Edoardo Mortara claims Norisring pole by one thousandth of a second

Edoardo Mortara claimed pole position for Mercedes at the Norisring by the smallest possible margin, beating BMW driver Philipp Eng by one thousand of a second.

Eng had been in the top spot for the majority of the session but dropped one spot as Mortara improved his best time toward the end of the qualifying run.

Marco Wittmann made it two BMWs in the top three with a late improvement that brought him 0.023 seconds from pole position, claiming position three.

Mercedes continued their dominance on the street circuit by claiming positions four to seven with Gary Paffett in fourth, Paul di Resta in fifth, Daniel Juncadella in sixth and Lucas Auer in seventh.

Championship leader Timo Glock claimed position eight for BMW ahead of manufacturer colleague Bruno Spengler in ninth.

Audi’s tough time in the DTM continues with Nico Müller as their top driver only in tenth position, 0.224 seconds from pole-sitter Mortara.

The session was red-flagged once as René Rast hit the wall exiting the chicane. The Audi RS 5 driver was unable to rejoin the session and will start 18th and last in this afternoon’s race if the team is able to repair his car.

The first DTM race of the weekend at the Norisring starts 13:30 CEST.