Oschersleben day one is go

Tuesday, the first of the four days of testing held this week at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, represented the kick-off of the 2007 season’s first clash of Audi and Mercedes-Benz. From 10th to 13th April, the two manufacturers involved in DTM are busy testing at the circuited located in Germany’s Magdeburger Börde region – in the only official DTM tests held prior to the season.

The fastest lap time was set by Audi ace Tom Kristensen in the closing minutes of the first day of testing. At the wheel of his Audi A4 DTM, the Dane lapped the 3.696-kilometre circuit in 1:22.990 minutes, thus stealing the top position on the time sheets from Bruno Spengler who had been the quickest for quite a while, with his new AMG-Mercedes C-Class. The third fastest lap was set by Daniel la Rosa with a 2006-spec AMG-Mercedes C-Class.

Behind the top three, Bernd Schneider came fourth. On his fastest lap, the five-time DTM Champion was 0.718 seconds slower than Kristensen. The fastest rookie of day one was Mike Rockenfeller. With his 2006-spec Audi A4 DTM, the new Audi signing finished sixth behind his brand-mate Timo Scheider. Adam Carroll – who has not yet been officially confirmed as Team Futurecom TME driver – impressed by finishing seventh, at the wheel of the 2005-spec Audi. The top ten were completed by Alex Margaritis, Paul di Resta and Christian Abt. The only woman contesting the first day of the Oschersleben tests, Susie Stoddart, finished eleventh, with Martin Tomczyk having to settle for twelfth and last place.

The biggest number of laps was completed by reigning DTM Champion Bernd Schneider who covered a total of 155 laps, representing a mileage of 572.88 kilometres, with his fellow Mercedes-Benz driver Spengler having covered a total mileage of 491.568 kilometres (133 laps).