Hockenheim DTM: Wittmann takes first pole of new era

Wittmann wrung everything from his RMG BMW M4 on the last lap, the car squirming around the final corners on the slippery track to lower his own previous benchmark by seven tenths of a second.

Behind him, the Team Phoenix Audi of Mike Rockenfeller was on a similar flier, and the 2013 DTM champion crossed the line with a time just 0.066s adrift of Wittmann’s.

This pair were in a class of their own, although Audi’s 2017 title winner Rene Rast potentially could have challenged for pole, only for track positioning to bring him into the same territory as Rockenfeller with a couple of minutes remaining.

Rast gesticulated and then dropped back from Rockenfeller, likely costing him a shot at pole, although he was able to claim fourth on the grid.

It was Paul di Resta who came through to claim third on the grid on the first outing for the R-Motorsport Aston Martin team – the Scot was one of the last to cross the line at the chequered flag and his final lap elevated him up the order, albeit almost a second adrift of the pacesetting duo.

The third row also featured an Audi and an Aston – apart from di Resta, Audi’s Robin Frijns was the only driver to make a mid-session pitstop, and he rejoined to take fifth, with Jake Dennis securing an excellent sixth in his Aston on his DTM debut.

Another debutant lines up seventh, with BMW’s Sheldon van der Linde outpacing stablemates Timo Glock and Joel Eriksson, who were eighth and ninth respectively.

The top 10 was completed by the Audi of free practice pacesetter Nico Muller.

Philipp Eng’s miserable weekend continued – after failing to put a time on the board in FP2, his BMW coasted to a halt at the pit exit at the start of the session, prompting a red flag while he was towed out of the way.

DTM new boy Jonathan Aberdein spun exiting the final turn on his out-lap after the red flag, looping across the track and crunching his WRT Audi into the inside wall, before continuing to take 16th position.

Cla	Driver	Car	Laps	Time	Gap	km/h
1	Marco Wittmann	BMW M4 Turbo DTM	11	1'48.215		152.163
2	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi RS 5 Turbo DTM	11	1'48.281	0.066	152.071
3	Paul di Resta	Aston Martin Vantage DTM	10	1'49.191	0.976	150.803
4	René Rast	Audi RS 5 Turbo DTM	12	1'49.510	1.295	150.364
5	Robin Frijns	Audi RS 5 Turbo DTM	12	1'49.535	1.320	150.330
6	Jake Dennis	Aston Martin Vantage DTM	12	1'49.762	1.547	150.019
7	Sheldon Van Der Linde	BMW M4 Turbo DTM	12	1'50.331	2.116	149.245
8	Timo Glock	BMW M4 Turbo DTM	11	1'50.509	2.294	149.005
9	Joel Eriksson	BMW M4 Turbo DTM	12	1'50.626	2.411	148.847
10	Nico Müller	Audi RS 5 Turbo DTM	12	1'50.839	2.624	148.561
11	Daniel Juncadella	Aston Martin Vantage DTM	12	1'50.884	2.669	148.501
12	Loic Duval	Audi RS 5 Turbo DTM	12	1'50.909	2.694	148.467
13	Jamie Green	Audi RS 5 Turbo DTM	12	1'50.914	2.699	148.460
14	Bruno Spengler	BMW M4 Turbo DTM	12	1'51.094	2.879	148.220
15	Pietro Fittipaldi	Audi RS 5 Turbo DTM	12	1'51.287	3.072	147.963
16	Jonathan Aberdein	Audi RS 5 Turbo DTM	11	1'52.901	4.686	145.848
17	Ferdinand Habsburg	Aston Martin Vantage DTM	12	1'55.470	7.255	142.603
	Philipp Eng	BMW M4 Turbo DTM
View full results