Photo: Tamara Aller

Gary Paffett takes pole position at Hockenheim

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Mercedes AMG driver Gary Paffett confirmed the good pace shown in free practice after taking pole position for today’s Race 1 at Hockenheim, in a session which was led throughout by the cars from Stuttgart.

The entire field took to the track at the green light, with a special concern about tyre performance and wear with the new, less downforce, aero package.

Audi’s Loïc Duval led in the early stages of the session, but soon the Mercedes AMGs took control, with Paul di Resta, Lucas Auer and Gary Paffett heading the time sheets in quick succession.

Mattias Ekström came out of the pits late to take advantage of the empty track during a mid-session recess. The Swede would qualify in 18th position for his final foray in the DTM.

Action resumed with six minutes to the end of the session, with the BMW squad returning to the track in bulk and with Audi trying to find the some pace to break among the top 10. Jamie Green improved but had a lap deleted for not respecting the track limits.

Few drivers managed to improve their lap times in the final stint, with Gary Paffett taking the first pole position of the season and the 13th in his DTM career with a lap time of 1:32.264.

BMW’s Marco Wittmann and Timo Glock followed, albeit already two-tenths off the pace, with Mercedes’s Lucas Auer and Pascal Wehrlein next up, with the 2015 champion 0.222 seconds behind his team-mate.

Augusto Farfus was sixth for BMW followed by Mercedes’ Edoardo Mortara and team-mate Bruno Spengler, with the Canadian half a second off the pace.

Reigning champion René Rast was the best qualified driver for Audi Sport in ninth with BMW rookie Joel Eriksson completing the top ten.

Mercedes AMG DTM boss Ulrich Fritz was pleased with the qualifying result: “It’s important to start the season with the right music and we’ve definitely done that. The starting positions with three Mercedes in the top five is absolutely fine. Congratulations to Gary on his deserved pole position!

The start of Race 1 is scheduled for 13:30 CEST.