OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE
Le Mans, France, Oct 04, 2008
Jamie Green (Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class) will start tomorrow�s 10th and penultimate round of the 2008 DTM at Le Mans from the front row of the grid. In Saturday�s close fought qualifying, Green was second with a time of 1m30.229; eight hundredths of a second outside the pole position time of Tom Kristensen (Audi/1m30.149).
Paul Di Resta (AMG Mercedes C-Class) who is second overall will start fourth on the grid after posting a time of 1m30.379; in fifth place immediately behind him will start title contender Timo Scheider (Audi).
Bernd Schneider (Genuine Parts AMG Mercedes C-Class) who was on pole in Barcelona two weeks ago qualified sixth fastest with a1m30.619 ahead of Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class/1m30.765). Thus all four 2008 C-Class cars will start among the top seven.
Qualifying, part 1: Paul Di Resta posted the fastest lap at the beginning of the qualifying with a 1m30.646. Susie Stoddart (TV Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Class) ended up 15th with a 1m32.029 ahead of Gary Paffett (stern AMG Mercedes C-Class/1m32.410) whilst Mathias Lauda (Pixum AMG Mercedes C-Class/1m32.722) was 18th followed by Ralf Schumacher (Trilux AMG Mercedes C-Class/1m33.221).
Qualifying, part 2: Bernd Schneider was the fastest C-Class driver in the second part with a 1m30.483 in second place. Maro Engel (JungeSterne AMG Mercedes C-Class) ended up 13th and missed the third qualifying; his car had been repaired over night after an accident in Friday�s test.
Comments
Jamie Green (2008 Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class), second (1:30.229): �I am quite happy about my second grid position � this is ok with our weight handicap. The times at the top are very close together and that shows how strong our C-Class is here. With a good start I should be able to achieve a strong result.�
Paul Di Resta (2008 AMG Mercedes C-Class), fourth (1:30.379): �It certainly could have been better as shown by my theoretical best time with all my best sector times; however, fourth place is not too bad. If possible, I want a better result tomorrow and keep my title chances alive.�
Bernd Schneider (2008 Genuine Parts AMG Mercedes C-Class), sixth (1:30.619): �I made a mistake at the middle sector which cost me about two tenths. Without that the second row was possible. Tomorrow I will do better.�
Bruno Spengler (2008 Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class), seventh (1:30.765): �I am disappointed. On my last run I made a mistake at turn five which certainly cost me two tenths and at least one row. With a good start everything is still possible tomorrow.�
Maro Engel (2007 JungeSterne AMG Mercedes C-Class), 13th (1:31.473): �I very much thank my team for repairing the car after yesterday�s accident. It is a nice reward for everybody, that we made it to the second part of qualifying. I could have done better than 13th place, but on my final lap I made a mistake and was not able to improve.�
Susie Stoddart (2007 TV-Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Class), 15th (1:32.029): �I am not happy, because I was not able to reach the second part of qualifying. All cars are pretty close together and I lacked less than one tenths of a second to reach 14th place and thus Q2. But I am confident for the race, we have a good speed and everybody in our team does a great job.�
Gary Paffett (2007 stern AMG Mercedes C-Class), 16th (1:32.276): �I am very disappointed. In this morning�s Free Practice I was 13th, which was easily good enough for Q2. But in the afternoon I struggled with a lot of oversteer and didn�t manage to move up the grid.�
Mathias Lauda (2007 Pixum AMG Mercedes C-Class), 18th (1:32.722): �I made a lot of mistakes and pushed too hard, therefore I was not able to improve.�
Ralf Schumacher (2007 Trilux AMG Mercedes C-Class), 19th (1:33.221): �In yesterday�s tests I performed pretty well and I was 13th in the first test, but today it didn�t work out. We will analyse the data to find out why.�
Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: �The good news is that our C-Class is competitive and capable of taking the pole position here in the Le Mans qualifying even with the weight handicap after Paul Di Resta�s victory in the previous race in Barcelona. In the end, Jamie missed the best time by eight hundredths of a second, and with his best sector times, Paul in fourth place showed that more was possible than to start ahead of his immediate title rival Timo Scheider. This �more� we want to achieve tomorrow � we lead on race wins and � who knows � maybe we manage this in the end also in the points ranking.
�Compliments and thanks to the M�cke team with all their members for repairing Maro Engel�s C-Class after his accident over night. 13th place on the grid is a reasonable reward for such a tough night shift. Remarkable: Susie Stoddart missed Q2 by less than a tenth of a second and let her team mates Gary Paffett and Ralf Schumacher behind her.�
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