A word from ... Dieter Gass
The qualifying format has been changed too: Q1, Q2, Q3 or even Q4 are DTM history... The motto is: ‘Keep it simple.’ There’s only a 20-minute qualifying session now per race – the fastest driver is in front. With 24 cars now and such a short time, conflicts are preprogrammed. Going out on track and not getting into traffic will be crucial. While in the past the drivers were able to get into their rhythm in Q1 everybody now has to immediately deliver their full performance. So the fans can look forward to very intensive 20 minutes during which almost all of the 24 cars will be out on track. I’m already curious to see if anyone will be bold enough to go out only once in order to save a set of tires for the race; the grid position is too important for that. It’ll be thrilling for the fans What does the increase from ten to 18 races mean? That one or two races without points do not automatically mean that there’s no longer a chance of winning the championship. I’m assuming that we’re going to see more drivers in the battle for the title for a longer time in the future. I hope that we’re going to profit from that at Audi. After all, we have a particularly homogeneous driver squad that we clinched the manufacturer’s title with last year. We’re the only brand that doesn’t have a new driver in its line-up. I see that as an advantage for Audi.