A front-row lock-out for Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline once again as Robin Frijns claims his third pole of the season in an Audi-dominated session. Marco Wittmann as best-placed BMW in seventh.
It’s been a beautiful sunny morning at the Lausitzring with temperatures higher compared to Saturday. In the early stages of the session, the BMW’s and Audi’s were quite mixed. However, it didn’t take long for Audi’s dominance to shine through. After the first part of the session, Nico Mueller was leading with a 1:16.032, followed by Rene Rast and Mike Rockenfeller. Marco Wittmann was best of the BMW’s in fifth, the gap to Mueller being 0.284 seconds.
With six minutes left on the clock, drivers returned to the track for their second runs. In the final 20 seconds of the session, Frijns took provisional pole with a 1:15.787 from his Abt Sportsline teammate Mueller, making it a front-row lock-out for the Kempten-based team. It’s the Dutchman’s third pole of the season and of his career, showing he seems the man to beat for sheer one-lap pace.
Earlier in the session, Rast was the first driver to break the 1:16s barrier. However, it wasn’t enough and the two-time champion finished third with a 0.124 gap to Frijns. ‘We struggled a lot on Friday and Saturday, we lacked pace, so we did a lot of changes in the car setup. The race is another thing, but the pace is there, so let’s see what we can do.’
Ferdinand Habsburg celebrates his best qualifying result in DTM with an impressive fourth place. The Austrian WRT driver scored his first points of the season yesterday, finishing sixth. Audi Sport Team Phoenix drivers Loic Duval and Mike Rockenfeller will start today’s race from the third row on the grid.
BMW showed more promising pace in yesterday’s race. Despite this, they might be a bit disappointed after today’s qualifying. Two-time champion Wittmann was the best of the BMW’s in seventh, with a gap of over half a second to Frijns. WRT’s rookie Harrison Newey will be very happy with his result, starting this afternoon’s race from eighth. Completing the top ten are Jamie Green and Sheldon van der Linde, who scored his maiden DTM podium yesterday.
Philipp Eng, Timo Glock, Jonathan Aberdein and Lucas Auer were the BMW’s outside of the top ten in 11th, 12th, 14th and 15th. The two other rookies Fabio Scherer – WRT – and Robert Kubica – ART Grand Prix – will start from 13th and 16th on the grid.
