Audi driver Tom Kristensen fastest again
Date: Friday, April 30, 2004 @ 17:33:52 BST
Author: audioc
Topic: Audi in Motorsport
The first foreign event of the 2004 DTM, at Estoril (Portugal), started with a fastest time for Audi. Tom Kristensen recorded a lap time of 1m 44.770s at the beginning of Friday's two 90-minute test sessions at the wheel of Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline's Audi A4 DTM, a time that remained unchallenged for the rest of the day. The Dane had been fastest in the official DTM tests at Estoril in March.

Quotes after Friday´s tests

Tom Kristensen (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline Audi A4 DTM #12)
1st / 3rd, 1m 34.770s (58 laps)
"The concentrated work we have done during the tests in March paid off. Today, my A4 DTM was immediately very fast. That was a very good Friday test, everything went much better than at Hockenheim. Now we will carefully examine the data and continue like this tomorrow."

Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt Audi A4 DTM #5)
3rd / 6th, 1m 35.262s (58 laps)
"Not everything ran totally perfect today but nevertheless we completed a good long-run and gathered much information for tomorrow's practice. This track definitely suits our Audi A4 DTM better than Hockenheim, although overtaking is going to be very difficult on this narrow track."

Christian Abt (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline Audi A4 DTM #11)
4th / 18th, 1m 35.273s (50 laps)
"I tested a lot and tried out many different set-ups. Today, I focussed on working towards the race - tomorrow morning I will look for a perfect qualifying configuration."

Martin Tomczyk (Audi Sport Team Abt Audi A4 DTM #6)
5th / 15th, 1m 35.378s (47 laps)
"It was difficult to reach a good set-up today because track conditions were forever changing. Generally, the track has little grip which does not make life particularly easy. The track is demanding but really fun to drive."

Emanuele Pirro (Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest Audi A4 DTM #44)
14th / 11th, 1m 35.632s (59 laps)
"I did not find a good set-up this morning but things improved during the afternoon. My ,long run' was quite good, recording my fastest lap at the beginning."

Frank Biela (Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest Audi A4 DTM #45)
11th / 13th, 1m 35.782s (60 laps)
"In the morning session, I went quite well on old tyres although the track was slower in the afternoon. The handling of the car was not bad but we must make detail improvements. Every tenth counts, you can see how close the field is."

Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): "We did not chase times today but worked exclusively for Sunday. On this track, the tyre wear is an important topic so we needed to collect as much data as possible. We showed today good team work and split up our programme amongst all four drivers. With all their data, we are well prepared for the weekend."

Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest): "We still have work to do but we are not unhappy. Compared to Hockenheim, the gap to the front has become a little smaller. Frank was immediately fast on old tyres, Emanuele found a good set-up in the afternoon. Unfortunately it began to drizzle exactly in the moment we went out again on fresh tyres."

Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): "17 cars within a second - this shows how competitive the field is. All cars completed their programmes without major problems. Tom was fastest, Mattias drove a very good ,long-run' - we have a very good basis."

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