Saturday 24, April 2010
Gary Paffett (Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class) will start Sunday's first round of the 2010 DTM at Hockenheim from pole position. In the single-lap qualifying, Gary posted a lap time of 1m33.214. It is his seventh pole in his 60th DTM race and the 50th pole for Mercedes- Benz since the DTM's relaunch in 2000.
Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class) and Jamie Green (Junge Sterne AMG Mercedes C-Class) share the second row of the grid; Bruno came home third with a 1m33.319 ahead of Jamie with a 1m33.389 - they were separated by only seven hundredths of a second. Paul Di Resta (AMG Mercedes C-Class) qualified sixth with a 1m33.193.
The return to motor racing of 13-times grand prix winner and former McLaren Mercedes driver David Coulthard (Deutsche Post AMG Mercedes C-Class) ended in the first round of qualifying. David came home 17th with a 1m34.791 behind Ralf Schumacher (Laureus AMG Mercedes C-Class/1m34.361).
Qualifying, part 1: Bruno Spengler was the fastest C-Class driver in second place (1m33.484). Susie Stoddart (TV Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Class) ended up 15th with a 1m34.118 and missed the second round by six thousandths of a second. Ralf Schumacher (1m34.361) came home 16th ahead of David Coulthard (1m34.791).
Qualifying, part 2: This time, Paul Di Resta was the best Mercedes-Benz driver; he ended up second with a 1m32.708. Maro Engel (GQ AMG Mercedes C-Klasse) qualified 10th with a 1m33.160 and DTM rookie CongFu Cheng ended up 14th with a 1m33.738.
Gary Paffett (Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class) pole position (1:33.214): "I am really happy to start the new season with pole position. I thank my team - the guys did a great job. We have a very good technical package and I look forward to Sunday's race."
Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: "Pole like Paffett - that fits; congratulations to Gary and the HWA team under Gerhard Ungar, everybody did a great job. It is the 50th pole since the start of the new DTM in 2000 and the 99th since Mercedes-Benz entered the DTM as a works team. Last Tuesday, Gary was stranded in China, like myself, and today on Saturday he is on pole, that shows his world-class. The season starts well for us with this first performance check. Three Mercedes on the first two rows and four C-Class cars among the first three rows are a great result - well done, guys. CongFu Cheng has a good debut with 14th on the grid; compliments. As expected, David first learned it the hard way today, but - don't worry - he is a strong racer. That Ralf was out with his second set of tyres too late was our mistake - sorry for that. In tomorrow's race we want to achieve a similar result like in today's qualifying."
