The Vehicles Earth

Audi Press Release

• Narrow margins in DTM qualifying at Oschersleben
• Mattias Ekström as quickest Audi driver on grid position five
• Four Audi A5 DTM cars on the four front rows of the grid

Ingolstadt/Oschersleben, September 15, 2012 – Last year’s winner Mattias Ekström will start from position five on the grid into the DTM race at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben near Magdeburg on Sunday (from 13:45 live on “Das Erste”). Four Audi A5 DTM cars in total are on the four front rows of the grid.

Ekström missed the shoot-out for the top four grid positions in his Red Bull Audi A5 DTM by merely 98 thousandths of a second. “Qualifying was pretty tough,” said the Swede from Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline. “Of course not having made it into Q4 is a bit disappointing. But more was not possible today. In the race, I’m determined to give everything and to fight like a lion to advance.”

On row three alongside Ekström on Sunday will be Zandvoort winner Edoardo Mortara (Playboy Audi A5 DTM/Audi Sport Team Rosberg). The fourth row of the grid with Mike Rockenfeller (Schaeffler Audi A5 DTM) and Miguel Molina (Red Bull Audi A5 DTM) belongs to the two racers from Audi Sport Team Phoenix.

Filipe Albuquerque (TV Movie Audi A5 DTM) and Timo Scheider (AUTO TEST Audi A5 DTM) will be starting into the 51-lap race from positions 14 and 15. Adrien Tambay (Audi ultra A5 DTM) and Rahel Frey (E-POSTBRIEF Audi A5 DTM) are sharing the ninth row.

“At Zandvoort, we had five cars on the top five grid positions, here we’ve got the best one on grid position five – this shows yet again how close and varied the competition is in the DTM,” commented Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “The time gaps in qualifying were extremely small. We weren’t lacking a lot but in the DTM simply everything has got to fit if you want to be at the very front. But qualifying and the race are two different things. Tomorrow, we’ll do everything within our means to move forward. After all, we’ve got four cars in the top ten.”