| Gary Paffett Third on the Grid
Rain in Hockenheim: Paul Di Resta fifth, Bruno Spengler 11th
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| Gary Paffett (Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class) will start Sunday’s ninth round of the 2010 DTM in Hockenheim as the best Mercedes-Benz driver third on the grid. After a rainy qualifying, he set a time of 1m37.982 in the still wet single-lap qualifying and was 0.583sec behind Timo Scheider’s (Audi) pole position time. Behind Gary, who is third overall, Paul Di Resta (AMG Mercedes C-Class) qualified fifth with a 1m38.179 and championship leader Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class) ended up 11th with a 1m39.987. Thus the leading three drivers will start in reverse order. Both former Formula 1 drivers Ralf Schumacher (Laureus AMG Mercedes C-Class) and David Coulthard (Deutsche Post AMG Mercedes C-Class) share the seventh row on the grid: Ralf was on a 1m40.567 and ended up 13th ahead of David who was on a 1m40.780. Qualifying, part 1: Gary Paffett posted a 1m39.675 and was the best C-Class driver in second place. In the closing seconds of this part of qualifying, David Coulthard (Deutsche Post AMG Mercedes C-Class) set a 1m41.253 to move up to 14th position and thus to the next round. Susie Stoddart (TV Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Class) ended up 17th with a 1m42.330 ahead of CongFu Cheng (stern AMG Mercedes C-Class) with a 1m43.129. Qualifying, part 2: Gary Paffett was again the fastest C-Class driver and ended up third with a 1m38.807. Jamie Green (Junge Sterne AMG Mercedes C-Class) qualified 10th with a 1m39.432 whilst Maro Engel (GQ AMG Mercedes C-Class) came home 12th with a 1m40.088.
Gary Paffett (Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class) third (1:37.982): “In these conditions, third place is still ok. Of course I’d prefer a better grid position, but I didn’t want to take too many chances – in the wet you can also lose a lot.” Paul Di Resta (AMG Mercedes C-Class) fifth (1:38.179): “The final sector was my main problem – here I didn’t get it quite right. It was important for me to start ahead of Bruno and that’s what I achieved.” Jamie Green (Junge Sterne AMG Mercedes C-Class) 10th (1:39.432): “I had almost no grip, therefore I could not drive faster.“ Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class) 11th (1:39.987): “I was not able to get my tyres warmed up in these difficult conditions. I was sliding all the way and thus I couldn’t set fast lap times. Tomorrow the weather should be better again and I will give it my all to move up.” Maro Engel (GQ AMG Mercedes C-Class) 12th (1:40.088): „The rain was ok for me and I also didn’t have any technical problems. 12th place is not too bad.” Ralf Schumacher (Laureus AMG Mercedes C-Class) 13th (1:40.567): “I struggled a lot in the rain and it was difficult to set a flawless lap. More would have been possible today, but in this weather it’s also easy to go off.“ David Coulthard (Deutsche Post AMG Mercedes C-Class) 14th (1:40.780): “I had less grip than in this morning’s free practice. I was not surprised that Q2 was the end of my qualifying.”
Susie Stoddart (TV-Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Class) 17th (1:42.330): “This was my fault. Sectors one and two of my final and fastest lap were good, but I didn’t manage it in the last sector. Therefore I was not able to move up.” CongFu Cheng (stern AMG Mercedes C-Class) 18th (1:43.847): “I lacked grip, so there was nothing I could do.”
Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “Not a great job by us in today’s qualifying – but Gary Paffett in third and Paul Di Resta in fifth place will still have all opportunities tomorrow – and Bruno will start at least ahead of Audi’s title contender Mattias Ekström. Congratulations to Timo and Audi on the pole position.” | |
