Oschersleben DTM: Miguel Molina takes pole for Audi
Miguel Molina will start the second DTM race of the season at Oschersleben from pole position
The Abt Audi driver was unstoppable, backing up his practice form by going fastest in Q1, second fastest in Q2, and then destroying the field with a stunning 1m20.007s in the deciding final segment of qualifying to secure pole position.
Hockenheim winner Marco Wittman qualified second, despite the RMG BMW driver's best lap being more than half a second slower than that of Molina.
NEWS UPDATE: Molina disqualified, Wittmann on pole
The gap back to Molina's third-placed team-mate Adrien Tambay was much smaller, just 0.003s keeping the Frenchman off the front row of the grid.
Antonio Felix da Costa showed his Hockenheim form was no fluke, the rookie qualifying fourth ahead of the Phoenix Audi pair of Timo Scheider and Mike Rockenfeller.
Bruno Spengler and Edoardo Mortara were seventh and eighth, the final two positions decided by Q3.
Augusto Farfus was ninth, ahead of Pascal Wehrlein, who was by far the best of the Mercedes drivers with 10th. Jamie Green was 11th.
Apart from Wehrlein's relatively good result, Mercedes' poor start to the season continued, four of the five cars eliminated in Q1 coming out of Stuttgart.
Robert Wickens, Paul di Resta, Daniel Juncadella and Vitaly Petrov anchored the grid, with MTEK BMW's Timo Glock joining them on the sidelines after being hampered by a power steering problem.
Christian Vietoris and Gary Paffett followed Wehrlein into Q2, but could manage just 17th and 18th respectively.
Follow the Oschersleben DTM race as it happens on AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live from 12.30pm UK time on Sunday May 18
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Miguel Molina Abt Audi 1m20.007s 2. Marco Wittmann RMG BMW 1m20.516s +0.509s 3. Adrien Tambay Abt Audi 1m20.519s +0.512s 4. Antonio Felix da Costa MTEK BMW 1m20.582s +0.575s 5. Timo Scheider Phoenix Audi 1m20.668s +0.661s 6. Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi 1m20.676s +0.669s 7. Bruno Spengler Schnitzer BMW 1m20.703s +0.696s 8. Edoardo Mortara Abt Audi 1m21.113s +1.106s 9. Augusto Farfus RBM BMW 1m20.663s Q2 10. Pascal Wehrlein HWA Mercedes 1m20.668s Q2 11. Jamie Green Rosberg Audi 1m20.767s Q2 12. Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi 1m20.788s Q2 13. Martin Tomczyk Schnitzer BMW 1m20.801s Q2 14. Maxime Martin RMG BMW 1m20.904s Q2 15. Nico Muller Rosberg Audi 1m20.957s Q2 16. Joey Hand RBM BMW 1m20.973s Q2 17. Christian Vietoris HWA Mercedes 1m21.082s Q2 18. Gary Paffett HWA Mercedes 1m21.322s Q2 19. Timo Glock MTEK BMW 1m21.439s Q1 20. Robert Wickens HWA Mercedes 1m21.595s Q1 21. Paul di Resta HWA Mercedes 1m21.795s Q1 22. Daniel Juncadella Mucke Mercedes 1m21.915s Q1 23. Vitaly Petrov Mucke Mercedes 1m22.132s Q1
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