DTM is back at Zolder for the penultimate race weekend of the season and the fight for the championship is closer than ever. We’re catching up with the most important news and qualifying results – a fifth pole of the season for Rene Rast.
In yesterday’s practice sessions, Audi dominated once again. Robin Frijns had topped the timesheets in the first practice, with a time of 1:19.571. Later that afternoon Rene Rast was the fastest man on track and the only driver to post a lap time under 1:19 – 1:18.927. Ferdinand Habsburg was second quickest ahead of Mike Rockenfeller.
After setting the pace in Friday’s practice sessions, reigning champion Rast continued his strong performance in qualifying. His first competitive lap time in the 20-minute session was a 1:19.737, later improving to a 1:19.013. It became clear that the battle for pole position would be between Rast and Habsburg, as Habsburg took provisional pole with the fastest time of the weekend – a 1:18.877.
The field headed back out for their second runs with seven minutes left on the clock, though only a few drivers managed to improve on their earlier times. Rast put in a 1:18.843, beating Habsburg to pole who failed to improve on his second run. This is Rast’s fifth pole position of the season, allowing him to further reduce the points gap to Nico Mueller. Only seven points separate the Audi duo ahead of the first race of the weekend at Zolder.
Habsburg will start the race from the second place, equaling his best qualifying result. The Austrian WRT driver is still aiming for his maiden DTM podium. Robin Frijns was third fastest, thanks to a late improvement of 1:19.103. Jonathan Aberdein finished fourth as best of the BMWs, with a gap 0.276 seconds to Rast. Jamie Green was fifth, ahead of WRT’s Harrison Newey in sixth and BMW’s Philipp Eng in seventh.
Nico Mueller seemed to struggle quite a bit and could only manage eighth. Mueller has been leading the championship since the season opener at Spa-Francorchamps but Rast is closing in on his rival in what’s proving to be an exciting title fight. The top ten was completed by Fabio Scherer and Mike Rockenfeller in ninth and tenth – the latter with a gap of 0.608 seconds to Rast. Despite taking pole position for last Sunday’s race, Timo Glock will now start from 13th on the grid.
A quick catch-up with the most important news of last week.
First of all, there is a new face on the grid this weekend. Benoit Treluyer will make his debut, as he stands in for Loic Duval who is competing in IMSA’s Petit Le Mans this weekend. The French Audi driver has suggested that he doesn’t see himself racing in the new DTM format with GT cars. So it’s unsurprising that he was given permission from Audi to miss this weekend’s round. Treluyer has been with Audi for a long time with a history in the WEC and Le Mans. He also took part in last year’s Super GT x DTM Dream Race in Fuji, where he finished best of the Audis in sixth.
During the week, the news broke that Jens Marquardt will be stepping down from his role as BMW Motorsport boss. Marquardt started his role in 2011 and was responsible for BMW’s return to the DTM in 2012 – winning the title right away with Bruno Spengler. Two more drivers’ titles followed in 2014 and 2016 with Marco Wittmann. Unfortunately, since the new Class 1 regulations and the new turbo engine, the manufacturer was lacking pace and competitiveness against Audi.
‘I will always have emotional memories of the past ten years,’ Marquardt commented. ‘I have experienced all the highs and lows of motorsport with an exceptional team. The overall victory at the Nurburgring 24-hour race was the icing on the cake at the end of this exciting time. I am very grateful to BMW Group and the whole motorsport family for all these memories. After 25 years in motorsport, I am very much looking forward to a new challenge.’
Updated 11.45 17/10/20 – edited for clarity
