Markus Winkelhock: “I Am Really Happy to be Back in The Car After so Long Away”
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May 17, 2007
Markus Winkelhock
‘I was really happy to be back in the car after so long away. The last time I drove for a long run was the end of October last year and apart from a 50km shakedown that’s been it. I felt good immediately, but I was a little aggressive at first but when I got used to the tyres and the track configuration, it was a lot smoother and the lap times improved. We tried out some different aero packages and did some long runs to get a good baseline, but I think everything was good - it has been good preparation for this weekend when I’ll be racing the Audi! ‘
Christijan Albers
‘I could only do a handful of laps this afternoon on old tyres so it was very difficult to get some information. Markus did a lot of laps in the morning, so I was hoping to follow on from this, but we had a problem and had to stop. It was a real shame as it was so positive yesterday and I think we could really have got into the 1.30s with new tyres and low fuel, which would have made us much more competitive compared to the others. ‘
Media facts
* Markus Winkelhock will be returning to racing action this weekend when he competes in the DTM with a 2007 Audi. The 26-year-old will be deputising for Dane and Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen, who was injured in an accident at the start of the season * Markus raced in the DTM in 2004 with a year-old car before trying to break into F1
Testing data
Driver: Markus Winkelhock (am), Christijan Albers (pm)
Track: Circuit de Castellet, `Paul Ricard 1E-SC Short’, France
Best lap time: Winkelhock: 1min 32.756, Albers: 1min 32.245
Laps completed: Winkelhock: 43, Albers: 16
Kilometres completed: 308km
Air temperature: High of 20ºC
Track temperature: High of 31ºC
Weather: Overcast, strong ‘Mistral’ wind
F8-VII testing data (since 1 January 2007)
Total km run (testing): 6,562 kilometres
Total days: 15
Christijan Albers: 2,649km in total
Adrian Sutil: 1,801km in total
Fairuz Fauzy: 978km in total
Giedo van der Garde: 534km in total
Adrian Valles: 373km in total
Markus Winkelhock: 226km in total
