Mattias Ekström fastest but Tom Blomqvist will start on pole

Audi’s Mattias Ekström was the fastest driver in qualifying for the second Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters race at the Norisring, but it will be BMW’s Tom Blomqvist who starts from pole position after Ekström’s penalty is applied.

The Swede continued to be the form driver around the city circuit, rising to second fastest with five minutes to go, before improving even further in the closing seconds to score his 21^st career pole in the DTM.

However, Ekström will actually start the second race from the second row of the grid in fourth, after his three-place grid penalty for contact with Robert Wickens and Christian Vietoris in Saturday’s first race is applied.

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That means BMW’s Blomqvist will start from pole after a fast lap late in the session, with Mercedes’ Paul di Resta alongside him on the front row.

In front of Ekström will be fellow Audi racer Nico Müller, who qualified in fourth (becoming third after his colleague’s penalty) to secure his best starting position since taking pole in the season opener.

Mercedes’ Lucas Auer was fifth, ahead of BMW Team RBM’s Maxime Martin in sixth, who broke into the top ten late on in the 20-minute session.

Canadian Robert Wickens put his Mercedes in seventh, ahead of Audi’s Adrien Tambay in eighth, with the Frenchman taking his third top ten qualifying result of the year.

Championship leaders Edoardo Mortara and Marco Wittmann completed the top ten in their Audi and BMW cars respectively.

The entire field was covered by less than half a second, with BMW’s Martin Tomczyk being the slowest driver in 24^th position for the third time this season, also marking his fourth consecutive start from the back row of the grid.

Mercedes’ Gary Paffett, who had originally qualified in 18th position, was later excluded from the qualifying result due to his team having worked on his car outside the Parc Fermé conditions in order to repair minor accident damage.

Race two begins at 13:03 CEST (12:03 BST).

Session results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	5	Mattias EKSTRÖM		Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi RS5 DTM	20	47.804	0.000
2	31	Tom BLOMQVIST		BMW Team RBM	BMW M4 DTM	16	47.820	0.016
3	3	Paul di RESTA		Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	19	47.877	0.073
4	51	Nico MÜLLER		Audi Sport Team Abt	Audi RS5 DTM	22	47.889	0.085
5	22	Lucas AUER		BWT Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	19	47.891	0.087
6	36	Maxime MARTIN		BMW Team RBM	BMW M4 DTM	19	47.895	0.091
7	6	Robert WICKENS		SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS Invest Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	19	47.902	0.098
8	27	Adrien TAMBAY		Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi RS5 DTM	20	47.947	0.143
9	48	Edoardo MORTARA		Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi RS5 DTM	21	47.953	0.149
10	11	Marco WITTMANN		BMW Team RMG	BMW M4 DTM	18	47.967	0.163
11	13	António Félix da COSTA		BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW M4 DTM	21	47.996	0.192
12	84	Maximilian GÖTZ		Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	18	48.029	0.225
13	10	Timo SCHEIDER		Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi RS5 DTM	22	48.032	0.228
14	7	Bruno SPENGLER		BMW Team MTEK	BMW M4 DTM	18	48.044	0.240
15	8	Christian VIETORIS		BWT Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	18	48.046	0.242
16	53	Jamie GREEN		Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi RS5 DTM	20	48.050	0.246
17	99	Mike ROCKENFELLER		Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi RS5 DTM	22	48.083	0.279
EX	2	Gary PAFFETT		EURONICS/FREE MEN’S WORLD Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	6	48.089	0.285
18	34	Esteban OCON		EURONICS/FREE MEN’S WORLD Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	19	48.101	0.297
19	12	Daniel JUNCADELLA		SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS Invest Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	18	48.110	0.306
20	16	Timo GLOCK		BMW Team RMG	BMW M4 DTM	19	48.119	0.315
21	18	Augusto FARFUS		BMW Team MTEK	BMW M4 DTM	18	48.129	0.325
22	17	Miguel MOLINA		Audi Sport Team Abt	Audi RS5 DTM	22	48.139	0.335
23	100	Martin TOMCZYK		BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW M4 DTM	21	48.249	0.445