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Testing at Brands Hatch

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The official four-day ITR test in Brands Hatch was kicked off today. Up to Thursday, the Audi and Mercedes-Benz teams will keep on testing at the short track of the rich in tradition British circuit, to afterwards hurry back to Germany to be there in time for the DTM Launch held in Düsseldorf.

In the closing stages of the session, Jamie Green went out a last time and set the quickest lap time of the day. At the wheel of his Mercedes-Benz C-Class, the Briton lapped the 1.973-kilometre circuit in 42.027 minutes, thus just missing the 41-second barrier.

Up to this point in time, Audi A4 DTM driver Mattias Ekström had held the top position on the time sheets. At the end of the day, Ekström’s quickest lap was 0.121 seconds slower than the one of Green, with Pierre Kaffer in a 2005-spec Audi taking third place.

While the morning session had to be red-flagged three times, there were no incidents in the afternoon. In cool conditions (about 5° C), the Audi and Mercedes-Benz teams succeeded in completing their programmes nearly as scheduled. Only Bernd Schneider and Mattias Lauda had to sit on their hands while watching their colleagues conduct the testing work. Both had damaged their cars in the morning session, hence, they couldn’t go out in the afternoon. While Daniel la Rosa, who had also been involved in an incident, in the morning, completed just one installation lap.

Busy testers: The DTM drivers covered a total of 1,067 kilometres, on Monday, with Mattias Ekström being the busiest driver. The Swede lapped Brands Hatch’s Indy circuit 150 times, thus covering a total mileage of 295.95 kilometres.

For the first time, the name of Dutchmans Olivier Tiedemann appeared on a DTM time sheet, at Brands Hatch. The Belgian tested an Audi A4 DTM for team Midland. On the quickest of his 90 laps, he lapped the circuit in 43.733 seconds.

Jamie Green (Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes): “The last time I’ve been racing in Brands Hatch has been in 2001, in Formula Renault. Therefore, I won’t enjoy an advantage over the other drivers. Still, I’d rather drive on the long circuit than on the short one. We tested several things today and are happy with what we’ve achieved. The temperatures don’t make a major impact on the testing work.”

Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): “This has been the first time for me to drive in Brands Hatch and it was big fun. The first corner and the fast final chicane in particular are truly challenging for a driver. We experienced a positive first day of testing and succeeded in fully completing our scheduled programme. Quite obviously you always would like to go quicker, but currently quick lap aren’t important for us.”

1 Green Mercedes C-Class 42.027
2 Ekström Audi A4 42.148
3 Kaffer Audi A4 42.304
4 Frentzen Audi A4 42.344
5 Margaritis Mercedes C-Class 42.382
6 Stoddart Mercedes C-Class 42.447
7 Scheider Audi A4 42.525
8 Schneider Mercedes C-Class 42.544
9 Tomczyk Audi A4 42.984
10 La Rosa Mercedes C-Class 43.560
11 Tielemans Audi A4 43.733
12 Lauda Mercedes C-Class 44.180