Photo: DTM Media

Ekström snatches pole to prevent Mercedes domination

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Mattias Ekström took pole position to deny Mercedes-Benz a 1-2-3 at the Nurburgring, at a track where Audi looked set to dominate in the qualifying session.

Ekström set 1:23.817 to snatch pole from Bruno Spengler, the time was certainly in the Audi A4 as Ekstrom set a time of 1:23.311 in the third qualifying segment.

Ekström will therefore lead-off a trio of Mercedes-Benz’s at the start of the race, with Bruno Spengler, Jamie Green & Paul Di Resta starting behind him.

Gary Paffett will start fifth, and Ralf Schumacher sixth, which means the next Audi is Miguel Molina in seventh, putting in his best performance of the season in the older specification A4.

Former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard qualified tenth, between the two Audi’s of Oliver Jarvis and Martin Tomczyk.