Di Resta leads Brands practice

Date published : 05 Sep 2009 - 10:51:19

Paul di Resta topped the DTM practice session at Brands Hatch on Saturday morning, after a late charge enabled him to knock Timo Scheider off the top spot.Reigning champion Scheider, who won at Brands last year, was on top for most of the session, but he was unable to respond to di Resta's best lap in the closing minutes, despite putting on new tyres for his final run.He had two flying laps at the end, but made errors on both, having a slide at the final corner on the first lap, then a trip through the gravel at Paddock Hill Bend on his last lap.Behind the top two, British drivers Jamie Green and Oliver Jarvis put in good performances on home soil in their 2008-spec cars to take third and fourth in the closing stages, while title contender Gary Paffett ended up fifth, having been second to Scheider for most of the session.Mattias Ekstrom jumped up to sixth at the end after a quiet session where he spent most of his time towards the bottom of the top 10, while seventh placed Maro Engel was another driver of a 2008-spec car to shine in his Mercedes.Tom Kristensen, Markus Winkelhock and Martin Tomczyk completed the top 10 for Audi, while Bruno Spengler was 11th after opting not to go out in the closing stages when most drivers improved their times.The session was red-flagged three times, due to offs for the Audis of Katherine Legge, Alexandre Premat and Christian Bakkerud at Druids.Pos Driver Car Time Gap 1. Paul di Resta Mercedes 41.849s 2. Timo Scheider Audi 41.970s + 0.121s 3. Jamie Green Mercedes 42.039s + 0.190s 4. Oliver Jarvis Audi 42.056s + 0.207s 5. Gary Paffett Mercedes 42.122s + 0.273s 6. Mattias Ekstrom Audi 42.133s + 0.284s 7. Maro Engel Mercedes 42.166s + 0.317s 8. Tom Kristensen Audi 42.185s + 0.336s 9. Markus Winkelhock Audi 42.217s + 0.368s10. Martin Tomczyk Audi 42.233s + 0.384s11. Bruno Spengler Mercedes 42.241s + 0.392s12. Mike Rockenfeller Audi 42.302s + 0.453s13. Mathias Lauda Mercedes 42.401s + 0.552s14. Katherine Legge Audi 42.447s + 0.598s15. Susie Stoddart Mercedes 42.525s + 0.676s16. Ralf Schumacher Mercedes 42.526s + 0.677s17. Alexandre Premat Audi 42.578s + 0.729s18. Tomas Kostka Audi 42.794s + 0.945s19. Johannes Seidlitz Audi 43.532s + 1.683s20. Christian Bakkerud Audi 43.588s + 1.739s