Green takes pole again

Jamie Green took his second pole today in the last shivering seconds of the qualifying. He out paced his team mate and double F1 World Champion Mika Häkkinen by 0.3 seconds. Mattias Ekström took third position in his Audi A4.

The session was halted when Tieleman went off the track. As his car was removed the eight fastest drivers could continue their challenge for pole position. The track was dry during qualifying but with temperatures just above 10°C. The race starts tomorrow at 14.00 CET.

Jamie Green (1st place, Salzgitter AMG-Mercedes): “Because of the weather, the final session was particularly difficult. In these conditions, you don’t know before every corner how slippery it will be. I am happy that my team sent me out so early, because like that, my tyres became quite warm and I could make it to pole.”

Mika Häkkinen (2nd place, AMG-Mercedes): Conditions in qualifying were very difficult. Especially then, you just can’t make one single mistake. Fortunately, I was out in time, so that my tyres became more or less warm. Tomorrow’s race will be hard. I am happy with the result.”

Mattias Ekström (3rd place, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): “These changing conditions are enough for the remainder of the season. But it made qualifying interesting. Sometimes, you win in such conditions, sometimes, you lose. For me, third place is okay.”

Mercedes-Benz-Motorsportchef Norbert Haug: “When you make it with six cars into the top eight, it shows a good team performance. And here at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz, we saw again that the concept with the cars from last year is working out. In this qualifying session, our strategy was right and we were out on the track at the right time. All in all, the two makes were at the same level. Had Mattias Ekström had another lap, it would certainly have been close. But Jamie Green set the pace throughout this qualifying session. I hope that he can convert it into a good result tomorrow. Pole-position surely is a good result, but tomorrow’s race is yet another issue.“

Audi-Motorsportchef Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich: Too bad that we just got third and fourth place. We only have a team result from ninth through 14th place. Here, we still have to get better. But tomorrow is another day and the race is tomorrow. We will concentrate and try to make the best out of it. Mattias Ekström and Tom Kristensen are two drivers who are really quick. The new qualifying format has proven to be more than right. Today, it was again as exciting as it comes.”