Hockenheim DTM: Da Costa on pole again, title rivals on row three

Audi driver Mortara's title challenge looked in dire straits early on in the session as he didn't set a time until the last moment - but the Italian recovered to finish just behind Wittmann and qualify sixth.

Sunday practice had provided an ominous start to the title-deciding day for BMW, with Audi locking out the top four and points leader Wittmann going only 17th.

But it was Mercedes taking control of qualifying initially, Gary Paffett posting the first sub-1m33s lap of the session at 1m32.766.

By halfway point, Paffett's lap still remained good enough for P1, while Wittmann and practice pacesetter Nico Muller sat second and third.

Mortara, however, was in serious trouble, pitting from his first run without setting a time due to what appeared to be a technical issue.

The title contender radioed in: "the bad luck we have this weekend is absolutely ridiculous," and was soon sent back to the track, doing only an out-lap and then pitting again.

With four minutes to go, Saturday poleman da Costa moved up to first on a 1m32.632s lap on new tyres – and improved to a 1m32.525s with his second effort.

Teammate Tom Blomqvist climbed to second, 0.064s off, before Paffett secured a front row spot, missing out on pole by just 0.014s.

Maxime Martin was fourth behind Blomqvist, while Wittmann ended up fifth despite improving to just 0.091s off pole at the chequered flag.

Mortara, who got two flying laps in the dying moments of the session, ended up by far the top Audi in sixth, heading Robert Wickens, Timo Glock, Christian Vietoris and Jamie Green.

Series veterans Martin Tomczyk and Timo Scheider, who are retiring from the series after Sunday's race, were 18th and 19th.

For Mortara to become champion, he needs to either finish first and have Witmann end up sixth or lower, or finish second with Wittmann 10th or lower.

Qualifying results

Pos.	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap	km/h
1	13	Antonio Felix da Costa	BMW M4 DTM	1'32.525		177.967
2	2	Gary Paffett	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'32.539	0.014	177.940
3	31	Tom Blomqvist	BMW M4 DTM	1'32.589	0.064	177.844
4	36	Maxime Martin	BMW M4 DTM	1'32.601	0.076	177.820
5	11	Marco Wittmann	BMW M4 DTM	1'32.616	0.091	177.792
6	48	Edoardo Mortara	Audi RS5 DTM	1'32.644	0.119	177.738
7	6	Robert Wickens	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'32.769	0.244	177.498
8	16	Timo Glock	BMW M4 DTM	1'32.805	0.280	177.430
9	8	Christian Vietoris	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'32.810	0.285	177.420
10	53	Jamie Green	Audi RS5 DTM	1'32.818	0.293	177.405
11	18	Augusto Farfus	BMW M4 DTM	1'32.821	0.296	177.399
12	7	Bruno Spengler	BMW M4 DTM	1'32.858	0.333	177.328
13	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'32.888	0.363	177.271
14	51	Nico Müller	Audi RS5 DTM	1'32.911	0.386	177.227
15	88	Felix Rosenqvist	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'32.929	0.404	177.193
16	27	Adrien Tambay	Audi RS5 DTM	1'32.938	0.413	177.176
17	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi RS5 DTM	1'32.956	0.431	177.141
18	3	Paul di Resta	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'32.990	0.465	177.077
19	100	Martin Tomczyk	BMW M4 DTM	1'33.002	0.477	177.054
20	10	Timo Scheider	Audi RS5 DTM	1'33.007	0.482	177.044
21	12	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'33.059	0.534	176.945
22	17	Miguel Molina	Audi RS5 DTM	1'33.082	0.557	176.902
23	72	René Rast	Audi RS5 DTM	1'33.158	0.633	176.757
24	84	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'33.280	0.755	176.526