 pole position of 2015 at the Norisring this morning.){kind=link}
2012 champion Bruno Spengler took pole position for the second Deutsche Tournewagen Masters (DTM) race at the Norisring by a mere fraction from the duelling Mercedes pair of Christian Vietoris and Robert Wickens, in what was a closely contested qualifying.
Spengler, who joined Team MTEK from Schnitzer this year, set the fastest time of 48.280 seconds around the 2.3km track, just 0.004 seconds ahead of Vietoris, who took pole position for race 1 yesterday.
“It was really great,” said the Franco-Canadian, who explained that the going is pretty tough at the Norisring. “The team and the guys did a great job, as it’s difficult to get pole position here, as you have to drive as close to the wall as possible, using every millimetre of the track.”
It was also the first pole position for Ernst Knoors’ outfit since Marco Wittmann’s efforts at Zandvoort in 2013, in a qualifying that saw the entire field separated by just 0.625 seconds.
Vietoris and Wickens were at the top of the times for more than half of the session, but both could not depose Spengler from the top spot in the dying seconds. However, Mercedes’ strength around the Norisring showed throughout the 20-minute session, with rookie Lucas Auer taking fifth, ahead of yesterday’s race winner Pascal Wherlein.
Paul di Resta and Daniel Juncadella placed eighth and tenth respectively, making it six C63 AMG’s in the top ten, whilst Mattias Ekström was the fastest of the Audi drivers in fourth, with points leader Jamie Green in seventh.
““Fourth place is great, I’m really happy,” said the 36-year-old, who still has the performance weight added to his vehicle. “The car is good. After yesterday, this feels like a success, even though the race is still ahead. From the second row, almost anything is possible.”
Maxime Martin was the only other BMW driver to make it into the top ten in ninth, which really gave a clear indication of how close the times were, with the top ten split by 0.210 seconds.
Race two starts this afternoon at 1518 CEST (1418 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 15 | 43:12.000 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS |  |
gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 14 | 48:57.600 | 45.600 |
| 3 | 6 | Robert WICKENS | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 18 | 1:55.200 | 43.200 |
| 4 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 18 | 37:26.400 | 14.400 |
| 5 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 18 | 7:40.800 | 28.800 |
| 6 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN | |
gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 18 | 12:00.000 | 48.000 |
| 7 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 20 | 40:48.000 | 36.000 |
| 8 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 21 | 19:40.800 | 28.800 |
| 9 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 18 | 36:57.600 | 45.600 |
| 10 | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 15 | 45:36.000 | 24.000 |
| 11 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 19 | 23:02.400 | 50.400 |
| 12 | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 19 | 7:40.800 | 28.800 |
| 13 | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 22 | 9:07.200 | 55.200 |
| 14 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 15 | 24:57.600 | 45.600 |
| 15 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 19 | 30:43.200 | 31.200 |
| 16 | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ | |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 15 | 2:24.000 | 12.000 |
| 17 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 24 | 38:24.000 | 12.000 |
| 18 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 21 | 52:48.000 | 36.000 |
| 19 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 23 | 6:14.400 | 2.400 |
| 20 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 17 | 15:21.600 | 9.600 |
| 21 | 77 | Martin TOMCZYK | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 17 | 24:28.800 | 16.800 |
| 22 | 1 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 18 | 33:36.000 | 24.000 |
| 23 | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 21 | 4:19.200 | 7.200 |
| 24 | 17 | Miguel MOLINA | |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 22 | 43:12.000 | 0.000 |