Audi/Aiello on pole at the Nurburgring.

The oft-maligned Audi TT-R scored its first DTM pole position since the Championship was re-launched, in the hands of Frenchman Laurent Aiello on Saturday at the Nurburgring circuit under the imposing shadow of the Eiffel Mountains.

More than 18-months of hard graft by the privateer Team Abt Sportsline team finally began to bear fruit on Saturday as the newly modified, long wheelbase TT-R swept the front row for the second round of the 2001 DTM Championship with multiple Touring Car Champion Laurent Aiello heading newcomer Martin Tomczyk on an emotional day for the German outfit.

After spending the majority of the 2000 season bringing up the rear of the DTM grid, the distinctive yellow Team Abt Audi TT-R's were the cars to have during qualifying at the European Grand Prix venue with Aiello really tucking into the curbs around the undulating, flowing circuit eventually working his way down to a 1 minute 37.025 second best. After enduring a trying year himself in 2000, Aiello's pole was just reward for a season of hard toil and the Frenchman will be looking to score the marque's first DTM podium since the early 1990's.

Two weeks ago at the short Hockenheim track Aiello finished seventh to record the TT-R's best result to date and barring a complete disaster in Sunday's two races that statistic will undoubtedly change for in addition to having Tomczyk alongside Aiello on the front row, team boss Christian Abt will start sixth and Mattias Ekstrom eighth putting all four Audi's inside the top ten for the Sprint Race grid.

Tomczyk's performance in the No.23 machine was all the more astounding when you consider that he was a massive eight seconds off the pace in qualifying at the Hockenheim National circuit two weeks ago and could finish no higher than 17th in either of the two races and yet the clocks were not lying when his time of 1 minute 37.194 seconds relegated defending DTM Champion Bernd Schneider in the all conquering AMG Mercedes CLK to third spot overall.

Whether Tomczyk can sustain this pace over the seven-lap sprint and then the 22-lap main race is doubtful although he could provide enough of a distraction to Schneider on Sunday to allow Aiello to scramble clear and go for a totally deserved victory.

Several of Mercedes' young guns also showed well on Saturday with Schneider's AMG team-mate Marcel Fassler and Persson's Tomas Jager finishing the session fourth and fifth respectively while Formula 3000 convert Christijan Albers provides the Persson meat in the Audi sandwich between Abt and Ekstrom in seventh overall.

Peter Dumbreck was disappointed to find himself back in ninth overall, a full half second slower than team-mate and Championship rival Schneider while Belgian Yves Olivier was surprisingly the best of the Opel Astra V8 Coupe's, albeit down in tenth spot.

After a dreadful Hockenheim, Manuel Reuter bravely predicted that Opel were nearly there with their 2001 package even though the on-track evidence would suggest otherwise. The seemingly inspired Olivier aside, every other Astra was over a second adrift of Aiello's pole time with Timo Scheider next best placed in 13th and experienced Opel trio Jo Winklehock, Reuter and Alain Menu suffered more than most and will line up 15th, 17th and 19th respectively.

Two weeks ago the Abt Sportsline team showed that they can be a force to be reckoned with provided the conditions and track are correct. This weekend the conditions and track seem to be right, now the pressure is on for them to deliver.