Magic’ Molina: Record lap in an Audi

Ingolstadt/Oschersleben, May 17, 2014 – ‘Magic’ Molina is back. Miguel Molina in the Audi Sport Audi RS 5 DTM of Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline achieved a record lap and a possibly record-breaking advantage in qualifying for the DTM race at Oschersleben. The Spaniard outperformed the second-placed BMW of Hockenheim winner Marco Wittmann by more than half a second.

At 1m 20.007s, Molina set a new track record and was the first DTM driver ever to have nearly broken the magic ‘sound barrier’ of 1m 20s at the Motorsport Arena. The Spaniard had immediately presented himself in top form at Oschersleben on Saturday. He was the fastest driver in the free practice session and the fastest one in two of three qualifying sections. Right at the beginning of the decisive third segment (Q3), he managed to set the record lap that all of his competitors were subsequently unable to match.

“Today, we again saw ‘Magic Molina,’ as Miguel used to be nicknamed in his team,” said Dieter Gass, Head of DTM at Audi Sport. “Taking grid position one with an advantage of half a second is a very rare occurrence in the DTM. This achievement and this lap deserve respect! Miguel was immediately strong here and, as before at Hockenheim, our RS 5 DTM is running really well too. Two qualifying sessions and two pole positions in succession – you can’t wish for more than that. With four cars on the first three rows we’ve got a very good starting base. But we’re not going to underestimate the competition – and the weather could also be making for additional suspense tomorrow.”

Miguel Molina, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, Audi RS 5 DTM,

Photo by: XPB Images

My RS 5 DTM was perfect on each lap and very easy to drive – as a result, this lap time and the unusually large advantage almost happened automatically. I’d like to thank everyone who worked so hard for this.”

His team-mate Adrien Tambay, who had secured the pole position two weeks ago at the Hockenheim season opener, in the Playboy Audi RS 5 DTM missed the front row by only three thousandths of a second. The Frenchman was the only one who was able to snatch a best time from Molina on Saturday. In Q2, Tambay was ahead of the Spaniard by a narrow margin – then setting a track record which Miguel Molina improved once more in Q3.

Timo Scheider (AUTO TEST Audi RS 5 DTM) and Mike Rockenfeller (Schaeffler Audi RS 5 DTM) secured the whole third row for Audi Sport Team Phoenix and completed Audi’s strong showing in the second DTM qualifying session of the year. Edoardo Mortara (Audi Sport Audi RS 5 DTM) was another Audi driver to finish in the top eight but on his fast lap in Q3 was obstructed by a rival and therefore had to settle for position eight on the grid.

Jamie Green (Hoffmann Group Audi RS 5 DTM), Mattias Ekström (Red Bull Audi RS 5 DTM) and Green’s team-mate in Audi Sport Team Rosberg Nico Müller (Audi Financial Services Audi RS 5 DTM) are starting the race from grid positions eleven, twelve and 15. The race will start on Sunday at 13.30, local time. ARD’s live broadcast from Oschersleben on ‘Das Erste’ will begin at 13.15. For the race day, changeable weather has been forecast at the venue near Magdeburg.

Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): “A qualifying lap like this one can be seen very seldom in the DTM. Congratulations to Miguel (Molina) and his team. We saw an altogether strong showing by the four rings today. We’d like to repeat that tomorrow.”

Dieter Gass (Head of DTM): “This is a superb result for us. What Miguel (Molina) achieved today is simply sensational. An advantage of half a second in a qualifying session in normal conditions where the battle is typically about hundreds and tenths of a second is out of this world. His performance deserves respect!”

Miguel Molina (Audi Sport Audi RS 5 DTM), grid position 1: “I’m very happy. This is already my third pole position in the DTM and my second one here at Oschersleben. I had a fantastic car today. I’d like to thank Audi and Abt Sportsline very much. We improved in each session. Let’s see how things are going to tomorrow. Starting from the front row is always good.”

Adrien Tambay (Playboy Audi RS 5 DTM), grid position 3: “I’m happy to be in the top three again. My car was perfect, especially in Q2. The team did a superb job, many thanks to Audi Sport and Abt. I was fast in qualifying for the second consecutive time. I’m hoping for us to do everything right tomorrow, to make the optimum tire choice and for the weather to work out as well.”

Timo Scheider (AUTO TEST Audi RS 5 DTM), grid position 5: “The top five were my aim – and that’s where we are. I wasn’t completely happy with the car’s balance; it wasn’t comparable to this morning. But from position five, anything is possible. I’m looking forward to the race now.”

Mike Rockenfeller (Schaeffler Audi RS 5 DTM), grid position 6: “I’m obviously disappointed but congratulate Audi and Miguel (Molina) on grid position one. Looking at the time gap, we’re far away and I was struggling to even get there. This morning in free practice I wasn’t completely happy either and now we’ve got to make sure that we’ll make the best out of this tomorrow in the race. A lot is still possible from sixth place.”

Edoardo Mortara (Audi Sport Audi RS 5 DTM), grid position 8: “It was a disappointing qualifying session. We had a few problems but I made it into Q3. But then I wasn’t able to finish my lap because Bruno Spengler blocked me. That wasn’t fair.”

Jamie Green (Hoffmann Group Audi RS 5 DTM), grid position 11: “The car certainly has more potential than eleventh place. Qualifying wasn’t perfect. In Q2, I was struggling a bit with warming up the tires and finding the right balance. The buttons on the steering wheel weren’t functioning flawlessly either. But eleventh place isn’t a bad starting base. We can still clinch a good result from there.” 


Mattias Ekström (Red Bull Audi RS 5 DTM), grid position 12: “Twelfth place certainly isn’t a dream result. We’re expecting a tough race for tomorrow.”

Nico Müller (Audi Financial Services RS 5 DTM), grid position 15: “I’m more pleased with myself personally than I was at Hockenheim. I made no mistakes and was less nervous. That helped. But the performance was lacking today. We tried something on the car which didn’t work out as well as we’d expected. That was a bit disappointing because I’d planned to finish in the top ten.”

Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline): “We’re all very happy. The team did a superb job. Miguel (Molina) was in a different world and Adrien (Tambay) in third place was strong too. This is a brilliant team performance. We’re excited about tomorrow and are meticulously preparing for the race. We’re going to try and do a good job of putting the qualifying result on track.”

Ernst Moser (Team Director Audi Sport Team Phoenix): “I’m pleased with the qualifying session. We’ve improved again since Hockenheim and put both cars into the top eight. This gives us a good starting base for tomorrow. Both cars were very balanced in terms of their performance and that means we can easily compare the data. Let’s see where we finish from fifth and sixth place. Obviously, I congratulate Miguel (Molina) on his pole. That was a superb lap. For Audi, it’s great that we’ve got five cars in the top eight.”

Arno Zensen (Team Director Audi Sport Team Rosberg): “Well done to Miguel Molina. His first pole this year was great of course. Like last time, Q1 went very well for us too. In Q2, Jamie Green, on the first set of tires, had a bit of traffic though and on the second set the balance was no longer there. But we don’t know yet why that was the case. Nico (Müller) drove well in the first qualifying section and was in tenth place. His balance changed from tire set to tire set too and we’ve got to check now what caused this.”

Audi