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Australia
Qualifying report

Daniel Juncadella and Paul Di Resta share fourth row

The seventh race of the 2014 DTM season gets under way tomorrow at Nürburgring,

Daniel Juncadella, Mücke Motorsport DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé

Daniel Juncadella, Mücke Motorsport DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé

Eric Gilbert

Gary Paffett, Mercedes AMG DTM-Team HWA DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupe
Gary Paffett, Mercedes AMG DTM-Team HWA DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupe
Gary Paffett, Mercedes AMG DTM-Team HWA DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupe
Gary Paffett, Mercedes AMG DTM-Team HWA DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupe
Gary Paffett, HWA DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé
Paul Di Resta, HWA DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé
Paul Di Resta, HWA DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé
Paul Di Resta, HWA DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé
Robert Wickens, Mercedes AMG DTM-Team HWA DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupe
Robert Wickens, Mercedes AMG DTM-Team HWA DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupe
Vitaly Petrov, Mercedes AMG DTM-Team Mucke DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupe
Daniel Juncadella, Mücke Motorsport DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé
Daniel Juncadella, Mercedes AMG DTM-Team Mucke DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupe
Christian Vietoris, HWA DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé
Pascal Wehrlein, Mercedes AMG DTM-Team HWA DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupe

The DTM is staging the seventh fixture of the season at the legendary Nürburgring this weekend. Mercedes junior Daniel Juncadella (Petronas Mercedes AMG C-Coupé / 1:23.221 minutes) will start the race from grid position seven. DTM champion from 2010, Paul Di Resta (DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé / 1:23.354 minutes) will be next to him on the fourth row of the grid.

Christian Vietoris (Original-Teile Mercedes AMG C-Coupé) secured a time of 1:23.338 minutes in the second segment of qualifying. Placed ninth, he just missed going through to Q3 by one thousandth of a second. Robert Wickens (FREE MAN'S WORLD Mercedes AMG C-Coupé / 1:23.565 minutes) and Pascal Wehrlein (gooix Mercedes AMG C-Coupé / 1:23.593 minutes) finished in positions 13 and 15 respectively.

I'm pleased to be the best Mercedes-Benz driver. Grid position seven is my best qualifying result this season.

Daniel Juncadella

Vitaly Petrov (DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé / 1:27.714 minutes) and Gary Paffett (EURONICS MERCEDES AMG C-Coupé / 1:29.612 minutes) qualified in positions 21 and 23 respectively.

Looking ahead to the race: The seventh race of the 2014 DTM season gets under way on Sunday at 1:30 pm (live on ARD, from 1:15 pm onwards. The race will cover 49 laps, which equates to a total distance of 177.821 km. Marco Wittmann (BMW / 1:22.780) will start from pole position.

Comments after Qualifying

Daniel Juncadella (23, Spain, Petronas Mercedes AMG C-Coupé - 7th, 1:23.221): “Posting a perfect lap in Q3 was very tricky. Maybe I drove the car too hard to get the maximum out of it. I made mistakes on both of my two laps, so I'm not totally satisfied. Still, I'm pleased to be the best Mercedes-Benz driver. Grid position seven is my best qualifying result this season, but we were counting on a bit more after Q2.”

Paul Di Resta (28, Scotland, DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé - 8th, (1:23.354): “I’m satisfied to have got into Q3. That was one of our targets. The guys have done a good job again to get the car a bit more competitive. It was just unfortunate we couldn’t maximise on being in Q3. In these conditions, we struggled a bit with balance, but we’ll make the best of what we have tomorrow. We should be quite strong in both the wet and the dry.”

Christian Vietoris (25, Germany, Original-Teile Mercedes AMG C-Coupé - 9th, 1:23.338): “That was a bit of a mixed day. It was very difficult to read anything into the two free practice sessions, because it rained in both of them. So I'm quite happy with the result. From nine on the grid, we should be able to score some points in the race.”

Robert Wickens (25, Canada, FREE MAN’S WORLD Mercedes AMG C-Coupé - 13th, 1:23.565): “Q1 was tough. It rained just before we went out. I decided quite early in Q1 to switch to dry tyres. Ultimately, it was the right decision. But the other drivers didn’t really show me any respect when I was on my flying laps and wouldn’t let me through. In the end, we were lucky to progress into Q2. The track dried out in Q2, but I didn’t have enough speed to get any further. I'm quite satisfied with my lap. Now I have to make the best of this race from 13th place on the grid.”

Pascal Wehrlein (19, Germany, gooix Mercedes AMG C-Coupé - 15th, 1:23.593): “I was reasonably satisfied with my car in free practice this morning, but unfortunately, I then had problems in qualifying. There was a difference in the balance between the left-hand and the right-hand corners. That was a pity, because I was doing really well in practice. With my grid penalty from two weeks ago, I’m now starting from P18. It won’t be easy, but I’ll be giving it everything I’ve got.”

Vitaly Petrov (29, Russia, DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé - 21st, 1:27.714): “Conditions were tough from the very start of qualifying. We did everything right as a team. We improved the car a fair bit and made progress in between practice and qualifying. It’s never easy on a track that’s drying out quickly, though. Of course, I would prefer to be further up the field, but tomorrow is another day.”

Gary Paffett (33, England, EURONICS Mercedes AMG C-Coupé - 23rd, 1:29.612): “It was all going well at first, then I went off on the final lap in Q1, as the track was drying, and that was it. I missed the lap where conditions were best and start last in the race.”

Wolfgang Schattling, Head of Motorsport Marketing & Communications: “Our congratulations to Marco Wittmann and BMW on pole position. That was a remarkable achievement. Our result is not so bad with grid positions seven, eight and nine. Unfortunately, Christian just missed going through into Q3 by one thousandth of a second. But we knew that it would be tough for us at this track, so we are pleased to get three cars in the top 10 on the grid. Now we want to up our game in the race. Our understanding of the car keeps getting better and we’re hitting the right setup window more and more. We will not be too discouraged and will go on attacking.”

Mercedes-Benz

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