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Qualifying report

Norisring DTM: Martin beats Rast to pole by 0.005s

Maxime Martin snatched a last-gasp pole position for BMW in the first race of the DTM weekend at the Norisring.

Maxime Martin, BMW Team RBM, BMW M4 DTM

Maxime Martin, BMW Team RBM, BMW M4 DTM

Alexander Trienitz

Maxime Martin, BMW Team RBM, BMW M4 DTM
René Rast, Audi Sport Team Rosberg, Audi RS 5 DTM
Bruno Spengler, BMW Team RBM, BMW M4 DTM
Bruno Spengler, BMW Team RBM, BMW M4 DTM
René Rast, Audi Sport Team Rosberg, Audi RS 5 DTM
Bruno Spengler, BMW Team RBM, BMW M4 DTM

The chequered flag was already flying when the Belgian’s RBM-run M4 DTM tripped the timing beams to deny Audi’s series leader Rene Rast by five thousandths of a second.

Lucas Auer was at the top of the pile for Mercedes after the first runs, recovering form after his poor weekend at the Hungaroring.

But his former Formula 3 rival Tom Blomqvist was the first to dislodge Auer from the top of the times on the second runs.

The Anglo-Swede didn’t stay on top for long, with BMW stablemate Bruno Spengler moving in front before Rast jumped to the top.

Martin then moved into second place, before his last-lap special put him onto pole.

Spengler and Blomqvist made it three BMWs in the top four, while Auer only found a small improvement on his second set of Hankooks to take fifth – and leading the Mercedes challenge as the Stuttgart marque’s only representative in the top 10.

Audi’s Mattias Ekstrom joins the Austrian on the third row, with BMW pair Marco Wittmann and Timo Glock lining up on the fourth rank.

Jamie Green, on a track where he reigned for many years to the extent that he is colloquially known as ‘Mr Norisring’, could only take ninth for Audi, with stablemate Nico Muller rounding out the top 10.

Muller and Edoardo Mortara were both reported to the stewards for blocking, although no decisions on the matters have yet been taken.

Qualifying result

Cla#DriverCarLapsTimeGap
1 36 belgium Maxime Martin BMW M4 DTM 22 47.472  
2 33 germany René Rast Audi RS5 DTM 20 47.477 0.005
3 7 canada Bruno Spengler BMW M4 DTM 20 47.493 0.021
4 31 united_kingdom Tom Blomqvist BMW M4 DTM 22 47.527 0.055
5 22 austria Lucas Auer Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM 25 47.584 0.112
6 5 sweden Mattias Ekström Audi RS5 DTM 21 47.629 0.157
7 11 germany Marco Wittmann BMW M4 DTM 19 47.676 0.204
8 16 germany Timo Glock BMW M4 DTM 20 47.692 0.220
9 53 united_kingdom Jamie Green Audi RS5 DTM 19 47.714 0.242
10 51 switzerland Nico Müller Audi RS5 DTM 22 47.718 0.246
11 6 canada Robert Wickens Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM 22 47.739 0.267
12 99 germany Mike Rockenfeller Audi RS5 DTM 22 47.763 0.291
13 2 united_kingdom Gary Paffett Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM 24 47.781 0.309
14 48 italy Edoardo Mortara Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM 24 47.813 0.341
15 63 germany Maro Engel Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM 23 47.881 0.409
16 15 brazil Augusto Farfus BMW M4 DTM 20 47.883 0.411
17 3 united_kingdom Paul di Resta Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM 24 48.014 0.542
18 77 france Loic Duval Audi RS5 DTM 21 48.123 0.651

 

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