António Félix Da Costa takes pole position for Race 1

BMW Motorsport driver António Félix Da Costa set the fastest time in today’s qualifying session to take his first pole position of the year and second of his DTM career.

The Portuguese driver clocked a best lap time of 1:32.344 in a competitive session in which BMW had the upper hand.

Audi Sport tried to fight back, but only Miguel Molina could break the Bavarian manufacturer’s dominance with second place, one tenth away from Da Costa’s time.

Tom Blomqvist was third fastest, ahead of championship leader Marco Wittmann and team-mate Maxime Martin for BMW, with Audi’s Mike Rockenfeller in sixth position.

Augusto Farfus was next, followed by title contender Audi’s Edoardo Mortara, who struggled to get near the front all session after the problems he had in free practice. The Italian driver was 0.318 seconds off the pace, and is sandwiched by BMW drivers, with Timo Glock immediately behind him.

Nico Müller completed the top ten for Audi Sport.

Paul Di Resta was the best-placed Mercedes AMG in 12th position, 0.450 seconds off pole position, with the Stuttgart manufacturer having a dismal session.

BMW’s Martin Tomczyk, along with Da Costa, taking part in his farewell weekend to the DTM, was only 19th, and was also reported to the stewards after allegedly blocking Jamie Green, who qualified in 14th.

Race 1 is scheduled for 14:58 CET.