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Ekström tops afternoon session

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At the end of the first of the four days of official DTM testing, held at Vallelunga, Mika Häkkinen set the fastest lap time. The two-time Formula One World Champion, who completed his maiden laps at the circuit located close to Rome, set a 1:41.889-minute lap, thus being 0.079 seconds faster than his team-mate, Bruno Spengler.

In rainy and cold conditions (10° C), Häkkinen set the fastest lap time of the day already in the morning session. The afternoon session was red-flagged several times, as some of the drivers went off on the way to taking their cars to the very limit, on the extremely wet track.

Mattias Ekström turned out to be the quickest driver of the afternoon session. At the wheel of his Audi A4 DTM, the 2004 DTM Champion set a fastest lap time of 1:42.866 minutes, a time fast enough to secure him fourth place on the day’s time sheet, behind Mika Häkkinen, Bruno Spengler (AMG-Mercedes C-Class) and Tom Kristensen (Audi A4 DTM). Apart from Ekström, Mercedes-Benz works drivers Jean Alesi and Mathias Lauda as well as Audi’s Christian Abt also succeeded in improving their lap times, in the afternoon session.

The Frenchman increased his time by more than a second, while Lauda – who had been hampered by technical problems, in the morning session, and could complete only eight laps to finish twelfth – even improved by more than two seconds.

Just as it had been the case in the morning session, Susie Stoddart in her AMG-Mercedes C-Class once again proved to be the fastest of the rookies, when the first day of testing was over. Having secured eighth place on the day’s time sheets, she finished three positions ahead of Mathias Lauda (AMG-Mercedes C-Class) and four positions ahead of Vanina Ickx (Audi A4 DTM

Mika Häkkinen (AMG-Mercedes C-Class): “This has been the first time for me to drive at Vallelunga and I really looked forward to going out on this circuit. Dry conditions are always better to learn a track, but unfortunately it started raining already in the morning. It’s fun to drive the new car, with its handling being just great – not only in dry conditions but also in the wet. Altogether, it was a very good and productive day and it’s a nice start into the season to have been quickest on the first day of the official tests.”

Tom Kristensen (Audi A4 DTM): “The morning was wet, the afternoon very wet – the conditions were difficult and anything than consistent. Therefore, there wasn’t much to be learned, today, and I opted for completing just a few laps. The car ran really well and reacts the way we expected it to do. Now I hope for better conditions during the coming days.”

Mattias Ekström (Audi A4 DTM): “It has been very wet, all day, and the track conditions turned out to be extremely difficult, in several sections. This offered me the chance of experiencing the new car’s handling in difficult conditions right away. Altogether, it has been a good day.”

The official DTM test days will be continued until and including Thursday.

Testing times 27th february 2006 – combined
1 Häkkinen Mercedes C-Class 1:41.880
2 Spengler Mercedes C-Class 1:42.659
3 Kristensen Audi A4 1:42.687
4 Ekström Audi A4 1:42.866
5 Abt Audi A4 1:43.261
6 Mücke Mercedes C-Class 1:43.557
7 Alesi Mercedes C-Class 1:43.919
8 Stoddart Mercedes C-Class 1:44.493
9 Tomczyk Audi A4 1:45.170
10 Stippler Audi A4 1:45.515
11 Lauda Mercedes C-Class 1:46.407
12 Ickx Audi A4 1:46.657