Kristensen tops first Lausitz practice

Date published : 17 Jun 2011 - 11:50:55

Tom Kristensen caused a mini sensation on his DTM return by going fastest in the opening free practice session at Lausitz.Kristensen has not raced in the DTM since 2009 and is only replacing Mike Rockenfeller at the Abt Audi squad this weekend while he recovers from his heavy Le Mans 24 Hours crash last weekend.None of that slowed down the 43-year-old Dane though as he took his A4 to the top of the timesheets in 1m19.412s with six minutes of the session remaining.That time was good enough to displace the older-spec Phoenix Audi of Spielberg winner Martin Tomczyk by 0.026s in what was an extremely close 90 minutes.Timo Scheider made it an all-Audi top three while Christian Vietoris was the best Mercedes driver in his older-spec, Persson-run car in fourth.Filipe Albuquerque (Rosberg Audi), David Coulthard (Mucke Mercedes), Renger van der Zande (Persson Mercedes) and Oliver Jarvis (Abt Audi) were next up, while Susie Stoddart was an impressive ninth quickest in her Persson Mercedes.Fresh from extending his Mercedes contract, Gary Paffett was the best of the HWA drivers in 13th, one spot ahead of his championship-leading team-mate Bruno Spengler.Ralf Schumacher was 17th, but less than 0.9s off the pace set by Kristensen. Pos Driver Car Time Laps 1. Tom Kristensen Audi 1m19.412s 40 2. Martin Tomczyk Audi 1m19.438s + 0.026 37 3. Timo Scheider Audi 1m19.468s + 0.056 28 4. C.Vietoris Mercedes 1m19.572s + 0.160 30 5. F.Albuquerque Audi 1m19.628s + 0.216 40 6. David Coulthard Mercedes 1m19.728s + 0.316 29 7. R.van der Zande Mercedes 1m19.730s + 0.318 37 8. Oliver Jarvis Audi 1m19.800s + 0.388 36 9. Susie Stoddart Mercedes 1m19.839s + 0.427 3210. Miguel Molina Audi 1m19.899s + 0.487 3811. Edoardo Mortara Audi 1m19.923s + 0.511 4412. Mattias Ekstr?m Audi 1m20.056s + 0.644 2613. Gary Paffett Mercedes 1m20.117s + 0.705 3514. Bruno Spengler Mercedes 1m20.191s + 0.779 3015. Jamie Green Mercedes 1m20.206s + 0.794 4416. Maro Engel Mercedes 1m20.228s + 0.816 3217. Ralf Schumacher Mercedes 1m20.284s + 0.872 3118. Rahel Frey Audi 1m21.298s + 1.886 16