Kristensen leads Audi trio in test 2 as Engel crashes

The King of Le Mans, Tom Kristensen, emerged as the fastest driver of the day from the second DTM test on Friday afternoon with his Audi A4 DTM. While the track dried out, the Dane set a fastest lap time of 1.31.601 minutes and ended ahead of his team-mate Timo Scheider.

Scheider, who is leading the points’ standings with an advantage of seven points before the tenth round of the season, was almost nine tenths of a second down. Martin Tomczyk completed the Audi trio out in front, 0.976 seconds down in third place.

Unlucky bird: Maro EngelThe second DTM test had to be interrupted with a red flag 13 minutes before the end. Coming out of the "Chicane Dunlop" section, the part of the track that is covered by the famous bridge of DTM tyre partner Dunlop, Maro Engel lost control of his AMG Mercedes C-Class and hit the tyre wall rearward. He severely damaged the rear section of his car. After Engel had climbed out of the crashed car all by himself, chief medical officer Dr. Zerbian examined the 23-year old. The test resumed for five minutes at 16.07 h.

Until the interruption, Paul di Resta had been on top of the time sheets. In the remaining five minutes, di Resta wasn’t able to improve his lap time and eventually came fourth behind the three Audis. Fifth place was occupied by Christijan Albers.

The Dutch driver with his 2006-spec Audi A4 DTM was 0.992 seconds down on Kristensen’s time. The best-placed driver with a year-old car was Markus Winkelhock in seventh. Mike Rockenfeller was eighth from Bernd Schneider and Oliver Jarvis. Frenchman Alexandre Prémat had been on top for a while halfway through the session, but he eventually dropped back to eleventh.

At the start of the test, the drivers had to cope with a slippery track following a heavy rain shower, which led to several drivers getting off. As the session went on, the track dried out more and more.

The tenth DTM season round on Sunday will be covering a distance of 43 laps rather than the 40 laps that were originally planned. As a result, the race distance will be 179.995 instead of 167.400 kilometres. The ARD will be broadcasting DTM qualifying at Le Mans on Saturday from 13.30 live. TV partner ARD will be showing the race on Sunday from 13.45 h. Moreover, free practice on Saturday morning will be shown live on the internet at www.dtm.tv.

-DTM -