Miguel Molina denies Jamie Green pole for Hockenheim DTM finale
Miguel Molina denied Jamie Green a first DTM pole for five years with a storming effort to take the top spot for this weekend's season finale at Hockenheim
The Spaniard, who was also on pole at Oschersleben recently, was the last man to take to the track in the one-lap final section of qualifying after going quickest in Q3 in his old-spec Abt Audi.
Knowing that he had to beat Green's 1m32.920s lap on used tyres, something that Mike Rockenfeller and Martin Tomczyk had failed to do, Molina duly delivered by lapping in 1m32.717 to knock the HWA Mercedes off pole by 0.203s.
New champion Tomczyk and Rockenfeller completed the second row for the Phoenix and Abt Audi teams respectively.
Timo Scheider put his Abt car fifth, while Bruno Spengler - who was on pole for the Hockenheim season-opener - was sixth quickest for HWA. Behind them were Gary Paffett (HWA) and Oliver Jarvis (Abt).
It was in Q2 where the real drama unfolded. As the chequered flag went out, neither Spengler, nor Mattias Ekstrom - the drivers battling for the runner-up spot in the championship this weekend - had their places inside the top eight, and therefore in Q3, confirmed.
However, as Edoardo Mortara went straight on and into the tyre barriers at the Sachs Kurve, out came the yellow flags in the final sector, effectively barring any driver from improving their best times.
The Rosberg Audi driver's misfortune was good news for Spengler, who lay eighth at the time in his HWA Mercedes, and sneaked into Q3 as a result. Ekstrom, by contrast, was unable to improve on his 10th spot behind Filipe Albuquerque (Rosberg).
Mortara will start 11th, ahead of Persson Mercedes driver Christian Vietoris and Ralf Schumacher (HWA).
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Miguel Molina Abt Audi 1m32.717s 2. Jamie Green HWA Mercedes 1m32.920s + 0.203s 3. Martin Tomczyk Phoenix Audi 1m33.039s + 0.322s 4. Mike Rockenfeller Abt Audi 1m33.510s + 0.793s 5. Timo Scheider Abt Audi 1m32.883s Q3 6. Bruno Spengler HWA Mercedes 1m32.922s Q3 7. Gary Paffett HWA Mercedes 1m33.103s Q3 8. Oliver Jarvis Abt Audi 1m33.188s Q3 9. Filipe Albuquerque Rosberg Audi 1m33.085s Q2 10. Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi 1m33.103s Q2 11. Edoardo Mortara Rosberg Audi 1m33.144s Q2 12. Christian Vietoris Persson Mercedes 1m33.172s Q2 13. Ralf Schumacher HWA Mercedes 1m33.352s Q2 14. Renger van der Zande Persson Mercedes 1m33.617s Q2 15. Maro Engel Mucke Mercedes 1m33.539s Q1 16. David Coulthard Mucke Mercedes 1m33.761s Q1 17. Susie Wolff Persson Mercedes 1m33.930s Q1 18. Rahel Frey Phoenix Audi 1m34.090s Q1
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