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Vallelunga testing day two

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On the second day of DTM testing at Vallelunga, Italy, Bruno Spengler secured the top position on the time sheets with a 1:28.313-minute lap. Behind the wheel of his AMG-Mercedes C-Class, the Canadian was 0.657 seconds faster than the quickest lap Mika Häkkinen had set in the morning session.

Yet, the Finn also improved – to 1:28.550 minutes – to secure second position. At the same time, third and fourth places were clinched by Audi drivers Tom Kristensen (1:28.560 minutes) and Mattias Ekström (1:28.623 minutes).

In sunny but cold conditions (about 12° C), Martin Tomczyk proved to be the busiest man of day two. With his Audi A4 DTM, the driver from Rosenheim completed a massive 109 laps at the 4.076-kilometre circuit located north to Rome, thus covering a total mileage of 444.248 kilometres. Yet, the two Mercedes-Benz works drivers Bruno Spengler and Mathias Lauda were nearly as busy and completed 106 laps each.

Once again, Scotland’s Susie Stoddart in her AMG-Mercedes C-Class proved to be the fastest of the rookies. She came eighth, with her gap to Spengler adding up to just about a second. While Vanina Ickx (Audi A4 DTM), Daniel la Rosa and Mathias Lauda (AMG-Mercedes C-Class both) took tenth, eleventh and twelfth places respectively.

Mika Häkkinen (AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse): “This has been another positive day of testing. The team was very well prepared when travelling to Vallelunga – chassis, engine and gearbox worked trouble-free. Vallelunga has been a new venue for me, but it took me only a short time to adapt to the track. Afterwards, I consistently set quick lap times. Furthermore, we made good progress regarding pour development work.”

Tom Kristensen (Audi A4 DTM): “We experienced some problems in the morning session but our mechanics succeeded in solving them quickly. In the afternoon, I completed a big number of laps and we tested several set-ups, during the course of the session. Some worked fine, some didn’t. At the end of the day, wee gained a lot of data that may turn out to be helpful, during the course of the season.”

Mattias Ekström (Audi A4 DTM): “What a nice day. We had an interesting testing programme and succeeded in completing nearly everything we had planned to do. Today, I’m really happy with what we’ve achieved.”

Testing times 28.02.2006 – combined
1 Spengler Mercedes C-Class 1:28.313
2 Häkkinen Mercedes C-Class 1:28.550
3 Kristensen Audi A4 1:28.560
4 Ekström Audi A4 1:28.623
5 Tomczyk Audi A4 1:28.951
6 Abt Audi A4 1:29.225
7 Alesi Mercedes C-Class 1:29.306
8 Stoddart Mercedes C-Class 1:29.465
9 Stippler Audi A4 1:29.478
10 Ickx Mercedes C-Class 1:29.681
11 La Rosa Mercedes C-Class 1:29.768
12 Lauda Mercedes C-Class 1:29.840