Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Spielberg DTM: Bruno Spengler puts BMW on pole

Bruno Spengler secured his first DTM pole position of the season at Spielberg, the reigning champion fending off a determined attack from BMW stablemate Marco Wittmann

Schnitzer driver Spengler made it into the single-lap Q4 session as the pacesetter from Q3 and began his flying lap with MTEK rival Wittmann on provisional pole.

But despite being six hundredths of a second down on the rookie after the second sector, a sensational end to the lap gave Spengler a 15th career pole by 0.111s.

Wittmann's second place was the best qualifying result of his fledgling DTM career and also the first time a car from the rookie MTEK squad has started on the front row.

All the racing action as it happens on AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live

Last year's Spielberg winner Edoardo Mortara will start third for the Rosberg Audi team while Augusto Farfus made it three different BMW teams in the top four with RBM.

Timo Scheider was the best of the Abt Audi drivers in fifth with Mortara's team-mate Filipe Albuquerque next up.

Robert Wickens built upon his Brands Hatch podium by qualifying seventh - and best of the HWA Mercedes drivers. Championship leader Mike Rockenfeller was eighth.

Phoenix Audi driver Rockenfeller will drop to 13th on the grid however, the German having been given a five-place grid penalty for infringing yellow-flag rules in practice.

That means Martin Tomczyk and Gary Paffett - the two other drivers to make it into Q3 - will move up a spot each from ninth and 10th.

Paffett did not complete a lap in Q3 after experiencing a loss of power from his HWA car's engine on his out lap.

Hockenheim podium finisher Dirk Werner was eliminated in Q2, missing out on progression to Q3 by just 0.003s as both Rockenfeller and Scheider hauled themselves out of the drop zone on their final laps of the 10-minute session.

There was drama at the end of Q1 as well as late flyers from Tomczyk and Mattias Ekstrom dumped the Swede's Abt team-mates Adrien Tambay and Jamie Green out of the reckoning.

Brit Andy Priaulx was the slowest driver in Q1, and was also informed immediately after the session of a grid drop of his own for also violating yellow-flag rules.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car        Time        Gap
 1.  Bruno Spengler      Schnitzer BMW   1m24.836s
 2.  Marco Wittmann      MTEK BMW        1m24.947s   + 0.111s
 3.  Edoardo Mortara     Rosberg Audi    1m25.036s   + 0.200s
 4.  Augusto Farfus      RBM BMW         1m25.183s   + 0.347s
 5.  Timo Scheider       Abt Audi        1m24.887s   Q3
 6.  Filipe Albuquerque  Rosberg Audi    1m24.922s   Q3
 7.  Robert Wickens      HWA Mercedes    1m24.973s   Q3
 8.  Mike Rockenfeller   Phoenix Audi    1m24.986s*  Q3
 9.  Martin Tomczyk      RMG BMW         1m25.245s   Q3
10.  Gary Paffett        HWA Mercedes                Q3
11.  Dirk Werner         Schnitzer BMW   1m25.130s   Q2
12.  Pascal Wehrlein     Mucke Mercedes  1m25.146s   Q2
13.  Timo Glock          MTEK BMW        1m25.168s   Q2
14.  Daniel Juncadella   Mucke Mercedes  1m25.259s   Q2
15.  Mattias Ekstrom     Abt Audi        1m25.497s   Q2
16.  Christian Vietoris  HWA Mercedes    1m25.518s   Q2
17.  Jamie Green         Abt Audi        1m25.351s   Q1
18.  Adrien Tambay       Abt Audi        1m25.406s   Q1
19.  Joey Hand           RBM BMW         1m25.451s   Q1
20.  Miguel Molina       Phoenix Audi    1m25.552s   Q1
21.  Roberto Merhi       HWA Mercedes    1m25.761s   Q1
22.  Andy Priaulx        RMG BMW         1m25.763s*  Q1

* Will receive five-place grid penalty

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Spielberg DTM: Joey Hand fastest for BMW in practice
Next article Spielberg DTM: Bruno Spengler takes win and points lead

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe