Bruno Spengler claims Spielberg pole ahead of Marco Wittmann
Reigning DTM champion, Bruno Spengler, has taken his first 2013 pole position after claiming the top spot for tomorrow’s DTM race at Spielberg. BMW stablemate and DTM rookie, Marco Wittmann, was an impressive second.
Since the start of qualifying, BMW looked the quickest of the three teams with Spengler and Wittmann trading fastest times throughout all four sessions.
Last year’s Spielberg winner, Edoardo Mortara, will line up the best of the Audis in third ahead of BMW’s Augusto Farfus.
Timo Scheider was unable to make it into Q4 and will line up fifth despite his best efforts.
Filipe Albuquerque rounded out the top-six, despite the Portuguese showing good pace earlier in the session, and at one point appeared to be an outside bet for pole position.
Championship leader Mike Rockenfeller qualified eighth, but like BMW’s Andy Priaulx, will take a five place grid penalty for violating yellow-flag rules in this morning’s free practice session. This will see him drop to 13th.
Robert Wickens was the best placed of the Mercedes and will line up seventh.
Mercedes’ Gary Paffett will line up 9th as a result of Rockenfeller’s penalty. The Briton failed to set a time in Q3 after his Mercedes lost engine power on its outlap and he originally finish 10th.
However, he will be able to save tyres for tomorrow’s race as a result.
BMW’s Dirk Werner will line up one place behind Paffett, making it four BMWs in the top 10.
The Abt Sportsline outfit had another difficult afternoon as Jamie Green continued his difficult start to his Audi career by missing out on Q2 by 0.034 seconds and originally finished 17th. However, after qualifying he was hit with a penalty for also violating yellow flag rules.
He will line up 22nd and last, one position behind Andy Priaulx.
Green’s teammate, 2004 and 2007 DTM champion Mattias Ekstrom, finished 15th after failing to make it into Q3.
