“Of course, having the first pole of the year is very nice, but this doesn't tell us at all what the rest of the season will be like. We have to wait to see how the race will turn out, but based on the long-runs, I am optimistic. During the winter, we have developed an entirely new car and the benchmark for those defending the title is very high, as everyone is expecting a special performance.”
“It was an exciting qualifying session,” agreed Mercedes-Benz Motorsport Vice-President Norbert Haug, “and I am happy with the result, as I had expected a far worse result. From the very beginning, we haven't been that strong here and we haven't been working in the right direction. In the DTM, a gap of four tenths of a second to Timo Scheider is a lot.
“Audi was simply better – congratulations for the first pole of the season – but this was only qualifying. The race is something totally different, and our test results show good consistency.
Ralf Schumacher only just failed to make it into the top 14, but we are not disappointed – it went according to plan for him.”
![Timo Scheider - Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline [pic credit: DTM Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/349775.jpg)
