Second Pole for Mika H�kkinen, Bruno Spengler Second

• Fourth pole position in the fourth race for the 2007 Mercedes-Benz C-Class
• 32 thousandths between first and second place

Mika H�kkinen (AMG Mercedes C-Class) will start Sunday?s fourth round of the 2007 DTM at Brands Hatch, England from pole position. In an exciting qualifying, the Finn set a time of 42.660sec and was 32 thousandths of a second ahead of Bruno Spengler (DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG Mercedes C-Class) who qualified second. The new Mercedes-Benz C-Class now took all four pole positions of the season; H�kkinen, the winner of the last race at the Lausitzring took two poles as well as Spengler who had been the fastest qualifier there.

The qualifying�s third part was red flagged after an off of Martin Tomczyk (Audi). Jamie Green (Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class) set his fastest lap just when the flags came out; however, the time was cancelled. Afterwards, he qualified seventh with a 43.153sec. The English driver will start one place behind Bernd Schneider (Genuine Parts AMG Mercedes C-Class) who was sixth with a 42.953sec.

Qualifying, part 1: In his home race?s qualifying, Jamie Green was fastest in the first part with 42.730sec. Championship leader Paul di Resta (JAWA4U.de AMG Mercedes C-Class) set a 43.128sec and missed the second round as well as Alexandros Margaritis (stern AMG Mercedes C-Class/43.299sec), Susie Stoddart (TV Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Class/43.335sec) and Daniel la Rosa (TrekStor AMG Mercedes C-Class/43.416sec), who ended up 17th, 18th and 19th.

Qualifying, part 2: Mika H�kkinen was the fastest C-Class driver in the second part with a 42.603sec in second place. Mathias Lauda (Trilux AMG Mercedes C-Class/42.848sec) ended up 10th, Gary Paffett (Laureus AMG Mercedes C-Class/43.015sec came home 13th; both did not make it to the third and final part.

Mika H�kkinen (AMG Mercedes C-Class 2007), 42.660sec (pole position): �I am really happy about my second DTM pole position of the 2007 season. It is an optimum basis for the race; however, victory is not yet guaranteed as the 82 laps on this short circuit will be very demanding and everything can happen. I thank my team for everybody?s great efforts and I now look forward to the race. I hope the fans will appreciate that show. You will C by yourself.�

Bruno Spengler (DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG Mercedes C-Class 2007), 42.692sec (second): �A very good qualifying and I am happy with my second position, because Brands Hatch is not one of my favourite tracks. Second position on the grid is not the optimum as it is quite dirty there; however, if I have a good start everything is possible in such a long race. You have to remain concentrated all the time and must not make any mistake.�

Bernd Schneider (Genuine Parts AMG Mercedes C-Class 2007), 42.953sec (sixth): �Today it just didn?t work out and I made a mistake on my fastest lap. I am not satisfied with this result, but it will be a long and tough race and I will try to score as many points as possible.�

Jamie Green (Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class 2007), 43.153sec (seventh): �I am disappointed to end up seventh, because I had been fastest before the red flag. Afterwards my tyres faded and I was not able to improve.�

Mathias Lauda (Trilux AMG Mercedes C-Class 2006), 42.848sec (10th): �I am satisfied. In the first part I was eighth which was my best DTM qualifying position so far. On Sunday, I want to score points again.�

Gary Paffett (Laureus AMG Mercedes C-Class 2006), 43.01sec (13th): �My speed in the first part was not bad; however, in the second part I had no grip and was able to set a better time. It will be difficult to score points tomorrow.�

Paul di Resta (JAWA4U.de AMG Mercedes C-Class 2005), 43.128sec (15th): �My car?s handling was not OK and therefore I was not able to go faster, although I did not make any mistakes.�

Alexandros Margaritis (stern AMG Mercedes C-Class 2006), 43.299sec (17th): �I did not have an optimum set-up and my tyres lacked grip.�

Susie Stoddart (TV-Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Class 2005), 43.335sec (18th): �I am disappointed. We didn?t manage to find a perfect set-up. I will try hard to improve tomorrow.�

Daniel la Rosa (TrekStor AMG Mercedes C-Class 2006), 43.416sec (19th): �In this morning?s free practice I damaged the front splitter and it was not possible to repair it before qualifying. That was it.�

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport (linked to the qualifying press conference by telephone from the Canadian Grand prix in Montreal): �Congratulations to Mika and Bruno on the first row on the grid, and to the HWA team headed by Gerhard Ungar and Hans-J�rgen Mattheis on the fourth pole in the fourth race for the new C-Class and the second consecutive double pole. It?s a shame for Jamie, because with his fastest lap when the red flag came out he had shown that he also was in contention for pole position. However, with the right speed and the right strategy, he will be able to fight for top positions tomorrow, as well as Bernd who qualified sixth fastest. Our four new C-Class cars will start from the first four rows, which underlines the great HWA team performance. 32 thousandths of a second between first and second places, 14 thousandths between third and fourth, and only one thousandth between fifth and sixth demonstrate how closely fought qualifying has been on this short track. For tomorrow, I expect one of the toughest and most exciting races of the season so far.�