Moscow DTM: BMW's Maxime Martin secures maiden pole
DTM rookie Maxime Martin secured his first series pole position at Moscow Raceway on Saturday
The Belgian driver comfortably progressed through Q1 with the fifth best time, before topping Q2 with a 1m28.523s, the fastest lap that has been set so far this weekend.
Martin then capped off a stand out session with a 1m28.619s lap a minute from the end of Q3 to secure his first career pole and BMW's third of the season so far.
Bruno Spengler made it a BMW 1-2 with second, despite the 2012 series champion barely scraping into Q3 with the seventh fastest time. He was one of only two drivers to better his Q2 time in Q3, resulting in a front row start.
Practice pacesetter Nico Muller finished third in his Abt Audi, narrowly edging out Phoenix Audi driver Mike Rockenfeller, who will start fourth.
Adrien Tambay, the only driver other than Spengler to improve between Q2 and Q3, qualified fifth, ahead of Augusto Farfus, Marco Wittmann and Miguel Molina.
Briton Jamie Green and former Formula 1 driver Timo Glock rounded out the top 10, while Mattias Ekstrom was just 11th, having been in the top three in both practice sessions.
Meanwhile, Mercedes' miserable start to the weekend continued in qualifying.
Norisring winner Robert Wickens was the best placed Mercedes in 14th, while Pascal Wehrlein, Gary Paffett, Christian Vietoris and Vitaly Petrov occupied the bottom four spots.
Daniel Juncadella and Paul di Resta did manage to join Wickens in Q2, but qualified 15th and 18th respectively.
BMW's Martin Tomczyk was the only non-Mercedes to be eliminated from Q1, but despite actually qualifying 19th, he will start 22nd thanks to a carryover penalty for tagging Paffett during the Norisring race.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Maxime Martin RMG BMW 1m28.619s 2. Bruno Spengler Schnitzer BMW 1m28.638s +0.019s 3. Nico Muller Rosberg Audi 1m28.714s +0.095s 4. Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi 1m28.714s +0.095s 5. Adrien Tambay Abt Audi 1m28.754s +0.135s 6. Augusto Farfus RBM BMW 1m28.760s +0.141s 7. Marco Wittmann RMG BMW 1m28.844s +0.225s 8. Miguel Molina Abt Audi 1m28.925s +0.306s 9. Jamie Green Rosberg Audi 1m28.805s Q2 10. Timo Glock MTEK BMW 1m28.855s Q2 11. Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi 1m28.932s Q2 12. Edoardo Mortara Abt Audi 1m28.980s Q2 13. Antonio Felix da Costa MTEK BMW 1m29.058s Q2 14. Robert Wickens HWA Mercedes 1m29.148s Q2 15. Daniel Juncadella Mucke Mercedes 1m29.231s Q2 16. Joey Hand RBM BMW 1m29.270s Q2 17. Timo Scheider Phoenix Audi 1m29.425s Q2 18. Paul di Resta HWA Mercedes 1m29.509s Q2 19. Martin Tomczyk Schnitzer BMW 1m29.749s Q1 20. Pascal Wehrlein HWA Mercedes 1m29.836s Q1 21. Gary Paffett HWA Mercedes 1m29.925s Q1 22. Christian Vietoris HWA Mercedes 1m30.031s Q1 23. Vitaly Petrov Mucke Mercedes 1m30.443s Q1
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