Audi defeated Mercedes in the battle for honours in the first official practice session of the 2008 DTM campaign at Hockenheim this weekend, as Oliver Jarvis marked himself out as one to watch by recording the third-quickest time in a year-old car.
The fastest time of the day went to Martin Tomczyk, as Audi thoroughly monopolised the top of the timesheets with its A4 DTM. Indeed, despite foggy and rainy conditions around the Baden-Württemberg circuit, the young German held a handy advantage over his closest competitors at the close of play, as Audi seeks to repeat the one-two it scored in last year's season-opener, when Mattias Ekström led Tomczyk home in a one-two demonstration
en route to his second series crown. This time around, the man from Rosenheim clearly intends to turn the tables.
“I really like the car,” commented an extremely satisfied Tomczyk. “So far, things have been going really well for all of us – we didn't have any problems whatsoever. We shouldn't delude ourselves, though. Mercedes will probably have a few cards up their sleeve for qualifying, but we know where we stand and how fast our car can be. Friday has been a very productive day for us.”
Tin-top rookie Jarvis, meanwhile, turned heads by lapping a stunning third-quickest in the morning session – behind only Tomczyk and testing star Timo Scheider – before winding up sixth overall in the afternoon, despite the limitations of his 2007-spec machinery. The Ingolstadt marque's youngest factory driver – at just 24-years-old – has been strong throughout pre-season testing, and re-affirmed that promised on the opening day, winding up just over half a second adrift of Tomczyk.
![Martin Tomczyk - Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline [pic credit: DTM Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/388635.jpg)
