Nico Müller takes hotly contested DTM race one pole at Norisring

Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline driver Nico Müller claimed pole position for the DTM race one at Norisring, with a time of 46.337 seconds, in a session that saw the entire field separated by nine tenths of a second.

The Swiss driver narrowly beat BMW Team RMR’s Philipp Eng by 0.075 seconds, who remains under investigation for impeding another car.

As the session got underway beneath blue skies, the entire field headed out immediately. Track space at the Norisring is at a premium, with only 2.3km of asphalt to share.

The two Audi Sport Team Rosberg cars of Jamie Green and René Rast were the first to dip below the 50 second mark, but faster times were in the making.

BMW Team RMG’s Bruno Spengler, who holds the Norisring lap record, briefly topped the times before Müller, Eng and Audi Sport Team Phoenix’s Loïc Duval beat his 46.491 second lap.

As the first runs came to an end, and the track emptied, the two Team Rosberg cars headed out to make use of the clean air. The pit lane watched on to see if the Audi duo could improve their times, and a 46.8 second warmup lap from Rast saw the field head out on track to defend their positions.

However there was little change to the order, and Müller held on to his second ever DTM pole. Eng will join him on the front row, unless awarded a penalty.

Duval and Spengler make up the second row, the latter only 0.155 seconds slower than Müller.

Rast who is looking to extend his championship lead over Eng this weekend, will line up in fifth, only three-thousandths faster than BMW Team RBM’s Joel Eriksson who was the only driver to improve in the final few minutes with a time of 46.527 seconds.

Home hero BMW Team RMG’s Marco Wittmann, who was born less than 30km from the Norisring circuit, will head the fourth row and was the last driver within two tenths of Müller’s pole lap.

The second Audi Sport Team Phoenix car of Mike Rockenfeller took eighth with a time of 46.552 seconds, and will be hoping to score his first points at the Norisring since 2014.

DTM rookie Jonathan Aberdein will line up in ninth, the Audi Sport Team WRT driver setting a time of 46.617 seconds, 0.280 seconds back from Müller.

Rounding out the top ten is Green, who is still recovering from appendicitis which forced him to sit out Misano, with a time 0.391 seconds slower than Müller.

Daniel Juncadella was the fastest of the R-Motorsport run Aston Martin’s, his time of 46.893 seconds giving him 13th on the grid at the track he scored his maiden DTM podium in 2018.

Race One gets underway at 13:15 CEST (12:15 BST).

Qualifying result

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	51	Nico MÜLLER		Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi RS5 DTM	15	46.337	0.000
2	25	Philipp ENG		BMW Team RBM	BMW M4 DTM	16	46.412	0.075
3	28	Loïc DUVAL		Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi RS5 DTM	20	46.485	0.148
4	7	Bruno SPENGLER		BMW Team RMG	BMW M4 DTM	15	46.492	0.155
5	33	René RAST		Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi RS5 DTM	21	46.524	0.187
6	47	Joel ERIKSSON		BMW Team RBM	BMW M4 DTM	18	46.527	0.190
7	11	Marco WITTMANN		BMW Team RMG	BMW M4 DTM	17	46.532	0.195
8	99	Mike ROCKENFELLER		Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi RS5 DTM	20	46.552	0.215
9	27	Jonathan ABERDEIN		Audi Sport Team WRT	Audi RS5 DTM	17	46.617	0.280
10	53	Jamie GREEN		Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi RS5 DTM	24	46.728	0.391
11	4	Robin FRIJNS		Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi RS5 DTM	17	46.782	0.445
12	31	Sheldon VAN DER LINDE		BMW Team RBM	BMW M4 DTM	18	46.813	0.476
13	23	Daniel JUNCADELLA		R-Motorsport	Aston Martin Vantage DTM	19	46.893	0.556
14	16	Timo GLOCK		BMW Team RMG	BMW M4 DTM	16	46.898	0.561
15	21	Pietro FITTIPALDI		Audi Sport Team WRT	Audi RS5 DTM	18	47.029	0.692
16	3	Paul DI RESTA		R-Motorsport	Aston Martin Vantage DTM	18	47.125	0.788
17	62	Ferdinand VON HABSBURG		R-Motorsport	Aston Martin Vantage DTM	24	47.221	0.884
18	76	Jake DENNIS		R-Motorsport	Aston Martin Vantage DTM	21	47.276	0.939