Tom Blomqvist inherits pole for second Norisring race
Audi Team Abt Sportsline’s Mattias Ekström set the fastest lap in qualifying for the second DTM race at the Norisring, but his three-place grid penalty for his Saturday misdemeanours mean BMW Team RBM’s Tom Blomqvist inherits his pole position.
Ekström set his best lap of 47.804 in the final minute of the session after circulating towards the front throughout, quickly followed by Blomqvist jumping up to P2. But ultimately it was the latter’s time which secured pole, a mere 0.016s off the ultimate pace.
“We had a great quali today. We made some adjustments to the car and it seems to be working. I got my lap together and it is a great result. Let’s see what we can do this afternoon,” said Blomqvist.
Mercedes Team HWA’s Paul di Resta will join Blomqvist on the front row after qualifying third, with Team Abt’s Nico Müller elevated to the best of the Audis ahead of Ekström.
Lucas Auer was fifth for Mercedes ahead of Maxime Martin in the best of the BMW M4 machines, with Robert Wickens, Adrien Tambay, Edoardo Mortara and Marco Wittmann rounding out the top 10.
The tightly packed nature of the field once again caught some drivers out, with less than 0.1s covering the top seven and just 0.445s covering the 24 cars. Yesterday’s polesitter Christian Vietoris was down in 15th for Mercedes Team Mücke, just ahead of Saturday podium finisher Jamie Green in the Team Rosberg Audi.
There were also struggles for Mercedes Team ART’s Gary Paffett, who hit the wall exiting the Schöller-S halfway through the session and pitted with damage. He could do no better than 18th on the grid.
A very light shower late on didn’t disrupt proceedings, although conditions are much gloomier and cooler than the heat of the first two days of the meeting.
The DTM second race is coming up at the slightly earlier start time of 13:03 CET.
