Qualifying report
DTM Algarve
Portimao DTM: Bortolotti puts Lamborghini on pole for opener
Factory Lamborghini driver Mirko Bortolotti claimed pole position for the opening round of the 2022 DTM season at Portimao in a tightly-contested qualifying session on Saturday.
Rachit Thukral
Edited: May 2, 2022, 10:41 AM
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Grasser Racing’s Bortolotti didn’t venture out on track until the final five minutes of the 20-minute session, opting to complete just a single run in the pole shootout.
However, the lack of track time didn’t appear to have any impact on his driving as he was immediately up to pace, setting the second-quickest lap time of the session behind Red Bull’s Felipe Fraga on his very first flying lap in qualifying.
DTM rookie Mikael Grenier then found over three tenths of a second to dislodge Bortolotti from the top and claim provisional pole for the expanded two-car GruppeM Mercedes team.
However, the Italian had even more pace up his sleeve and responded with a time of 1m39.678s on his final lap, clinching pole position by just 0.011s in his first qualifying session as a DTM full-timer.
The result also marked Lamborghini’s first-ever pole position in the DTM and follows Bortolotti securing a maiden podium for the Italian supercar maker as a wildcard entrant at Assen last year.
Grenier ended up second on the grid alongside Bortolotti, beating the Winward Mercedes of Lucas Auer by just 0.031s as 26 out of 29 drivers were covered by just over a second.
Fraga’s previous time of 1m39.738s put him fourth on the grid in the Red Bull-backed AF Corse Ferrari, just ahead of the Lamborghini of T3 Motorsport’s star signing Nicki Thiim.
Greiner’s teammate Maro Engel qualified sixth on his return to the DTM, setting a time of 1m39.933s in his GruppeM Mercedes.
Schubert Motorsport driver Sheldon van der Linde was the top qualifier for BMW in seventh, just ahead of the HRT Mercedes of Luca Stolz and reigning DTM champion Maximilian Gotz (Winward Mercedes).
Team Rosberg driver Nico Muller led qualifying after first runs but slumped to 10th at the finish, although he remained Audi’s best-placed driver with a time of 1m40.098s.
Qualifying just behind Muller was his former DTM rival and three-time champion Rene Rast, who led the charge for the three-car Abt Sportsline team in 11th.
Rast’s teammates Ricardo Feller and Kelvin van der Linde ended up 13th and 17th respectively, the duo separated by just 0.060s.
Porsche endured a difficult first qualifying session in the DTM despite being competitive in practice, with SSR Performance driver Dennis Olsen the marque’s top qualifier in 19th ahead of Team Bernhard 75’s Thomas Preining.
Factory Porsche driver Laurens Vanthoor fared even worse in the other SSR Performance 911 GT3-R, qualifying more than a second off the pace in 26th place.
Meanwhile, WRC legend Sebastien Loeb qualified in a respectable 21st place during his first weekend in the DTM with the Red Bull AF Corse team, posting a time that was 0.786s slower than pacesetter Bortolotti.
Portimao DTM - Saturday qualifying results:
Cla # Driver Car Time Gap 1 63 Mirko Bortolotti
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 1'39.678 2 55 Mikael Grenier
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'39.689 0.011 3 22 Lucas Auer
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'39.719 0.041 4 74 Felipe Fraga
Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 1'39.738 0.060 5 95 Nicki Thiim
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 1'39.929 0.251 6 88 Maro Engel
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'39.933 0.255 7 31 Sheldon Van Der Linde
BMW M4 GT3 1'39.955 0.277 8 4 Luca Stolz
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'39.988 0.310 9 1 Maximilian Götz
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'40.090 0.412 10 51 Nico Müller
Audi R8 LMS Evo II 1'40.098 0.420 11 33 René Rast
Audi R8 LMS Evo II 1'40.172 0.494 12 18 Maximilian Buhk
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'40.234 0.556 13 7 Ricardo Feller
Audi R8 LMS Evo II 1'40.277 0.599 14 85 Clemens Schmid
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 1'40.281 0.603 15 36 Arjun Maini
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'40.284 0.606 16 11 Marco Wittmann
BMW M4 GT3 1'40.312 0.634 17 3 Kelvin van der Linde
Audi R8 LMS Evo II 1'40.337 0.659 18 27 David Schumacher
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'40.360 0.682 19 94 Dennis Olsen
Porsche 911 GT3 R 1'40.388 0.710 20 24 Thomas Preining
Porsche 911 GT3 R 1'40.392 0.714 21 37 Sébastien Loeb
Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 1'40.464 0.786 22 66 Marius Zug
Audi R8 LMS Evo II 1'40.521 0.843 23 12 Dev Gore
Audi R8 LMS Evo II 1'40.536 0.858 24 25 Philipp Eng
BMW M4 GT3 1'40.623 0.945 25 19 Rolf Ineichen
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 1'40.697 1.019 26 92 Laurens Vanthoor
Porsche 911 GT3 R 1'40.770 1.092 27 26 Esmee Hawkey
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 1'40.895 1.217 28 10 Esteban Muth
BMW M4 GT3 1'41.030 1.352 29 6 Alessio Deledda
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 1'41.880 2.202 View full results
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