Mercedes-AMG Motorsport secured its fourth pole position of the 2018 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season, as Lucas Auer took his seventh career pole at the Hungaroring this morning (Sunday, June 3rd), leading a top-five of C63 AMG Coupés.
Auer’s best effort of a 1:36.717 occurred on his final attempt, as the field would exit the pit lane with around five minutes of the session remaining.
2015 Champion Pascal Wehrlein and race one winner Paul Di Resta completed the top three, with all three drivers being the only ones to venture under the 1m37s barrier after 20 minutes.
Edoardo Mortara and points leader Gary Paffett completed the Stuttgart top-five clean sweep at the sharp end of the field, with all drivers separated by only 0.308 seconds.
Defending champion René Rast was the first driver to improve on his last attempt, going top of the timesheets initially with just ten seconds on the clock remaining. The Team Rosberg driver set a competitive benchmark of a 1:37.025, before being rapidly deposed by the Mercedes contingent.
Daniel Juncadella was also competitive, as the Spaniard ensured all six cars from Stuttgart would start within the top eight, with Jamie Green and Robin Frijns making it three Audis in the top ten behind the best BMW of Timo Glock.
Glock would post the fastest time of all 18 drivers around the half way point of the session, but the German would end up 0.566 seconds off the pace set by Auer at the conclusion of qualifying.
Final practice pace setter Nico Müller was 11th quickest, ahead of Augusto Farfus, Loïc Duval and two-time champion Marco Wittmann.
Mike Rockenfeller was almost eight tenths off the blistering lap set by Auer, as the 2013 champion will start in 15th place.
Joel Eriksson, Bruno Spengler and Philipp Eng round out the starting grid for race six of the season.
The race gets underway at 1330 local time (BST + one hour), lasting for 55 minutes plus and additional lap.
Q1 results
POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
1 | 22 | Lucas AUER | SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1:36.717 | 0.000 | |
2 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN | Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:36.780 | 0.063 | |
3 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1:36.977 | 0.260 | |
4 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA | SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:37.016 | 0.299 | |
5 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1:37.025 | 0.308 | |
6 | 33 | René RAST | Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 8 | 1:37.046 | 0.329 | |
7 | 23 | Daniel JUNCADELLA | Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:37.058 | 0.341 | |
8 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:37.105 | 0.388 | |
9 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER | Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:37.219 | 0.502 | |
10 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:37.259 | 0.542 | |
11 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS | Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 8 | 1:37.265 | 0.548 | |
12 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS | BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:37.332 | 0.615 | |
13 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL | Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:37.430 | 0.713 | |
14 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:37.453 | 0.736 | |
15 | 25 | Philipp ENG | BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:37.505 | 0.788 | |
16 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:37.510 | 0.793 | |
17 | 47 | Joel ERIKSSON | BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:37.530 | 0.813 | |
18 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:37.750 | 1.033 |