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Qualifying report

Nurburgring DTM: Albon scores maiden pole in wet qualifying

Red Bull Formula 1 protege Alex Albon claimed his maiden pole position in the DTM in a wet qualifying session at the Nurburgring, beating the Mercedes of Daniel Juncadella by two tenths of a second.

Pole sitter Alex Albon, AF Corse

Pole sitter Alex Albon, AF Corse

Alexander Trienitz

Although track conditions visibility deteriorated in the final minutes due to a late shower, Albon was able to improve to a 1m36.773s towards the end of the session to take the top spot in the AF Corse-run Ferrari.

HRT Mercedes driver Maximilian Gotz led the majority of qualifying with his early effort of 1m37.130s on full wet tyres, with championship leader Kelvin van der Linde holding second in the Abt Sportsline Audi.

Toksport Mercedes’ guest driver Luca Stolz matched the time of Gotz in the second half of the session, before Juncadella became the first driver to depose the German from the top in the GruppeM Mercedes with a 1m36.958s.

Around this time, Albon was slowly moving up the timesheets, jumping from eighth to fourth before posting a 1m37.053s to capture second spot behind Juncadella.

The Anglo-Thai driver then found more time on his final flying lap, breaching the 1m37s barrier to score his and Ferrari’s first pole in the DTM.

Juncadella held on to second with his previous effort, while Walkenhorst BMW driver Marco Wittmann leapt to third late on with an impressive time of 1m37.056s.

The two-time DTM champion demoted the SSR Performance Porsche of Michael Ammermuller to the outside of the second row, with Gotz eventually ending up fifth after failing to improve on his previous time.

Van der Linde, who will carry 25kg of success ballast in the race, was Audi’s top qualifier in seventh behind Stolz, with ex-Formula 1 driver Christian Klien eighth in the JP Motorsport McLaren.

The top 10 was completed by the second Abt Audi of Mike Rockenfeller and T3 Lamborghini’s Esteban Muth.

Liam Lawson qualified 11th in the second AF Corse Ferrari, while Rowe Racing BMW’s Sheldon van der Linde could manage no better than 16th despite setting a fastest first sector.

Markus Winkelhock qualified down in 22nd in the third Abt Audi after an eventual qualifying session, where he ran off track multiple times in difficult weather conditions.

Qualifying results:

Cla # Driver Car Time Gap
1 23 Thailand Alex Albon
Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 1'36.773
2 8 Spain Daniel Juncadella
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'36.958 0.185
3 11 Germany Marco Wittmann
BMW M6 GT3 1'37.056 0.283
4 92 Michael Ammermüller
Porsche 911 GT3 R 1'37.122 0.349
5 4 Germany Maximilian Götz
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'37.130 0.357
6 7 Germany Luca Stolz
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'37.130 0.357
7 3 South Africa Kelvin van der Linde
Audi R8 LMS Evo 1'37.170 0.397
8 15 Austria Christian Klien
McLaren 720S GT3 1'37.193 0.420
9 9 Germany Mike Rockenfeller
Audi R8 LMS Evo 1'37.268 0.495
10 10 Belgium Esteban Muth
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 1'37.337 0.564
11 30 New Zealand Liam Lawson
Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 1'37.429 0.656
12 5 France Vincent Abril
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'37.440 0.667
13 57 United Kingdom Philip Ellis
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'37.466 0.693
14 36 India Arjun Maini
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'37.489 0.716
15 12 Germany Christopher Haase
Audi R8 LMS Evo 1'37.606 0.833
16 31 South Africa Sheldon Van Der Linde
BMW M6 GT3 1'37.631 0.858
17 18 Germany Maximilian Buhk
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'37.634 0.861
18 51 Switzerland Nico Müller
Audi R8 LMS Evo 1'37.664 0.891
19 6 Germany Hubert Haupt
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'37.923 1.150
20 16 Germany Timo Glock
BMW M6 GT3 1'37.932 1.159
21 22 Austria Lucas Auer
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'37.940 1.167
22 99 Germany Markus Winkelhock
Audi R8 LMS Evo 1'37.988 1.215
23 26 United Kingdom Esmee Hawkey
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 1'38.041 1.268

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