Moscow DTM: Wittmann takes pole after Martin crashes

Wittmann, who gave up the points lead after finishing 19th in the rain in Race 1, led home a BMW 1-2-3, as teammate and erstwhile session leader Maxime Martin crashed out.

The benchmark of the weekend so far, set by Wittmann in Saturday morning practice, fell instantly in qualifying, as Martin logged a 1m29,397s with his first effort.

That lap was soon surpassed by points leader Robert Wickens, only for Martin to respond with a 1m29.160s, 0.02s clear of the Canadian.

Shortly after the halfway point, Martin lowered the benchmark to 1m29.027s and then crashed out at Turn 7, losing control of his BMW over a small incline heading into the corner.

The Belgian made contact with the tyre barrier at a reasonably high speed and the session ended up red-flagged for around 10 minutes, as Martin climbed out of the car and it was cleared away.

Martin's time remained good enough for provisional pole until Wittmann recorded a 1m28.776s with two minutes to go.

Tom Blomqvist then moved up to second, a tenth off the pace, but Martin would get to keep third place.

Wickens, who won Saturday's race, was the lead Mercedes in fourth, with Bruno Spengler in fifth and Dani Juncadella recording his best qualifying result of the season with sixth.

BMW duo Augusto Farfus and Timo Glock will occupy row four in seventh and eighth, while Mercedes drivers Maximilian Gotz and Lucas Auer completed the top 10.

It was a terrible session for Audi, the manufacturer's best grid position coming courtesy of Nico Muller in P13.

The Ingolstadt marque's two main championship contenders - Edoardo Mortara and Jamie Green - were P18 and P20.

UPDATE: Third-place finisher Martin was excluded from qualifying for infringing parc ferme rules and will thus start at the back - with championship leader Wickens promoted to P3.

Qualifying results

Pos.	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	11	Marco Wittmann	BMW M4 DTM	1'28.776
2	31	Tom Blomqvist	BMW M4 DTM	1'28.878	0.102
3	6	Robert Wickens	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'29.180	0.404
4	7	Bruno Spengler	BMW M4 DTM	1'29.371	0.595
5	12	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'29.397	0.621
6	18	Augusto Farfus	BMW M4 DTM	1'29.411	0.635
7	16	Timo Glock	BMW M4 DTM	1'29.522	0.746
8	84	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'29.604	0.828
9	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'29.650	0.874
10	13	Antonio Felix da Costa	BMW M4 DTM	1'29.759	0.983
11	3	Paul di Resta	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'29.760	0.984
12	51	Nico Müller	Audi RS5 DTM	1'29.768	0.992
13	88	Felix Rosenqvist	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'29.811	1.035
14	5	Mattias Ekström	Audi RS5 DTM	1'29.812	1.036
15	17	Miguel Molina	Audi RS5 DTM	1'29.815	1.039
16	8	Christian Vietoris	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'29.935	1.159
17	48	Edoardo Mortara	Audi RS5 DTM	1'29.987	1.211
18	27	Adrien Tambay	Audi RS5 DTM	1'30.057	1.281
19	53	Jamie Green	Audi RS5 DTM	1'30.081	1.305
20	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi RS5 DTM	1'30.114	1.338
21	2	Gary Paffett	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	1'30.122	1.346
22	100	Martin Tomczyk	BMW M4 DTM	1'30.158	1.382
23	10	Timo Scheider	Audi RS5 DTM	1'30.424	1.648
EX	36	Maxime Martin	BMW M4 DTM	1'29.027	0.251