Nurburgring DTM: Wittmann on pole as Audi struggles

BMW driver Wittmann will start from pole for the first time in 2017, having beaten the opposition with a 1m20.936s effort.

Contesting the session in vastly different conditions to the mixed-weather Saturday qualifying and race, drivers needed at least two laps to warm up the tyres – and only began to log representative times closer to the end of the opening runs.

As those concluded, BMW held a 1-2 on the timing screens, with Timo Glock having recorded the new best lap of the weekend – a 1m21.226s – and Augusto Farfus just 0.15s behind.

This held until only a minute was left on the clock, with Tom Blomqvist vaulting to the top spot then – only to be immediately surpassed by fellow BMW driver Wittmann, the reigning champion logging a 1m21.070s.

At the chequered flag, di Resta looked to have snatched pole for Mercedes with a 1m21.052s effort, only for Wittmann to improve once more, the BMW man dipping into the 1m20s margin and ensuring first place.

Making up row two behind di Resta were another two Mercedes drivers, with Robert Wickens in third, having been just 14th after the opening runs, and Lucas Auer – who won the Saturday race and topped the dry Sunday morning practice – fourth.

Auer ended up 0.007s slower than Wickens and the same margin faster than Blomqvist, who was followed by fellow BMW drivers Glock and Farfus.

Gary Paffett (Mercedes), Bruno Spengler (BMW) and Edoardo Mortara (Mercedes) made up the top 10.

It was another bruising showing for Audi, the Ingolstadt marque still saddled with the heaviest car on the grid and managing no better than a highest result of 11th, courtesy of Jamie Green.

Audi's points leader Mattias Ekstrom qualified 14th but will move up a spot, as a five-place penalty for title rival Rene Rast – a result of the his season's third warning incurred in a clash with Maro Engel on Saturday – is set to demote the German to 18th and last.

Qualifying results

Pos.	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	Marco Wittmann	BMW M4 DTM	1'20.936
2	Paul di Resta	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'21.052	0.116
3	Robert Wickens	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'21.121	0.185
4	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'21.128	0.192
5	Tom Blomqvist	BMW M4 DTM	1'21.135	0.199
6	Timo Glock	BMW M4 DTM	1'21.226	0.290
7	Augusto Farfus	BMW M4 DTM	1'21.321	0.385
8	Gary Paffett	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'21.331	0.395
9	Bruno Spengler	BMW M4 DTM	1'21.346	0.410
10	Edoardo Mortara	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'21.351	0.415
11	Jamie Green	Audi RS5 DTM	1'21.486	0.550
12	Maxime Martin	BMW M4 DTM	1'21.512	0.576
13	Mattias Ekström	Audi RS5 DTM	1'21.584	0.648
14	Maro Engel	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'21.742	0.806
15	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi RS5 DTM	1'21.829	0.893
16	Nico Müller	Audi RS5 DTM	1'22.237	1.301
17	Loic Duval	Audi RS5 DTM	1'22.284	1.348
18	René Rast	Audi RS5 DTM	1'21.561	0.625*