Audi relying on Jamie Green for good result in Austria

Despite a difficult qualifying session, Audi Sport Team Rosberg’s Jamie Green was able to put his RS 5 in sixth, a more than decent position to fight for points ahead of tomorrow’s race.

“Being the best Audi driver in sixth place is obviously not what we’d been hoping for,” said the Brit. ““I am happy that we made it into Q3, it shows that we did a good job. My car was basically good and I was only struggling a little in Turn 1. My second lap would have been the fastest but I had a bit of oversteer in the first corner. I would like to thank my team, they did a good job.”

Audi Sport’s Head of DTM Dieter Gass was obviously not happy with the results, as the second best placed Audi is Team Phoenix’s Timo Scheider in 14th.

“Naturally, this was not a qualifying session to our liking,” admitted Gass. “Even in Free Practice, there were indications that we would have had a difficult time here. The time gaps in qualifying were minimal and Jamie [Green] was only 91 thousandths of a second short of clinching the pole position. He and his team made the best of what was a difficult situation for us today. It will be a tough race for us, but the points are only awarded tomorrow and we are not giving up.”

Reigning DTM champion Mike Rockenfeller clearly stated after qualifying that he’d given up on defending his title.

“The way things stand, we have to take it on a race-by-race basis, starting from here. Qualifying was really disappointing, and I also have to take my penalty for the accident we had in Russia, so I will start from 17th. Tomorrow we will try to make the best out of the race, hopefully with a good strategy.”

Rockenfeller currently lies fifth in the championship on 35 points, exactly half those of championship leader Marco Wittmann.