Lucas Auer takes pole position at Hockenheim and heads the standings

Mercedes AMG driver Lucas Auer showed blistering pace to take pole position in the qualifying session held at Hockenheim, host of the DTM season opener, this afternoon.

Audi’s Mattias Ekström spun at Turn 3 on his outlap, being able to recover and continue without damage. The Swede clocked the fastest lap, improved in quick succession by team-mate at Abt Nico Müller and by Mercedes’ Gary Paffett. Drivers completed their first laps seven seconds over FP2 pace due to having to warm the tyres on the track as tyre warmers have been banned for this season.

Half way through the session all drivers had returned to the pits, with Augusto Farfus having a troubled tyre change due to the Team RMG drivers bumping into each other. Silence fell over the Baden Wüttemberg circuit until with six and a half minutes to go, the Mercedes cars headed back to the track, with the rest of the field gradually joining them.

The final run produced and exciting succession of lap improvements, with Gary Paffett going faster to clock a time of 1:31.042, with Edoardo Mortara going up to second. Lucas Auer had a blistering lap to set a time of 1:30.849. The Austrian would be the only man to break the 1:31 barrier.

BMW’s Timo Glock and Maxime Martin improved to climb up to fourth and fifth positions, breaking the Mercedes dominance.

Mercedes’ Paul Di Resta was sixth, 0.426 seconds off Auer’s time, followed by team-mate Maro Engel. Nico Müller was the best man for Audi Sport and the only RS 5 DTM driver to make it into the top ten, 0.641 seconds off the pace.

Tom Blomqvist and Robert Wickens completed the top ten, with the Canadian 0.689 seconds behind the pole position.

Reigning champion Marco Wittmann wasn’t able to come near the top positions in all the 20 minutes of the session, finishing 11th 0.813 seconds off the pace.

Audi Sport had a difficult session, with Mike Rockenfeller, Mattias Ekström and Loic Duval closing the classification.

After the qualifying result, Lucas Auer becomes the first leader of the 2017 drivers’ standings with three points, followed by Gary Paffett with two and Edoardo Mortara with one.

The start of Race 1 is scheduled for 14:48 CET.