Gary Paffett spearheaded a Mercedes domination of the Moscow circuit in qualifying for round 11 of the DTM season.
The changeable conditions favoured Paffett as the Brit seemed to consistently be at the front no matter how dry the track got. The session started out with a damp track and the Russian circuit dried throughout the session eventually prompting many to change onto slicks later in the session. The gamble seemed to backfire in a way as Paffett grabbed pole late in the session with a 1:41.443 despite still being on the wet tyres.
Mercedes occupied the top four with Canadian Robert Wickens who suffered heartbreak at Zandvoort coming second followed by Hockenheim race winner Paul Di Resta and in P4 Max Gotz. Mattias Ekstrom was the highest placed out of the non-Mercedes cars as the experienced Swede bagged fifth in the under-performing Audi. The highest placed BMW was Maxime Martin. The Belgian qualified sixth on the back of his win in the 24 hours of Spa.
Further down the order, debutant Felix Rosenqvist came an impressive ninth in his first ever DTM qualifying. Championship leader’s Marco Wittmann’s extremely consistent run in qualifying came to an end as the 2014 champion qualified in an underwhelming 20th place. His championship rivals didn’t do outstandingly well but are still in contention for a fair few points. Jamie Green qualified in 10th and Edo Mortara ended up in 12th.
1. Paffett
2. Wickens
3. Di Resta
4. Gotz
5. Ekstrom
6. Martin
7. Scheider
8. Glock
9. Rosenqvist
10. Green
11. Tambay
12. Mortara
13. Spengler
14. Farfus
15. Da Costa
16. Molina
17. Mueller
18. Auer
19. Tomczyk
20. Wittmann
21. Blomqvist
22. Juncadella
23. Rockenfeller
24. Vietoris
