Kristensen sets practice pace for Audi

Date published : 01 Aug 2009 - 09:32:46

Tom Kristensen led an Audi lockout of the top four places in DTM free practice at Oschersleben on Saturday morning.The Dane, who is a two-time winner at the German circuit, snatched the top spot from Mattias Ekstrom in the final couple of minutes of the session, as the majority of drivers improved their times towards the end when they switched their focus to qualifying setups.Martin Tomczyk made it three Abt Sportsline cars at the head of the times, while Zandvoort pole-sitter Oliver Jarvis impressed again to take fourth in his 2008-spec Audi, having headed the times before the 2009 cars upped their pace.Paul di Resta was the best Mercedes in fifth place, after a tricky session for the HWA squad that runs the 2009-spec C-class, which is 20 kilograms heavier than its Audi counterpart this weekend.The first issue came early on when di Resta appeared to suffer rear suspension damage after running over a kerb. While he lost time, he was able to get plenty of running in once his car was fixed, and was the only Mercedes to get near the pace of the Audis.Bruno Spengler and championship leader Gary Paffett both had lengthy stays in the garage in the crucial latter stages of the session, which left them with less time than their rivals to perfect a qualifying setup.Spengler rejoined the fray with just six minutes remaining and could only get up to ninth, while Paffett hit the track two minutes later, and could only climb from 17th to 12th.Ralf Schumacher was also spotted touring back to the pits late on, but he was back out on track shortly after and able to get into the top 10.Pos Driver Car Time Gap 1. Tom Kristensen Audi 1m22.247s 2. Mattias Ekstr? Audi 1m22.281s +0.034 3. Martin Tomczyk Audi 1m22.483s +0.236 4. Oliver Jarvis Audi 1m22.584s +0.337 5. Paul Di Resta Mercedes 1m22.590s +0.343 6. Alexandre Pr?t Audi 1m22.649s +0.402 7. Timo Scheider Audi 1m22.707s +0.460 8. Mike Rockenfeller Audi 1m22.834s +0.587 9. Bruno Spengler Mercedes 1m23.019s +0.77210. Ralf Schumacher Mercedes 1m23.025s +0.77811. Jamie Green Mercedes 1m23.055s +0.80812. Gary Paffett Mercedes 1m23.163s +0.91613. M.Winkelhock Audi 1m23.219s +0.97214. Maro Engel Mercedes 1m23.413s +1.16615. Katherine Legge Audi 1m23.768s +1.52116. Mathias Lauda Mercedes 1m23.773s +1.52617. Susie Stoddart Mercedes 1m24.041s +1.79418. Tomas Kostka Audi 1m25.304s +3.05719. Johannes Seidlitz Audi 1m25.693s +3.446