Ekstrom tops Nurburgring warm-up

Date published : 07 Aug 2011 - 08:13:57

Mattias Ekstrom confirmed that his qualifying pace was no fluke as he went quickest in DTM warm-up at the Nurburgring.The Swede's pace-setting 1m25.503s lap came midway through the session and was enough to put the Abt Audi driver on top by 0.155s from the old-spec Team Rosberg A4 of Filipe Albuquerque.Jamie Green, who will start on the front row alongside Ekstrom, was the best of the Mercedes drivers in third in his HWA car while Edoardo Mortara made it an excellent session for the Rosberg team with fourth place.Martin Tomczyk was fifth in his Phoenix Audi with Gary Paffett (HWA) and David Coulthard (Mucke Mercedes) next up.Abt's Timo Scheider, HWA's championship leader Bruno Spengler and the Persson Mercedes of Renger van der Zande completed the top 10.Miguel Molina suffered a spin in his Abt Audi after getting on the kerbs at the exit of Turn 2, while Maro Engel (Mucke) outbraked himself at the chicane and was forced to miss the corner.Red flags came out with two minutes remaining after a piece of kerbing on the exit of Turn 4 came loose and was hit by Coulthard and Mortara, both of whom sustained minor damage to their cars. The session was not resumed.Pos Driver Team Time 1. Mattias Ekstr?m Audi 1m25.503s 2. Filipe Albuquerque Audi 1m25.658s + 0.155s 3. Jamie Green Mercedes 1m25.703s + 0.200s 4. Edoardo Mortara Audi 1m25.727s + 0.224s 5. Martin Tomczyk Audi 1m25.744s + 0.241s 6. Gary Paffett Mercedes 1m25.762s + 0.259s 7. David Coulthard Mercedes 1m25.775s + 0.272s 8. Timo Scheider Audi 1m25.831s + 0.328s 9. Bruno Spengler Mercedes 1m25.862s + 0.359s10. Renger van der Zande Mercedes 1m25.990s + 0.487s11. Miguel Molina Audi 1m26.010s + 0.507s12. Maro Engel Mercedes 1m26.096s + 0.593s13. Oliver Jarvis Audi 1m26.187s + 0.684s14. Christian Vietoris Mercedes 1m26.235s + 0.732s15. Mike Rockenfeller Audi 1m26.236s + 0.733s16. Ralf Schumacher Mercedes 1m26.240s + 0.737s17. Susie Stoddart Mercedes 1m26.506s + 1.003s18. Rahel Frey Audi 1m26.786s + 1.283s