DTM Round 2 Eurospeedway

The German swept his 2004-model Audi A4 to a 1min 16.644secs around the revised 2.12-mile circuit near Dresden in East Germany.

Allan McNish, who partnered Kaffer in the Le Mans Endurance Series last year, set the 13th quickest time in the 20-car field with a 1:17.703 in his Siemens 2005-model Audi A4DTM having stopped the clock at 1:18.681secs in the morning's 90-minute session.

"We're making steady progress with the car," comfirmed Allan.  "The balance is aleady good and I'm happy with the tyre performance on 'long' runs. We'll be making more detailed improvements overnight and I'm optimistic for the race."

Official qualifying is staged on Saturday with the one-hour race on Sunday.

Overall Friday Practice (2 x 90mins) weather warm and sunny/overcast:

1.  Pierre Kaffer, D (Audi A4 DTM) 1min 16.644secs   

2.  Jamie Green, GB (Mercedes C-Klasse) 1:16.821 

3.  Jean Alesi, F (Mercedes C-Klasse) 1:16.855

4.  Gary Paffett, GB (Mercedes C-Klasse) 1:16.888 

5.  Tom Kristensen, Den (Audi A4 DTM) 1:16.923 

6.  Bruno Spengler, CAN (Mercedes C-Klasse) 1:16.992 

7.  Bernd Schneider, D (Mercedes C-Klasse) 1:17.072 

8.  Mattias Ekström, Swe (Audi A4 DTM) 1:17.176 

9.  Christian Abt, D (Audi A4 DTM) 1:17.196 

10.  Mika Häkkinen, Fin (Mercedes C-Klasse) 1:17.285 

11.  Frank Stippler, D (Audi A4 DTM) 1:17.323 

12.  Heinz-Harald Frentzen, D (Opel Vectra GTS V8) 1:17.647 

13.  Allan McNish, GB (Audi A4 DTM) 1:17.703 

14.  Laurent Aiello, Fra (Opel Vectra GTS V8) 1:17.829 

15.  Rinaldo Capello, It (Audi A4 DTM) 1:17.866 

16.  Manuel Reuter, D (Opel Vectra GTS V8) 1:17.908 

17.  Stefan Mücke, D (Mercedes C-Klasse) 1:17.940 

18.  Martin Tomczyk, D (Audi A4 DTM) 1:17.972 

19.  Marcel Fässler, CH (Opel Vectra GTS V8) 1:18.234

20.  Alexandros Margaritis, Greece (Mercedes C-Klasse) 1:18.637 

* All personal fastest times were set in afternoon session