Photo: DTM Media

Tom Blomqvist takes his first pole position of the season at Norisring

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BMW Motorsport driver Tom Blomqvist made the most of the busy qualifying session at Norisring to take his first pole position of the year and the second of his DTM career, beating Mercedes’ Robert Wickens by just 0.004 seconds.

The entire field took to the track in a frantic session, with the threat of rain looming over the track.

Positions changed rapidly as lap-times came tumbling down, with Audi driver Mattias Ekström leading the pack with a best time of 47.329 before drivers returned to the pits at the halfway mark for new tyres and adjustments before heading out for the final shootout.

Mercedes driver Robert Wickens was one of the few drivers able to improve in their second stint, rising to the top of the classification moments before being beaten by BMW’s Tom Blomqvist, setting a new record of the Nüremberg track with a time of 47.252, only four thousandths ahead of the Canadian.

Audi’s Nico Müller was third, just 0.037 seconds off the pace, followed by BMW’s Bruno Spengler. Ekström was unable to improve in his last stint, finishing in fifth position, followed by Mercedes’ Lucas Auer.

Yesterday’s poleman BMW driver Maxime Martin was seventh, just over a tenth off the pace, followed by Audi’s Mike Rockenfeller. Timo Glock was ninth for BMW, with Audi driver René Rast completing the top ten.

The start of Race 2 is scheduled for 17:23 CET.