".

Highlights and background reports are available on the Internet at audi.tv.