Hungaroring DTM: Di Resta on pole after Auer mistake
Paul di Resta topped Saturday's DTM qualifying session at the Hungaroring as fellow Mercedes driver Lucas Auer's last-ditch effort was ruined by a mistake.
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
Auer held a dominant lead in the early stages, his 1m37.564s making for a six-tenth gap over Mercedes teammate Gary Paffett.
However, the Audi cars had delayed their opening runs - and soon enough it was Nico Muller edging Auer by 0.08s, with Rene Rast and Jamie Green slotting into third and fourth.
After a mid-session lull, the field only rejoined in the dying stages with improvements, mainly from Mercedes, coming in only during the final minute.
Di Resta lowered Muller's benchmark by a tenth with a 1m37.349s, but Auer was on course to beat the Scotsman as he set a fastest first sector.
However the Austrian's lap was ruined when he ran wide at Turn 9 and he failed to improve.
With nobody else challenging for pole, di Resta ended up on top ahead of Muller and Auer.
Rast and Green couldn't improve in the end, and while Rast held on to fourth, the latter dropped behind Mercedes duo Edoardo Mortara and Daniel Juncadella.
BMW had a low-key session with Augusto Farfus leading the manufacturer's efforts in eighth, more than half a second off the pace.
Gary Paffett took ninth but still fared better than his championship rival and points leader Timo Glock, who was only 16th.
The top 10 was completed by BMW's Bruno Spengler.
Qualifying results
Cla | # | Driver | Car | Laps | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 | Paul di Resta | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1'37.349 | |
2 | 51 | Nico Müller | Audi RS5 DTM | 8 | 1'37.484 | 0.135 |
3 | 22 | Lucas Auer | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 7 | 1'37.564 | 0.215 |
4 | 33 | René Rast | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1'37.598 | 0.249 |
5 | 48 | Edoardo Mortara | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1'37.727 | 0.378 |
6 | 23 | Daniel Juncadella | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1'37.729 | 0.380 |
7 | 53 | Jamie Green | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1'37.904 | 0.555 |
8 | 15 | Augusto Farfus | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1'37.917 | 0.568 |
9 | 2 | Gary Paffett | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1'37.994 | 0.645 |
10 | 7 | Bruno Spengler | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1'38.050 | 0.701 |
11 | 28 | Loic Duval | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1'38.065 | 0.716 |
12 | 94 | Pascal Wehrlein | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1'38.080 | 0.731 |
13 | 11 | Marco Wittmann | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1'38.127 | 0.778 |
14 | 4 | Robin Frijns | Audi RS5 DTM | 8 | 1'38.138 | 0.789 |
15 | 47 | Joel Eriksson | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1'38.138 | 0.789 |
16 | 16 | Timo Glock | BMW M4 DTM | 7 | 1'38.261 | 0.912 |
17 | 25 | Philipp Eng | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1'38.268 | 0.919 |
18 | 99 | Mike Rockenfeller | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1'38.274 | 0.925 |
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