An incredibly close qualifying session saw championship leader Nico Mueller keep rival Rene Rast at bay. The Swiss driver took provisional pole position for the first time this year despite wet conditions.
In contrast to yesterday’s hot and sunny weather, the Lausitzring was far chillier and wetter this morning – the first time this year drivers have had these conditions. Qualifying came to a halt when a red flag was thrown thanks to BMW’s Timo Glock spinning into the gravel on the exit of Turn 2. This meant the end of the session for the BMW driver. After a short break, the session resumed with 12 minutes left on the clock.
Audi’s Mike Rockenfeller had led the session in the first half with the best time of 1:59.919. After the short break with the red flag, he returned to the top spot. However, the times quickly tumbled. First, Mueller went fastest with a 1:58.709 but his time was beaten soon after by Rast. It was still raining quite a bit, but because a dry line was forming, times kept improving constantly.
With four minutes left on the clock, we saw lots of purple sectors with BMW good in the mix as well. But, it was Mueller who went fastest with a best time of 1:57.822. Keeping Rast behind with a gap of 0.038 seconds. After last weekend’s close finish, it’s another tight margin between the pair. Rast seemed rather frustrated after the session, saying ‘But he [Mueller] can do! He can do different!’ to his engineer.
Polesitter Mueller said: ‘It’s difficult to put the perfect lap together as this track has a very low grip in wet conditions. It’s very technical, we were at the right time in the right place, so it’s good to be on pole.’
Robin Frijns, who scored three pole positions out of the last four races, will start from third today. Rockenfeller, who has shown often enough he can drive in wet conditions, will start alongside Frijns on the second row of the grid.
Best of the BMW’s today is Marco Wittmann, who finished fifth with a gap of 0.592 seconds to Mueller. Even though it seemed like the weather might be an advantage, BMW is still struggling a bit compared to the Audi’s. Lining up alongside the two-time champion is Lucas Auer. The Austrian driver had been on course for a faster lap when he went off track at turn 9. He missed his breaking point, going into the gravel. But, he managed to make it to the exit route and returned to the track without problems.
Another pair of BMW’s qualified seventh and eighth – Philipp Eng and Sheldon van der Linde. This means four of the six BMW’s made it to the top ten. Completing the top ten are Audi Team Phoenix’ Loic Duval and WRT’s Ferdinand Habsburg. Best of the rookies was Harrison Newey in 11th. Fabio Scherer and Robert Kubica will start 13th and 14th. Audi’s Jamie Green struggled and therefore will start from 15th on the grid.
The race will start at 13.30 local time (12.30 UK time).
