Loïc Duval claims his first pole position of the season at Assen

Audi Sport Team Phoenix driver Loïc Duval scored his first pole position of the 2020 DTM season in Saturday’s qualifying session at Assen, host of the fourth round of the season.

The Frenchmann pipped local hero, Team Abt Sportsline’s Robin Frijns, by just 0.034 seconds.

The entire field took to a dry race track, although with dark clouds on the horizon as there is a 30% chance of rain for the time of Saturday’s race.

BMW Team RMR’s Lucas Auer was the first pace-setter, but soon the Audis showed their hanf, with Frijns rising to the top ahead of team-mate Nico Müller and Team Rosberg’s René Rast before the mid-session recess.

The final minutes of the session were spiced up by the Audi Sport Team Phoenix drivers, with Duval stealing the top spot with two minutes to go with a time 1:23.341, beating Frijns by just 0.034 seconds.

Müller was third, followed by WRT’s Ferdinand Habsburg, with the pole-sitter’s team-mate Mike Rockenfeller in fifth place.

Rast saw his final attempt deleted for leaving the track twice and gaining an advantage, qualifying in sixth place. Auer was the best-placed BMW driver, in seventh position.

BMW drivers came next, with Team RBM’s Philipp Eng in eighth place, 0.576 seconds off the pace, followed by Team RMR’s Jonathan Aberdein. Marco Wittmann completed the top ten for Team RMG, 0.798 seconds off the pace.

Duval said after the session: “Honestly, I think the qualifying is not so important here, because we saw yesterday a lot of damage to the tyres, but the game changer this afternoon will be a consistent tyre wear for the race.”

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