Lausitz DTM: Auer beats Eng to pole by 0.007s
Mercedes driver Lucas Auer beat BMW rookie Philipp Eng to pole position for Saturday's DTM race at the Lausitzring, edging his compatriot by 0.007s.
Lucas Auer, Mercedes-AMG Team HWA, Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM
Alexander Trienitz
Austrian Auer, who also won last year’s first race from that pole position, delivered a stunning lap of 1m37.343s late on to unseat long-time leader Eng.
Onboards showed 23-year-old Auer fighting his Mercedes’ steering wheel to get his C63 turned in, with the extra effort rewarded by the chequered flag coinciding with the end of his lap.
BMW's Bruno Spengler will start third behind stablemate Eng, the 2012 champion having moved up the order late on after finishing the first round of laps in sixth place.
Pascal Wehrlein and Timo Glock rounded out the top five, the latter having sat second to Eng after the initial runs.
Double champion Marco Wittmann, Edoardo Mortara and 2010 title winner Paul di Resta made sure it was an even split of four BMWs and four Mercedes in the top eight, although di Resta was lucky after swiping the outside wall at Turn 1 with his right-rear on his final run.
Audi’s 2018 struggles continued as Nico Muller was its highest qualifier down in ninth, ahead of stablemate Mike Rockenfeller, who had taken second in the first practice the day before.
Hockenheim race one winner Gary Paffett was the most notable absentee from the top 10 as he could only manage 14th in his Mercedes, one spot ahead of Audi's reigning champion Rene Rast.
The top 10 was separated by just 0.622s, while only one car, the Mercedes of Daniel Juncadella, was over a second off the pace, the Spaniard qualifying down in 18th.
Session results:
Pos. | # | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 22 | Lucas Auer | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 1'37.343 | |
2 | 25 | Philipp Eng | BMW M4 DTM | 1'37.350 | 0.007 |
3 | 7 | Bruno Spengler | BMW M4 DTM | 1'37.513 | 0.170 |
4 | 94 | Pascal Wehrlein | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 1'37.518 | 0.175 |
5 | 16 | Timo Glock | BMW M4 DTM | 1'37.534 | 0.191 |
6 | 11 | Marco Wittmann | BMW M4 DTM | 1'37.544 | 0.201 |
7 | 48 | Edoardo Mortara | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 1'37.580 | 0.237 |
8 | 3 | Paul di Resta | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 1'37.825 | 0.482 |
9 | 51 | Nico Müller | Audi RS5 DTM | 1'37.860 | 0.517 |
10 | 99 | Mike Rockenfeller | Audi RS5 DTM | 1'37.965 | 0.622 |
11 | 47 | Joel Eriksson | BMW M4 DTM | 1'37.966 | 0.623 |
12 | 4 | Robin Frijns | Audi RS5 DTM | 1'37.986 | 0.643 |
13 | 28 | Loic Duval | Audi RS5 DTM | 1'38.113 | 0.770 |
14 | 2 | Gary Paffett | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 1'38.135 | 0.792 |
15 | 33 | René Rast | Audi RS5 DTM | 1'38.161 | 0.818 |
16 | 15 | Augusto Farfus | BMW M4 DTM | 1'38.210 | 0.867 |
17 | 53 | Jamie Green | Audi RS5 DTM | 1'38.326 | 0.983 |
18 | 23 | Daniel Juncadella | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 1'38.520 | 1.177 |
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