Photo: Castrol Edge Media

Mattias Ekström sets pole in the wet at the Red Bull Ring

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Mattias Ekström achieved his first pole of the season this afternoon at the Red Bull Ring, during the qualifying session for Race 2. The Swede from Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline pipped team-mate Mike Rockenfeller on his last lap by just 0.005 seconds.

The rain faded just enough for conditions to be practicable for the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters cars, although the track stayed wet for the whole session.

All the drivers made the most of the 20 minutes the session run for, only coming to the pits for fresh tyres. The track improved continuously, so it was clear that the last man to go through the line would get pole.

Ekström set a best lap of 1:42.010, beating Rockenfeller’s register by only 0.005 seconds. Gary Paffett was fast during all session, but several obstacles stopped him from putting a good lap together. The Briton from ART GP was 0.145 off the pace, and explained: “There was a bit of a river between Turn 3 and 4, and another one after Turn 7. We were so much quicker than the other guys, but the people in front of me kept on making mistakes. We should have been on pole. The plan is to go out and win the race.”

Standings’ leader Pascal Wehrlein was fourth, 0.412 seconds behind Ekström. He was followed by team-mate at Mercedes Robert Wickens. Yesterday’s winner Edoardo Mortara was sixth, followed by Timo Scheider.

Mercedes’ Christian Vietoris and Paul Di Resta followed. The Scot set the fastest first sector several times, but problems during the second sector, including an off track excursion half way through the session prevented him from improving any further. Adrien Tambay was tenth for Audi, already 1.145 seconds off the pace.

BMW had a difficult session, where their best placed driver was Martin Tomczyk in 14th place, 1.733 seconds off Ekström’s time. Jens Marquardt had hoped to make the most of the changing conditions, but the Bavarian cars suffered, with Marco Wittmann complaining about having aquaplaning and being unable to have a clear lap.

The start of race 2 is scheduled for 15:18 CEST (GMT + 2). Although it’s still very wet at the Red Bull Ring, conditions are expected to improve mildly this afternoon.