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Second place finish for Marcel in the season opener!
Friday practices
Marcel topped the times in the first Friday practice for the season opener at Hockenheim and was sixth in the second session. The car was good and Marcel was happy with the performance. The set up was good from the outset and despite a mistake in the second session that gave him tyre problems, it was a satisfactory day.
Saturday qualifying
Third fastest in the pre-qualifying session, Marcel held the same position for qualifying with the new format. The top ten drivers have one flying lap after the initial qualifying session, in which Marcel was fifth, to set the grid positions one to ten. He set the second fastest time on his lap and only got bumped down to third by Bernd Schneider taking pole.
"I made no mistake during the singe-lap qualifying, but I was a bit too careful," Marcel said. "It was mainly due to the third sector in the Motodrom that I was slower than Bernd. He was faster today - congratulations."
A good start to the season -- but Marcel has reigning champion Laurent Ailleo right beside him on the grid and Crash-a-lot-Tomczyk in front! It will be an interesting race, for sure.
Sunday race
A great start to the season with a second place finish in the new single-race format. The weather was really bad and after a good start, Marcel stopped early to change to wet tyres and the strategy paid off. Despite a radio problem he had a trouble free race, although Abt's Laurent Aiello was right behind him in the final laps but Marcel held him off. Mercedes team mate Bernd Schneider was the winner so a great 1-2 finish.
"Even behind the Safety Car, I almost slid off the track with slicks," Marcel said. "But after changing to wet tyres on lap 6 I knew that our strategy would work. The battle with Aiello was hard but fair, it was great fun."
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