Tom Blomqvist takes his second pole position of the year at Hockenheim

BMW Motorsport driver Tom Blomqvist scored his second pole position of the season at Hockenheim in a difficult session that had to be red-flagged half way through due to a loose drain cover. Audi’s René Rast was the best-placed of the championship contenders, qualifying alongside him on the front row.

Edoardo Mortara was back in the pits with a transmission problem on his Mercedes after his installation lap, and was pushed back into the garage by his mechanics.

After two laps to bring the tyres up to temperature, BMW’s Timo Glock was the first driver to set a reference time, quickly improved on by outgoing champion Marco Wittmann, with Audi’s René Rast and Mercedes’ Gary Paffett in second and third.

BMW’s Tom Blomqvist stole the top spot as Mercedes’ Lucas Auer went up to third place. Wittmann and Rast topped the classification again.

The session was red-flagged with just over ten minutes to go as Paffett run over a drain in the braking area towards Turn 1, causing Mercedes’ Paul Di Resta to suffer a flat front left tyre, causing the front of his Mercedes’ bodywork to rub on the track.

The session was restarted after a 35-minute interruption with 10:21 minutes left on the clock.

Loïc Duval was the only Audi driver to venture out as soon as the track was green again, doing an evaluation lap before returning to the pits. Drivers gradually went out for their final runs but the championship contenders took to the track as Mattias Ekström did so with less than six minutes left on the clock.

The Swede went up to seventh place as Blomqvist took pole position with a lap time of 1:30.491, the second of the season for the Briton. Jamie Green improved to be third, to be beaten by Auer as the chequered flag was out. Rast was on a flyer, but could only be second, 0.064 seconds behind.

Wittmann was third at the end, followed by Auer and Green, a tenth off the pace and who faces a ten-place grid drop, which will put him 15th in the starting order.

Mercedes’ Robert Wickens was sixth, followed by Maxime Martin and Rockenfeller, two-tenths off the pace. BMW’s Augusto Farfus was ninth, with Ekström in tenth and facing a five-place grid drop to 14th on the grid.

The start of Race 2 is scheduled for 15:13 CET.