Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich was highly disappointed with the worst qualifying session of the year for Audi Sport at Oschersleben, especially after a great weekend in Zandvoort.
“After qualifying at Zandvoort was really brilliant it’s obviously disappointing to experience the worst qualifying session of the season here. We’ve again got four Audi cars in the top ten but only on positions five to eight,” said Ullrich.
Dr. Ullrich calls for the team to perform better to make up for the disappointment.
“This doesn’t match our expectations. I think that in the race we’ll be in a better position than in qualifying and am hoping for us to convert this into a better race result.”
Audi endured a tough qualifying, with none of its drivers making it to Q4. Mattias Ekström looked quite disappointed, although he feels highly motivated for the race.
“Qualifying was pretty tough. I never had the feeling of running well. Fifth place is okay. Obviously, not having made it into Q4 is a bit disappointing. But more was not possible today. In the race, I’m going to give everything and fight like a lion to advance.”
Zandvoort race winner Edoardo Mortara, who is also the highest placed Audi driver in the standings, made a big step forward after Free Practice.
“In qualifying, the car was better than it was this morning and yesterday. We had made a few changes since the free practice. We were competitive in Q1 and Q2 and were thus able to save a set of tires. In Q3, I made a mistake on my fastest lap. We’ll see what we can achieve from this situation in the race.”
Mike Rockenfeller, who advanced to Q3 courtesy of clocking the same laptime as Ralf Schumacher earlier than his rival, is disappointed with his performance as he believes he could have done better.
“Seventh place is a disappointing grid position. I knew that it would be difficult. The time should have been enough for fifth place if I’d managed the lap well. More than that, though, wasn’t possible. Now we’ve got to see to doing a better job.”
