A premiere in the Lausitz: Pascal Wehrlein claims pole position

Klettwitz – In DTM qualifying at the Lausitzring, Pascal Wehrlein claimed his maiden pole position. With a fastest time of 1:17.547 minutes, the Mercedes-Benz driver ended up 0.057 seconds ahead of Audi driver Mattias Ekström, who was second. Behind the spearhead of the brand from Ingolstadt, Jamie Green and Timo Scheider completed the trio of Audi drivers in second to fourth place. Points' leader Marco Wittmann was the best-placed BMW driver in seventh position.

Will Marco Wittmann (BMW M4 DTM) secure an early title, or will his main rival Mattias Ekström still blow his hopes? While the points’ leader had to make do with seventh place in qualifying at the Lausitzring, his Swedish rival secured second place with his Audi RS 5 DTM. Pascal Wehrlein (Mercedes-Benz), the youngest DTM driver in the field at 19, will be starting from pole position for the first time.

In the past couple of races, I have delivered quite some good results already, but we always had bad luck.

Pascal Wehrlein

“I reckon that conditions were difficult for all of us today. In practice, we only had very little time for finding the right set-up, which turned qualifying into something of a lottery,” Marco Wittmann commented after qualifying. On Sunday, a fourth-place finish would be enough for the BMW driver to score his first title in the most popular international touring car series. Second in the drivers’ standings, Mattias Ekström still has chances to prevent Wittmann’s early title win: “I will only congratulate Marco when everything is settled.

Now, first of all, I am happy with my second place on the grid,” the two times’ DTM champion from Sweden said. Ekström’s fellow Audi driver, Edoardo Mortara, is third in the drivers’ standings and also still has title chances, but only ended up 13th on the grid.

Pascal Wehrlein was overjoyed after qualifying at the Lausitzring. The German drove his DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé to a lap time of 1:17.547 minutes and thus claimed his maiden pole position. “In the past couple of races, I have delivered quite some good results already, but we always had bad luck. Now, finally, everything worked out and I am on pole position. This is a great feeling,” the 19-year old commented after setting the fastest time.

The eighth and perhaps decisive race at the Lausitzring will start on Sunday at 13.30hrs. ARD is broadcasting live from the round of the most popular international touring car series in Brandenburg from 13.15hrs onwards.

The qualifying at a glance

16.45 hrs.	Start of DTM qualifying at Lausitzring, Q1 with 13 minutes, after which the 18 fastest drivers continue. Jamie Green is the first driver to leave the pit lane.
16.47 hrs.	Joey Hand has slid off the track into the gravel trap in the infield. Red flag.
16.49 hrs.	Because of the red flag, Q1 will not be resumed and the remaining time will be added to the time scheduled for Q2. All drivers move up into Q2.
16.51 hrs.	Q2 will start at 16.56. As Hand has used mechanical aid to get his car out of the gravel trap, so that he will not be allowed to take part in the remainder of qualifying.
16.56 hrs.	Start of Q2, 21.17 minutes on the clock. Timo Scheider is the first driver in line at the pit lane exit.
16.57 hrs.	Wehrlein is under investigation for having overtaken in the pit lane using the working lane, an infringement of article 23.8 of the sporting regulations of the DTM. The stewards of the meeting will deal with this after qualifying.
16.58 hrs.	Timo Scheider is the first driver to top the time sheets with 1:20.428. Then various position changes on top of the leader board.
17.00 hrs.	Molina on top with 1:19.400. Mortara spins into the grass, returns onto the track and just avoids the collision with Mike Rockenfeller.
17.01 hrs.	Farfus under investigation for blocking another driver in the pit lane.
17.04 hrs.	Juncadella is on top from Ekström, Paffett, Di Resta, Mortara, Glock, Scheider and Rockenfeller. Still twelve minutes remaining.
17.06 hrs.	Farfus improves from twelfth to fifth with 1:18.720 and is now the best-placed BMW driver with ten minutes to go.
17.07 hrs.	Green improves to fifth: 1:18.719.
17.08 hrs.	Wittmann goes fourth-fastest, coming from 21st place: 1:18.681.
17.09 hrs.	Scheider goes fastest with 1:18.280, then toppled by Wickens: 1:18.267.
17.10 hrs.	Tomczyk is under investigation because of blocking another driver. Glock goes fastest with 1:18.141.
17.12 hrs.	With five minutes remaining, Glock is on top from Wickens, Scheider, Paffett, Molina, Wehrlein, Juncadella and Ekström.
17.13 hrs.	Timo Scheider goes fastest with 1:18.059.
17.15 hrs.	Vitaly Petrov is currently placed sixth. Scheider improves his own fastest time to 1.17.699. Yellow flags in turn 6 as Petrov spins.
17.17 hrs.	End of the session. Scheider remains fastest from Ekström, Wehrlein, Juncadella, Paffett, Wittmann, Molina and Green. These drivers continue into Q3. Glock, Rockenfeller, Vietoris, Wickens, Mortara, Petrov, Farfus, Martin, Spengler, Tambay, Félix da Costa, Müller, Tomczyk and Di Resta don't make it into Q3.
17.25 hrs.	Start of Q3, 11 minutes to determine the starting grid positions on the first four rows. Gary Paffett is the first driver to go out.
17.28 hrs.	Gary Paffett tops the time screen with 1:18.291, then toppled by Juncadella with 1:18.018. Next up, Ekström goes fastest with 1:17.884.
17.29 hrs.	Ekström improves his own time to 1:17.876.
17.31 hrs.	Jamie Green sets the second-fastest time: 1:17.972.
17.33 hrs.	Miguel Molina goes fastest: 1:17.786, then toppled by Pascal Wehrlein: 1:17.547.
17.34 hrs.	Ekström is second: 1:17.604.
17.35 hrs.	Molina and Di Resta under investigation because of yellow flag infringement in Q2. Stewards will deal with this after qualifying.
17.38 hrs.	End of the session. Pascal Wehrlein claims pole position from Ekström, Green, Scheider, Juncadella, Molina, Wittmann, Paffett.