Audi Sport’s Miguel Molina was the fastest driver during qualifying for race 16 of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) at the Nürburgring, taking his second pole position of the season.
BMW’s Tom Blomqvist equaled his best qualifying session of the season in second, 0.207 seconds behind pole sitter Molina, with Jamie Green rounding out the top three. The trio were separated by 0.289 seconds.
“This was a perfect lap,” said the Spaniard, who has now secured pole position five times in his DTM career.
“I didn’t make a single mistake which in view of the close competition in the DTM is crucial. My car was superb – the mechanics did a fantastic job following my accident yesterday.”
The 20-minute session saw the Mercedes of Paul Di Resta and Robert Wickens set the initial benchmarks, before times started rapidly dropping towards the end of qualifying in sunny conditions.
Di Resta would end up fourth fastest, ahead of Bruno Spengler and Augusto Farfus, with Wickens behind the trio in seventh.
Maximillian Götz continued his good form at the Nürburgring, as the 29-year-old lines up eighth ahead of current points leader Pascal Wehrlein, with current champion Marco Wittmann rounding out the top ten.
Gary Paffett was a notable absentee, as the ART Grand Prix driver’s C63 AMG suffered an engine failure in the morning warm-up, meaning the Brit had to sit out of qualifying.
Team MTEK’s Timo Glock spun out on his out lap just three minutes into the session, but managed to recover to start 11th on the grid.
Title contenders Mattias Ekström and Edoardo Mortara had a session to forget, as the Audi Sport pair will start from 17th and 20th respectively.
Race two starts at 1338 CEST (1235 BST) and will last for 60 minutes plus one lap, which includes a mandatory pitstop.
Session results
POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
1 | 17 | Miguel MOLINA | Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:21.732 | 0.000 | |
2 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 7 | 1:21.939 | 0.207 | |
3 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:22.021 | 0.289 | |
4 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:22.046 | 0.314 | |
5 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:22.049 | 0.317 | |
6 | 18 | Augusto FARFUS | BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:22.086 | 0.354 | |
7 | 6 | Robert WICKENS | SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 10 | 1:22.096 | 0.364 | |
8 | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ | PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:22.217 | 0.485 | |
9 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN | gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:22.219 | 0.487 | |
10 | 1 | Marco WITTMANN | BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:22.239 | 0.507 | |
11 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:22.295 | 0.563 | |
12 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:22.301 | 0.569 | |
13 | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER | Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 11 | 1:22.310 | 0.578 | |
14 | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA | PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:22.312 | 0.580 | |
15 | 22 | Lucas AUER | EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 7 | 1:22.317 | 0.585 | |
16 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN | BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:22.344 | 0.612 | |
17 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM | Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:22.405 | 0.673 | |
18 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA | BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:22.410 | 0.678 | |
19 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1:22.417 | 0.685 | |
20 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA | Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:22.474 | 0.742 | |
21 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER | Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 11 | 1:22.514 | 0.782 | |
22 | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY | Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 8 | 1:22.667 | 0.935 | |
23 | 77 | Martin TOMCZYK | BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:23.820 | 2.088 | |
24 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 0 | No time | N/A |