Norisring DTM: Ekstrom quickest but Blomqvist takes pole
Audi's Mattias Ekstrom posted the best lap of DTM Sunday qualifying at the Norisring, but his grid penalty means BMW's Tom Blomqvist will line up on pole instead.
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
Ekstrom had picked up a three-place grid drop for hitting Mercedes' leading duo Christian Vietoris and Robert Wickens in the Saturday race, a move that effectively resulted in victory for stablemate Edoardo Mortara.
While nobody had dipped into the 47s margin on Friday or Saturday, it took little time for that goal to be checked off Sunday qualifying - Marco Wittmann doing a 47.967s.
Shortly thereafter, Lucas Auer surpassed that mark by 0.007s, before a 47.877s lap from Paul di Resta gave the ex-F1 driver the lead at halfway point in the session.
Unlike in Saturday qualifying, however, the mid-session benchmark would prove insufficient for pole.
Late on in the session, Ekstrom set the new best lap with a 47.804s, before Tom Blomqvist moved up to second on the timing screens with a lap 0.016s off, ensuring that he would get pole position after having started 20th on Saturday.
Di Resta, who did not improve in the late running, had to settle for a front-row start - and had four other drivers within a quarter of a tenth of his time.
Nico Muller was closest and will thus start third, sharing row two with Audi stablemate Ekstrom.
Auer ended up fifth, ahead of Maxime Martin and Wickens, the top seven split by just a tenth.
Adrien Tambay, Mortara and Wittmann made up the top 10.
It was a qualifying to forget for two Saturday frontrunners, with Vietoris having to settle for P15 and runner-up Jamie Green joining him on row eight.
Qualifying results
Pos. | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mattias Ekström | Audi RS5 DTM | 47.804 | |
2 | Tom Blomqvist | BMW M4 DTM | 47.820 | 0.016 |
3 | Paul di Resta | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 47.877 | 0.073 |
4 | Nico Müller | Audi RS5 DTM | 47.889 | 0.085 |
5 | Lucas Auer | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 47.891 | 0.087 |
6 | Maxime Martin | BMW M4 DTM | 47.895 | 0.091 |
7 | Robert Wickens | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 47.902 | 0.098 |
8 | Adrien Tambay | Audi RS5 DTM | 47.947 | 0.143 |
9 | Edoardo Mortara | Audi RS5 DTM | 47.953 | 0.149 |
10 | Marco Wittmann | BMW M4 DTM | 47.967 | 0.163 |
11 | Antonio Felix da Costa | BMW M4 DTM | 47.996 | 0.192 |
12 | Maximilian Götz | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 48.029 | 0.225 |
13 | Timo Scheider | Audi RS5 DTM | 48.032 | 0.228 |
14 | Bruno Spengler | BMW M4 DTM | 48.044 | 0.240 |
15 | Christian Vietoris | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 48.046 | 0.242 |
16 | Jamie Green | Audi RS5 DTM | 48.050 | 0.246 |
17 | Mike Rockenfeller | Audi RS5 DTM | 48.083 | 0.279 |
18 | Gary Paffett | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 48.089 | 0.285 |
19 | Esteban Ocon | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 48.101 | 0.297 |
20 | Daniel Juncadella | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 48.110 | 0.306 |
21 | Timo Glock | BMW M4 DTM | 48.119 | 0.315 |
22 | Augusto Farfus | BMW M4 DTM | 48.129 | 0.325 |
23 | Miguel Molina | Audi RS5 DTM | 48.139 | 0.335 |
24 | Martin Tomczyk | BMW M4 DTM | 48.249 | 0.445 |
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