Nurburgring DTM: Rast denies Paffett pole by 0.028s
Defending DTM champion Rene Rast stole a last-gasp pole position from title contender Gary Paffett for the opening race at the Nurburgring.
Photo by: Andreas Beil
Rast's first pole in 2018 - only Audi's second during a difficult campaign - came after the chequered flag had flown, quickly setting the fastest first sector of anyone before losing minimal time to beat Paffett by 0.028s with his lap of 1m22.203s.
Paffett had initially set the quickest lap in the final minute with a lap completed in 1m22.231s.
While Mercedes has dominated most of the DTM season and has usually had the edge at the Nurburgring, it filled just two of top five positions.
BMW's Bruno Spengler qualified in third ahead of Lucas Auer's Mercedes, with two-time champion Marco Wittmann fifth in his BMW.
Phillip Eng qualified sixth, having held provisional pole earlier in the session ahead of Dani Juncadella.
Points leader Paul di Resta could only qualify eighth after progressively sliding down the times.
Pascal Wehrlein was ninth ahead of BMW's Augusto Farfus.
BMW's Timo Glock has largely fallen out of the title race and qualified 12th behind the Audi of Mike Rockenfeller.
Rast continued to be the leading Audi driver as several others floundered, as Jamie Green ended up 14th ahead of Mercedes's Edoardo Mortara.
Loic Duval ran wide and spat gravel onto the track early in the session and qualified 18th and last, with teammates Robin Frijns and Nico Muller ending up 16th and 17th ahead of him.
Session results
Cla | # | Driver | Car | Laps | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 33 | René Rast | Audi RS5 DTM | 13 | 1'22.203 | |
2 | 2 | Gary Paffett | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1'22.231 | 0.028 |
3 | 7 | Bruno Spengler | BMW M4 DTM | 11 | 1'22.281 | 0.078 |
4 | 22 | Lucas Auer | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1'22.337 | 0.134 |
5 | 11 | Marco Wittmann | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1'22.350 | 0.147 |
6 | 25 | Philipp Eng | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1'22.390 | 0.187 |
7 | 23 | Daniel Juncadella | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1'22.448 | 0.245 |
8 | 3 | Paul di Resta | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1'22.530 | 0.327 |
9 | 94 | Pascal Wehrlein | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1'22.557 | 0.354 |
10 | 15 | Augusto Farfus | BMW M4 DTM | 13 | 1'22.570 | 0.367 |
11 | 99 | Mike Rockenfeller | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1'22.585 | 0.382 |
12 | 16 | Timo Glock | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1'22.604 | 0.401 |
13 | 47 | Joel Eriksson | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1'22.639 | 0.436 |
14 | 53 | Jamie Green | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1'22.677 | 0.474 |
15 | 48 | Edoardo Mortara | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1'22.913 | 0.710 |
16 | 51 | Nico Müller | Audi RS5 DTM | 13 | 1'22.918 | 0.715 |
17 | 4 | Robin Frijns | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1'23.025 | 0.822 |
18 | 28 | Loic Duval | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1'23.180 | 0.977 |
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